It feels too good to be true. After an incredible week in Ruhpolding, in really every sense, the World Cup moves on to one of the most highly regarded stops in Antholz. You’ll be hard pressed to find somebody, athlete or fan, who doesn’t love Antholz. From the beautiful vistas to the generally terrific racing, it’s always a good stop and one I personally look forward to every season!
Schedule:
– Thursday January 18: Men’s Short Individual
– Friday January 19: Women’s Individual
– Saturday January 20: Single Mixed Relay (W+M) + Mixed Relay (W+M)
– Sunday January 21: Men’s Mass Start + Women’s Mass Start
Course Overview:
– Stadium altitude: 1634 meters
– Stadium capacity: 15,000 spectators
From the gallery above you will see five images.
1) This is the overall course map with all courses laid on top of each other. I think this gives a really nice overview of the lay out and profile of the entire venue.
2) This is the 3km loop used on Thursday for the Men’s Short Individual and the again on Sunday for the Men’s Mass Start.
3) Here we have the 2.5km loop for the Women’s Short Individual on Friday and the Women’s Mass Start on Sunday.
4) This is the tiny 1.5km loop used for the Single Mixed Relay on Saturday.
5) The 2km track for the Mixed Relay on Saturday.
In general the track at Antholz is absolutely beloved by athletes and fans alike. It is stunning to behold and the athletes seem to appreciate it as a fair challenge. It is so loved that we actually had to start asking athletes to name a different favorite track during interviews. The most famous and well known athlete who really doesn’t like Antholz though is current Yellow bib wearer Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold.
Now just because everybody likes it doesn’t mean that it is an easy track. It certainly is not. Certainly a step up from Ruhpolding. But it is almost always in excellent condition. There is plenty of climbing but nothing outrageous. The range is fair. It’s a good test of biathlon.
Weather
Looks like it should be a pretty good weather weekend all around. We should have good conditions for every race and with it getting so cold at night they should be able to keep the track in excellent shape.
Wind might kick up just a touch on Friday during the Women’s Short Individual. Hopefully not during the race though!
So far this season it seems like the skis and wax have sometimes played a big role and sometimes not. The great thing is it really isn’t that much different than a normal season!
News and Notes
1) Welcome Back Dorothea Wierer – Absent from the World Cup since last competing in Hochfilzen the two time Overall Champion, and universally popular athlete returns for the competitions on her home snow in Antholz. This has been an immensely trying season for Wierer as she got sick shortly before the season got underway. She made a go of it in Oestersund and Hochfilzen but was plainly nowhere near her best. Rather than continue the struggle she went home before the third week of competition. She’s been continuing to train but has suffered more illness as recently as two weeks ago. Hopefully she’s found a little something and can work some magic. We won’t expect miracles but just seeing her out there again is all we need. At this stage in her career who knows how many more opportunities we have left?
2) Ida Lien Returns – When we think about triumphant returns this season we have to now include Ida Lien. She struggled significantly with her shooting last season and throughout the lead up to this campaign. It was such a rough go of it that she ended up on the Norwegian National circuit rather than that IBU Cup. However, after rejoining the IBU Cup squad in Sjusjoen in December she has looked a bit more solid. She has still had some difficulty shooting but overall she’s been more settled. She’s managed to find the podium four times in eight races including both races last weekend. The Norwegians may still be searching for a fourth for their women’s relay so a great weekend here may possibly land Ida Lien in Nove Mesto? It’s a stretch but if she is good enough this weekend the coaches will at the very least have to have the conversation.
3) German Women Carousel – Almost every week there seems to be a pretty significant change to the makeup of the roster of the German women. This week we see a few moves including: Hanna Kebinger returning home to train and attempt to get healthy and regain her form. She did a really credible job anchoring the relay in Ruhpolding but was quite clearly well off the form she flashed last season. Hopefully she comes back refreshed and renewed either in trimester 3 or next season! Julia Tannheimer is going home to get ready for school exams (she is just 18!). We’ll see her again at Junior Worlds and maybe at the IBU Cup stop in Arber. Taking their places will be the other 2 members of what the German team hopes will be a future core, Selina Grotian and Johanna Puff.
4) Niklas Hartweg- this poor man just is having the worst luck. After an incredible 2022-2023 season that saw him win the u25 globe in the most thrilling fashion this year’s campaign has been mired by illness. Just as he started to show his form again in Ruhpolding he’s been struck down again by illness. Here’s hoping he can get right again by Worlds and have a terrific third trimester!
Recent History
Women’s Repeat Podium Finishers Last 5 Competitions
– Includes 2020 World Championships
– Does not include retired or ineligible athletes
- JT Bø: 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈🥈🥈
- Quintin Fillon Maillet: 🥇🥈🥈🥈🥉🥉
- Sturla Holm Lægreid: 🥈🥈🥉🥉
- Emilien Jacquelin: 🥇🥉
- Martin Ponsiluoma: 🥈🥉
- Antonin Guigonnat: 🥈🥉
- Benedikt Doll: 🥇
- Jakov Fak: 🥉
Men’s Repeat Podium Finishers Last 5 Competitions
– Includes 2020 World Championships
– Does not include retired or ineligible athletes
- Dorothea Wierer: 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥈
- Julia Simon: 🥇🥈
- Marketa Davidova: 🥇🥈
- Lisa Hauser: 🥇🥉
- Hanna Öberg: 🥈🥉
- Lisa Vittozzi: 🥈🥉
- Elvira Öberg: 🥉🥉
- Justine Braisaz-Bouchet: 🥇
- Yulia Dzhima: 🥈
- Mona Brorsson: 🥉
- Lucie Charvatova: 🥉
Antholz is a venue for the champions. At least that’s the way it looks from this limited sample size. However it also seems to serve up the odd podium every once in awhile, particularly because it is oftentimes the site of one of the rare Individuals. While JT Bø and Doro Wierer dominate the list with Laegreid and QFM counting many high finishes as well (and retired greats like Fourcade and Roeiseland had many high finishes as well that we didn’t display here because they aren’t racing) we also saw podium finishes like those from Brorsson and Charvatova. Prior to last week those were the only two podiums for those two women combined. Also interestingly enough both had very good races in Ruhpolding…
What does that mean for us this week when JT Bø and Wierer, while competing, aren’t at their peaks (Wierer not even close)? For me it means that I’ll be using this as a guide that Antholz selects for the strong, but looking at who the strong are right now. You’ll note Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Simon with victories here before they were this good. Those are high on my list. But also Yulia Dzhima has been looking good and might have a surprise top 10 in the Short Individual or a very on form Mona Brorsson.
Recent Memorable Moments/Performances
(Sorry I couldn’t get to this part this week! So you’ll have to use your own memories 😃)
Mild Predictions:
These aren’t take them to the bank statements, just things I am considering.
- Lisa Vittozzi, Lisa Vittozzi, Lisa Vittozzi. If this was a Hollywood sports movie this is how it would be set up right? She gets a Short Individual which should play well for her and a Mass Start at home. Two great races and she’s just on the edge of or wearing yellow. I would not be shocked at all to see her win one of these and I am absolutely expecting at least one podium finish.
- I really like this spot for both Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon. I don’t think either are at absolute peak of powers right now but they both have wins this trimester and are absolutely dangerous.
- Marketa Davidova definitely looks to be on the rise. I’m hoping we see at least a top 5 this week to really get excited for Worlds in Nove Mesto.
- I think JT Bø goes top 5 in the Short Individual and wins the Mass Start. He starts trimester 3 with a 90 point lead and even though he is clearly not his best form he will be difficult to track down.
- Sebastian Stalder gets a top 5 this week. I initially predicted Hartweg as well but unfortunately he’s once again sick.
- I would love to say Jacquelin has another great week. I think he benefited from a relatively easy track in Ruhpolding and this could be a bit of a tougher test.