Ostersund Preview

Dates: November 25 – December 3rd, 2023

Schedule:
– Saturday November 25: Single Mixed Relay (M+W)
Mixed Relay (M+W)
– Sunday November 26: Women’s Individual 15km
Men’s Individual 20km
– Wednesday November 29: Women’s 4x6km Relay
– Thursday November 30: Men’s 4×7.5km Relay
– Friday December 1: Women’s 7.5km Sprint
– Saturday December 2: Men’s 10km Sprint
– Sunday December 3: Women’s 10km Pursuit
Men’s 12.5km Pursuit

Course Overview:

– Stadium altitude: 355m
– Maximum altitude on course: 392m
– Lowest altitude on course: 345m
– Stadium capacity: 6000 spectators

Weather:
– Avg Temp for late November and early December: High -2C and Low -6C

Based on recent conversations with Kristian Wulff on part 2 of our season preview podcasts, you might expect that given the colder conditions the Norwegians won’t have the same wax/ski advantage they enjoyed in the preseason races. Doesn’t appear to be too snowy for race days. However the women’s relay does look like it might be blown around a bit by the wind. Also watch out for the Sprint on Friday for more wind.

Recent History

Men’s Multiple Podium Finishers Last 5 Competitions (Includes 2 weeks in 2020-2021)
– Does not include retired or ineligible athletes

Sebastian Samuelsson	🥇🥇🥈🥈
Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen	🥉🥇🥈🥉
Johannes Thingnes Boe	🥉🥈🥉🥇
Tarjei Boe	🥈🥉🥈
Sturla Holm Laegreid	🥇🥇
Lukas Hofer	🥇🥉
Emilien Jacquelin	🥈🥉
Quinton Fillon Maillet	🥉🥉

Women’s Repeat Podium Finishers Last 5 Years (Includes 2 weeks in 2020-2021)
– Does not include retired or ineligible athletes

Dorothea Wierer	🥇🥇🥈🥇
Marketa Davidova	🥇🥉
Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold	🥉🥇
Lisa Hauser	🥈🥈
Julia Simon	🥉🥉

Recent Memorable Moments/Performances

20-21 season finale Mass Starts – delayed several hours due to high winds, the mass starts finally kicked off late in the day. In the dying light JT Boe and young upstart Sturla Holm Laegreid went head to head with Laegreid, finally for the first time all season, showing a hint of nerves. JT Boe squeaked out his 3rd career Overall Globe win by the thinnest of margins. Meanwhile in the women’s races the Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold grabbed her only career win while Dorothea Wierer, normally confident and quick shooter, paused for one of the longest shooting times of her career, an obscene total shooting time of 2:15.

22-23 Men’s Individual – With JT Boe, in the midst of the greatest single season in biathlon history, sitting out with COVID, the door was opened for somebody else to finally win a race. Benedikt Doll stepped through with his first perfect 20/20 of his career. Meanwhile Tommaso Giacomel seemingly wrested the u25 globe away from Niklas Hartweg with his first career podium and a 2nd place finish.

21-22 Season Opening Men’s – Sebastian Samuelsson dominated the opening of the season winning 2 of the 4 solo races held over two consecutive weekends in Ostersund and finishing in 2nd in one of the remaining races. These performances propelled Samuelsson to actually the best individual record in Ostersund over the last few years. Meanwhile Emilien Jacquelin scored a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th!

22-23 Women’s Races – Dorothea Wierer went 1st-1st to make a late surge in the Women’s Overall Race. While she just ran out of steam in Oslo Wierer’s back to back victories got her just close enough to possibly make Julia Simon a little nervous. It was just the latest in a string of good performances for Wierer in Ostersund (2021 not withstanding). Lou Jeanmonnot, just like her fellow u25 Tommaso Giacomel, grabbed her best career finish with a 2nd place in the Mass Start.

Other Notes
– This has been a special place for Tommaso Giacomel. Each of the last two seasons he’s set a new career best. During the 21-22 season he had his first career top 10, a 7th place in the Pursuit. Last year it was his first career podium, a 2nd in the Individual.
– Emma Lunder has 13 career top 10’s. Of those 3 have come in Ostersund and all of those in the last 2 seasons.
– Franziska Preuss, returning to the Germany women (and hopefully finally healthy!) has 6 top 10’s in her last 9 races in Ostersund giving her 66.7%. If she’s back in form we might see signs early.
– Ida Lien has 4 career top 10’s. 2 of those are in Ostersund.
– Over the last few years Hanna Oeberg and Elvira Oeberg hold the only podium finishes for the consistently successful Swedish women, and just one each for the two of them. For whatever reason they just haven’t replicated the same success they’ve had elsewhere
– Not surprisingly the French and Norwegian men, consistently the top two squads over the last decade, perform quite well. However, it isn’t necessarily the men you would expect leading the way in podiums at Ostersund over the last few seasons. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen and recently retired Simon Desthieux led the way for their respective squads.
– It may look like there weren’t that many repeat podium finishers for the women, and that’s true. But to be fair Marte Roeiseland, Tiril Eckhoff, and Denise Herrman-Wick all retired with multiple recent Ostersund podiums. That’s something we’ll continue to see.

Predictions:
– This has been a special place for JT Boe wrapping up one of his Overall Globes here. However, he still falls behind Christiansen, and more importantly Samuelsson, in finishes here over the last five seasons. Samuelsson loves the early season and his home track.

– Hanna and Elvira Oeberg don’t particularly have a tremendous history here. While they generally start out skiing like banshees, could be a place where history catches up to them a little bit.

– The Italians have been on a run here, with Giacomel and Wierer performing exceptionally well here last season. Will that continue?

– Some of my young favorites performed great here last season including Lou Jeanmonnot, Polona Klemencic, Vanessa Voigt, Hanna Kebinger, and Sebastian Stalder (unlike Hartweg), and Eric Perrot. Could be able to start the season strong?