Biathlon at Season's End
As in the hunt for the women's cross-country World Cup title, the men's biathlon World Cup is coming down to the last few races. After a competitive and exciting Olympics, the cup circuit moved to Pokljuka, Slovenia; Kontiolahti, Finland; and now Oslo. With two races at Oslo's famed Holmenkollen complex still to go, the two best biathletes in the world, Norway's Ole Einar Bjorndalen and France's Raphael Poiree, are separated by just a few points .
The first competition after the Games occurred on the up-and-down tracks at Pokljuka, Slovenia, where the winter weather brutalized all the racers. Slovenian biathletes acquitted themselves well on their home snow, though they did not win any podium spots. Shaking off their relative doldrums at the Games, Poiree and Bjorndalen vied for the top spots in all the races. The men's sprint was decided by Ole Einar Bjorndalen's ski speed. Though he shot relatively poorly, he outraced Raphael Poiree to take the gold as Poiree had distanced Swede Carl Johan Bergman for the silver. The women's sprint went in different fashion to Linda Tjorhom (Norway), whose uneven form peaked with clean shooting and fast skiing. She took the win by 3.2 seconds over Sandrine Bailly (France); Olympic sprint champion Florence Baverel-Robert finished a distant third.
A few days later in the men's pursuit, the same three men, starting at the front of the pack, maintained their advantage with good skiing and reliable shooting. After the last session on the range, Poiree, Bjorndalen, and Bergman were all in contention for the win. No man could push hard enough to break up the trio, so they entered the finishing straight almost three abreast. The narrowness of the course prevented Bergman from truly joining the sprint, however, leaving it the two great rivals to lunge for the line. A review of the finish-line photo confirmed Bjorndalen's victory, which drew him to within three points of Poiree in the hunt for the overall title. The women's pursuit also involved most of the principals from the sprint. This time, though, Sandine Bailly finished first, skiing fast enough to overcome some bad shooting in the last session. Germans Kati Wilhelm and Katrin Apel, who also missed at inopportune times, finished second and third. The race extended Wilhelm's lead in the overall title chase, and promoted Bailly to second, just in front of Anna Carin Olofsson of Sweden.
At Pokljuka, the mixed relay - with racers alternating woman-man-woman-man over four loops - was offered as a world championship for only the second time - this time, in a raging blizzard that played havoc on the shooting range. Slovenia was in the top three all the way to the anchor leg, but Russia took advantage of poor shooting by Sandrine Bailly (France) to seize the lead and then surge away on the flawless gunnery and fast skiing of their anchorman, Nikolai Kruglov. Russia thus defended its title in the discipline, having won the inaugural event at Khanty-Mansiisk, Russia, last season. Norway, with Bjorndalen skiing last and shooting well, took second and France, with Poiree skiing better than he was shooting, took third.
Moving north to Kontiolahti, the next set of events saw the rivalry between Bjorndalen and Poiree sharpen to almost unbearable levels. First, though, the Swedes Anna Carin Olofsson and Johan Bergman showed off. After they won the men's and women's sprint events, Olofsson also took the pursuit sequel, her sixth win of the season and confirmation of her standing in the sport's elite. By finishing sixth in the sprint and second in the pursuit, Kati Wilhelm took the titles in those two disciplines, but lost a bit of ground to Olofsson in the chase for the overall competition. In the men's pursuit, Bergman slid out of out of the leading group and permitted Bjorndalen and Poiree to shoot and ski into a tie as they started the last loop. Bjorndalen remorselessly accelerated again and again to shake off the French racer, leaving Poiree with nothing for a final sprint. With the win, Bjorndalen trimmed Poiree's leads in the overall and pursuit rankings.
The next day's men's mass start allowed Poiree to exact some revenge. The race came down to the final shoot, where the Frenchman shot clear but the Norwegian missed two. Ahead of both of them, Pole Tomasz Sikora shot inerrantly and sped away for the win. Taking second to Bjorndalen's third, Poiree maintained 21-point advantages over the Norwegian in the overall title and mass start competitions. In the women's mass start race, Belarusian Olena Zubrilova took a long win over Kati Wilhelm. Displaying incredible consistency, Zubrilova left Kontiolahti with a full complement of medals: a silver in the sprint, a bronze in the pursuit, and the gold in the mass start. Racing well one country too late, Slovenian Tadeja Brankovic took third in the mass start.
With Kati Wilhelm's lead for the overall title so large, the season-ending events at Oslo were much less important than they were for the men. Martina Glagow demonstrated her strength in the discipline and her value to the strong German women's team by shooting clean to narrowly win the women's sprint event. On the other hand, Bjorndalen missed one shot in the men's sprint but still won by an enormous gap of more than 40 seconds. In both races, the winners were accompanied to the podium by some new faces. Michela Ponza (Italy) and Ekaterina Ivanova (Belarus) finished within four seconds of Glagow, while Ilmar Bricis (Latvia - a consistent racer who never quite makes it onto the podium) and newcomer Mattias Nilsson, Jr. (Sweden) finished second and third behind Bjorndalen Separated by only a few points, both Bjorndalen and Poiree had motivation to race well in the sprint. Only the Norwegian delivered, though, and took over the yellow bib of the overall cup leader from Poiree, who was perhaps still suffering from Kontiolahti and failed to earn any points. Finishing fifth, Tomasz Sikora took the sprint title - even though he did not win any sprints all season.
With men and women each racing twice this weekend at Holmenkollen - pursuits on Saturday and mass starts on Sunday - it is likely that we will see some cutthroat racing for the men's overall and discipline titles.
The first competition after the Games occurred on the up-and-down tracks at Pokljuka, Slovenia, where the winter weather brutalized all the racers. Slovenian biathletes acquitted themselves well on their home snow, though they did not win any podium spots. Shaking off their relative doldrums at the Games, Poiree and Bjorndalen vied for the top spots in all the races. The men's sprint was decided by Ole Einar Bjorndalen's ski speed. Though he shot relatively poorly, he outraced Raphael Poiree to take the gold as Poiree had distanced Swede Carl Johan Bergman for the silver. The women's sprint went in different fashion to Linda Tjorhom (Norway), whose uneven form peaked with clean shooting and fast skiing. She took the win by 3.2 seconds over Sandrine Bailly (France); Olympic sprint champion Florence Baverel-Robert finished a distant third.
A few days later in the men's pursuit, the same three men, starting at the front of the pack, maintained their advantage with good skiing and reliable shooting. After the last session on the range, Poiree, Bjorndalen, and Bergman were all in contention for the win. No man could push hard enough to break up the trio, so they entered the finishing straight almost three abreast. The narrowness of the course prevented Bergman from truly joining the sprint, however, leaving it the two great rivals to lunge for the line. A review of the finish-line photo confirmed Bjorndalen's victory, which drew him to within three points of Poiree in the hunt for the overall title. The women's pursuit also involved most of the principals from the sprint. This time, though, Sandine Bailly finished first, skiing fast enough to overcome some bad shooting in the last session. Germans Kati Wilhelm and Katrin Apel, who also missed at inopportune times, finished second and third. The race extended Wilhelm's lead in the overall title chase, and promoted Bailly to second, just in front of Anna Carin Olofsson of Sweden.
At Pokljuka, the mixed relay - with racers alternating woman-man-woman-man over four loops - was offered as a world championship for only the second time - this time, in a raging blizzard that played havoc on the shooting range. Slovenia was in the top three all the way to the anchor leg, but Russia took advantage of poor shooting by Sandrine Bailly (France) to seize the lead and then surge away on the flawless gunnery and fast skiing of their anchorman, Nikolai Kruglov. Russia thus defended its title in the discipline, having won the inaugural event at Khanty-Mansiisk, Russia, last season. Norway, with Bjorndalen skiing last and shooting well, took second and France, with Poiree skiing better than he was shooting, took third.
Moving north to Kontiolahti, the next set of events saw the rivalry between Bjorndalen and Poiree sharpen to almost unbearable levels. First, though, the Swedes Anna Carin Olofsson and Johan Bergman showed off. After they won the men's and women's sprint events, Olofsson also took the pursuit sequel, her sixth win of the season and confirmation of her standing in the sport's elite. By finishing sixth in the sprint and second in the pursuit, Kati Wilhelm took the titles in those two disciplines, but lost a bit of ground to Olofsson in the chase for the overall competition. In the men's pursuit, Bergman slid out of out of the leading group and permitted Bjorndalen and Poiree to shoot and ski into a tie as they started the last loop. Bjorndalen remorselessly accelerated again and again to shake off the French racer, leaving Poiree with nothing for a final sprint. With the win, Bjorndalen trimmed Poiree's leads in the overall and pursuit rankings.
The next day's men's mass start allowed Poiree to exact some revenge. The race came down to the final shoot, where the Frenchman shot clear but the Norwegian missed two. Ahead of both of them, Pole Tomasz Sikora shot inerrantly and sped away for the win. Taking second to Bjorndalen's third, Poiree maintained 21-point advantages over the Norwegian in the overall title and mass start competitions. In the women's mass start race, Belarusian Olena Zubrilova took a long win over Kati Wilhelm. Displaying incredible consistency, Zubrilova left Kontiolahti with a full complement of medals: a silver in the sprint, a bronze in the pursuit, and the gold in the mass start. Racing well one country too late, Slovenian Tadeja Brankovic took third in the mass start.
With Kati Wilhelm's lead for the overall title so large, the season-ending events at Oslo were much less important than they were for the men. Martina Glagow demonstrated her strength in the discipline and her value to the strong German women's team by shooting clean to narrowly win the women's sprint event. On the other hand, Bjorndalen missed one shot in the men's sprint but still won by an enormous gap of more than 40 seconds. In both races, the winners were accompanied to the podium by some new faces. Michela Ponza (Italy) and Ekaterina Ivanova (Belarus) finished within four seconds of Glagow, while Ilmar Bricis (Latvia - a consistent racer who never quite makes it onto the podium) and newcomer Mattias Nilsson, Jr. (Sweden) finished second and third behind Bjorndalen Separated by only a few points, both Bjorndalen and Poiree had motivation to race well in the sprint. Only the Norwegian delivered, though, and took over the yellow bib of the overall cup leader from Poiree, who was perhaps still suffering from Kontiolahti and failed to earn any points. Finishing fifth, Tomasz Sikora took the sprint title - even though he did not win any sprints all season.
With men and women each racing twice this weekend at Holmenkollen - pursuits on Saturday and mass starts on Sunday - it is likely that we will see some cutthroat racing for the men's overall and discipline titles.
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