Soldier Hollow 2023-2024 Recap

Biathlon is back in North America! It’s a rare occurence so those of us biathlon fans on this side of the Atlantic Ocean have to take advantage of it. While the crowds weren’t the same magnificent sizes of those in Europe, the fans were as enthusiastic as you could hope for. The athletes brought their best performances this week and we were granted some of the best races of the season.

Also, it was really amazing to have a completely different type of geographical environment. The wide open spaces really made you feel the arid atmosphere and the rugged mountains in the backdrop were quite striking. It was really quite a sight and made the weekend even that much more enjoyable!

The Winners – Top Performers of the Week

Nations Medal Table for the Week

Nation	Medals
France	🥇🥇🥇🥈🥉🥉🥉
Norway	🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈🥉
Italy	🥈🥈
Germany	🥈🥉
Sweden	🥉

Athlete Medal Table for the Week

Athlete	Medals
Lou Jeanmonnot	🥇🥉
Emilien Jacquelin	🥈🥉
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet	🥇
Eric Perrot	🥇
Johannes Thingnes Bø	🥇
Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold	🥈
Lisa Vittozzi	🥈
Tarjei Bø	🥈
Johan-Olav Botn	🥉
Julia Simon	🥉

Women’s Athlete of the Week: Lou Jeanmonnot – The French women’s team is blessed with an abundance of talent. In fact, more and more they are beginning to resemble the Norwegian men. At present they have three of the top five women with Justine Braisaz-Bouchet in 3rd, Julia Simon in 4th, and Lou Jeanmonnot in 5th. The scary thing for the rest of the women in the world is that Jeanmonnot, the youngest of the top French women right now, may very well be the best of all of them. Had she not missed 2 races this season she would more than likely be in 3rd if not 2nd of the Overall. We’re not talking about her as being one of the best in the world in the future, we’re talking about her being one of the bets in the world right now. It’s her 2nd full season on the World Cup and she’s a legitimate contender for the Overall Globe.

This weekend was a perfect example of why she is already one of the best in the world. The results, 3rd and 1st, only tell part of the story. Her course time ranks this weekend were 3rd in both races. In her last nine races she has been top 5 in course time in seven races. She hit 29 of her 30 shots in non-relay races putting her at 96.7% for the weekend. More importantly though it was the confidence of her to hit 5/5 standing with the race on the line, standing right next to Lisa Vittozzi. She went just a little faster than Vittozzi and got away first. The race came down to a final sprint and Jeanmonnot benefitted from a small collision but got free for the victory and Vittozzi chose not to protest it.

She’s got the speed. She’s got the shooting. The only thing she doesn’t have (yet) is shooting speed. She averaged 36.8 seconds in the Sprint and 30.4 seconds in the Pursuit. This season her average shooting time is 30.1 seconds. For comparison Julia Simon averages 23.6 seconds. This means that in a four shot race she loses 28 seconds to Simon. She may make it up with extra hits, but with her shooting accuracy, shooting even a couple of seconds faster per shooting could make her neigh on unbeatable. The rest of the women in the world have to hope that doesn’t happen!

Men’s Athlete of the Week: Emilien Jacquelin – This weekend we had the absolutely quintessential Emilien Jacquelin experience. In the Women’s Relay it was the Emilien Jacquelin that we have seen far too much of this season. After a terrific first lap and clean shooting he went hard again. He pushed himself to within 3 seconds of the lead. Then a total collapse on the range lead him to have 2 penalty loops. The next lap he was 15th fastest on the course a full 34 seconds behind Tarjei Bø. It felt like just the “same old” Jacquelin that we’ve been seeing this season.

In the Sprint he came out looking like a completely different animal. Well not completely different. He started out fast, hit 5/5 prone, and then went even faster. Through the first two laps his course time ranks were 3rd and 1st. He then went 3/5 standing. This is normally when the Jacquelin we’ve seen lately would fall apart, but he didn’t! He put his head down and fought himself to what became his first podium finish of the season!

The Pursuit was the full experience. He starts out in 2nd place and goes 10/10 right off the bat. Immediately he goes hard with the skiing, just like you would expect with Jacquelin. He gets to the 3rd shooting and things go sideways. He was shooting fast but it didn’t seem to be in rhythm. He hit 2, missed 2, pulled back and shook his head, and then missed again. To his credit Jacquelin held it together on lap 4 and then hit his last 5 shots in just 17.1 seconds. He left the range with a 10 second lead but was completely drained. Just like we’ve seen so many times before Jacquelin was gobbled up on the tracks quickly on his last lap. But then once again to his incredible credit, he continued to push on and even was able to hold off Laegreid for another podium. The full Jacquelin.

Women’s Young Athlete of the Week: Anna Gandler – Boy is Anna Gandler looking more and more like a future contender. Over the last eight races these are her finishes: 11, 12, 19, 7, 15, 17, and then this weekend 6th (her first flower ceremony!) and 8th. Last year her goal was a top 10. This season she has four including three in her last five races and two in a single weekend!

Ever since the start of the World Championships her skiing is taking a solid step forward. She’s consistently now around the top 20. While that isn’t as good as some of her competitors it’s a great step for Gandler. Meanwhile, in this eight race stretch she has high less than 90% just one time, and in the Oslo Mass Start she still hit 85% in difficult conditions. Meanwhile her shooting times are getting faster and faster. She’s gone from an average shooting time near 32 seconds to around 29 seconds over the course of the season. Like Jeanmonnot she still has a way to go but she’s on a great path

Finally there is just the look of her. Just watch her right now and she looks magnificent. Her form on the range looks terrific (as you would expect with that shooting) and she looks smooth on the skis. It has been a terrific few weeks for Gandler and the future looks incredibly bright!

Men’s Young Athlete of the Week: Eric Perrot – Speaking of bright futures, Eric Perrot no longer appears to have a bright future because he has a bright now. Looking at the leading French men including Quintin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin its hard to say that any are racing better than Eric Perrot right now. Over his last eight races he has six top 10’s and now a win. You could argue Jacquelin and QFM maybe have better results but taking into account his age and trajectory Perrot looks like the man of the French team now.

This weekends Sprint was the first victory of his young career. He shot clean, and relatively quick, and ran 11th fastest on the track. It looked like it might be Jacquelin’s comeback win but Perrot stole it out from him with bib 30. While the Pursuit didn’t go as well falling from 1st to 8th, it was still another top 10 and another learning step.

So is Eric Perrot the best of the French men? Maybe not. That was probably too bold to say. Will Eric Perrot be the best French man next year? Now that’s a bet I would take.

Women’s Race of the Week: Pursuit – It’s a race that came down to a final sprint. Could it possibly be any other race? Not a chance. Interestingly though it never felt like there were a particularly large number of athletes who could win this one. As some of these races are it felt like a bit of a battle of attrition. JBB started out in the front but never put in a big surge to pull away and after 2 prone misses she fell back. Then Tandrevold had 3 misses on the first stand. The last two left standing at the front were, not coincidentally, two of the best shooters.

Vittozzi and Jeanmonnot came up for the last shoot side by side. It was a huge moment for them both. They both went clean. How extraordinary is that? All of the pressure knowing you’re shooting for the win and they both went clean. Simon and Braisaz-Bouchet who were in hot pursuit had one and two misses each. Even a perfect shooting from them would have been difficult to close down 44 seconds. But had Jeanmonnot and Vittozzi missed they were there to pounce. It didn’t matter though. Jeanmonnot and Vittozzi took the race to the line and Jeanmonnot’s final surge made the difference. She admittedly did make contact with Vittozzi by accident but Vittozzi didn’t make a protest so it did not appear to be a difference maker.

This account notwithstanding it was a thrilling conclusion!

Men’s Race of the Week: Pursuit – Now this seriously was a race that we all dream about. Some less seasoned or more shaky athletes at the front while JT Bø started 59 seconds back and in 17th. You could imagine nearly anything happening. And it really did.

Already recounted above the full Jacquelin experience. JT Bø spent the first three laps making up absolutely no time at all. He caught up to his brother after the first shooting and they stayed together for the midsection of the race. He was still 56 seconds behind Jacquelin, and still with Tarjei Bø, going into the third shooting. While his ultimate comeback was the result of Jacquelin’s shooting adventures, it’s worth noting that 15 other men started ahead of him and by the time he got to the range for shooting he was up to 5th. The story of his race was persistence not glory.

After Jacquelin’s shooting misadventures Laegreid and JT Bø went to the lead. They both had misses on the last shooting allowing Tarjei Bø and Jacquelin to close the gap. Jacquelin leading with JT Bø +10, Laegreid +13, and Tarjei Bø +17. JT Bø almost immediately closed the gap on Jacquelin and then surged around him. He shook free with bursts up the climbs.

It came down to three men racing for two positions. While Tarjei Bø, even at age 35 proved to be the strongest of the three, it was Jacquelin who held off Laegreid down the stretch. Laegreid has shown particularly good strength late in races to this was very impresses. Once again, this dry descriptions hardly does it justice, but you should absolutely make sure to watch this race.

Super Sprints

Yellow Bib Updates

1. Women’s Overall Race:
– Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold: 964
– Lisa Vittozzi: -73 = 25 points per race
– Justine Braisaz-Bouchet: -83 = 28 points per race
– Julia Simon: -106 = 36 points per race
– Lou Jeanmonnot: -136 = 46 points per race

This is in all likelihood a 3 woman race. Tandrevold owes Lou Jeanmonnot a gift of some sort after outsprinting Vittozzi in the Pursuit. With Vittozzi only getting 75 points for 2nd as opposed to 90 for winning it give Tandrevold much more room for error. For Vittozzi 25 points per race is much more difficult than 20 points per race would have been.

Tandrevold’s shakiness with the standing shooting, though, keeps this wide open. She appeared to have this solved after solid standing shooting from Oslo through the Soldier Hollow Sprint. She may very well have solid standing shooting again in Canmore but it isn’t hard to imagine her struggling once again. That leaves open a whole host of possibilities. Finishing 11th or worse gives only 30 points (or less) which means that if Tandrevold if finishing outside the top 10 then podiums by Vittozzi or Braisaz-Bouchet (or Simon or Jeanmonnot) cuts that deficit down in a hurry. It’s really not that hard to see it happening.

One other big variable is the depth of the women’s field. Just like this week with Jeanmonnot “stealing” 15 points from Vittozzi there are number of women who can leap up and steal points. Lena Haecki-Gross, Elvira, Voigt, Hanna, Preuss, and many more can all reach the podium taking valuable points away from the chasers. However if Tandrevold struggles, those same women, and many more inluding the likes of Knotten, Brorsson, Hettich-Walz, Gandler, and Vobornikova, can slide between Tandrevold and the other women and depressing Tandrevold’s desperately needed points.

One note: No less than Julia Simon herself stated that she was likely out of the Overall race and she is focusing on the Pursuit and Mass Start discipline globes. (To be fair if she were to do well enough to win both Pursuit and Mass Start globes she’s also helping herself significantly towards the Overall). And I included Lou Jeanmonnot today just because of her outstanding performance in Soldier Hollow and to show how close she could be if she hadn’t missed 2 races in Lenzerheide due to illness.

Long story short: Tandrevold remains the solid favorite but this race is far from over. However, if Tandrevold comes out with a podium in the Sprint then it’s basically over. The competition rests almost entirely on her rifle.

2. Men’s Overall Race:
– JT Bø: 992
– Tarjei Bø: -62 = 21 points per race

Remarkably so JT Bø expanded his lead this past weekend. It’s hard to imagine considering he finished 17th in the Sprint. Under the new system though 17th + 1st is worth more than 7th + 2nd. This was classic JT Bø. Just as the lead seemed like it was in major jeopardy he bounces back with a massive performance. After this I find it exceedingly difficult to believe that JT Bø won’t win the Overall. Even a poor Sprint next week and I still think he’ll do enough in the Pursuit and Mass Start to pull out the Overall. 21 points per race is a lot to ask for Tarjei.

3. Karoline Knotten – I just want to take a moment and appreciate what has turned into a truly remarkable season for Karoline Knotten. Before this year her prior best Overall finishes were 18th, 21st, and 29th. She was generally known as a good shooter, hitting normally 89% or more of her shots, with average ski speed.

Whatever she did this offseason was amazing. She still has her shooting hitting 89% with almost perfectly even standing/prone splits. She’s done that while slicing nearly a full second off her average shooting time which is no small feat! Meanwhile she’s gone from average skier to well above average. Prior to this season her best year end ski ranking was 47th. She currently ranks 21st putting her roughly on par with Tuuli Tomingas.

The end result is a massive career season. She currently ranks 8th in the Overall representing a huge leap forward. Her 5 top 5’s are more than she had in her entire career before this season (4). Even more impressive she has nearly doubled up her career total in top 10’s with 12 this season and 7 total before this year. She’s become a key fixture on the women’s relay team that took home the season title this year. All of this at age 29.

The moral of the story? It’s never too late to see something new and unexpected from a determined biathlete. Always leave yourself open to surprise and stories like Karoline Knotten will never cease to bring you biathlon joy.

4. US Biathlon on the Rise – The Men’s US Biathlon team is showing many signs of potential breakthroughs in the near future. It’s been a little bit of a down period since the retirements of Lowell Bailey and Tim Burke. However, the current group gives great reasons to be optimistic.

Campbell Wright is clearly the hope of the future (and the present). Over the last 11 races these are his finishes: 12, 17, 78, 11, 12, 20, 18, 8, 18, 6, 14. That’s 10/11 top 20’s with a handful of new career bests, two top 10’s and a Flower ceremony. The best part about it is that he isn’t getting “backdoor” top 20’s. He’s in the mix in these races and getting great experience being in the fight. This is now the 3rd season we’ve been talking about him and he’s still just 21 years old.

The rest of the core of the team remains quite young as well. Sean Doherty is the veteran of the group at just 28 years old. It hasn’t been the absolutely best season for him on a solo level but on the relays he continues to perform at a very high level. Vincent Bonacci is 24 and has started to be integrated into the relay team over the season. Meanwhile, 22 year old Maxime Germaine is waiting in the wings with some top performances of his own on the IBU Cup this season including 10th in the European Championships Individual and 2 top 11’s in Obertilliach two weeks ago.

The US Men’s relay team’s last two finishes were 5th at the World Championships and 4th in Soldier Hollow. Those tie for the 2nd and 3rd best finishes of all time for the team with the 4th place being the best finish since 1991. The US Men have NEVER had 2 top 5 finishes in the same season.

All in all things are looking up!

5. Mixed Up Schedules – It used to be a little more common but this is the first time this season where we had Relays and Sprints on the same days. This means that on Friday we saw the Men’s Relay and the Women’s Sprint and then on Saturday the Women’s Relay and the Men’s Sprint.

As a fan this was awesome. These are such different types of races and it was really enjoyable to get these varied experiences on the same day. I enjoyed watching it.

However, it led to a situation where the women had a Sprint Friday and Pursuit on Sunday with the Relay in between. The top women approached the women quite differently. Ingrid Tandrevold anchored the Norwegian women to victory and ultimately the relay discipline crown. Lou Jeanmonnot anchored the French women and definitely raced well.

On the other hand we had the Braisaz-Bouchet, Simon, and Vittozzi. Justine Braisaz-Bouchet raced but she certainly didn’t look like she was at 100%. I would never accuse her of not putting everything into it but she finished 17 seconds behind Ida Lien on the 3rd lap of the relay. Clearly she wasn’t at 100%. Julia Simon and Lisa Vittozzi took the race off.

It’s hard to say too much that racing the relay hurt Tandrevold and Braisaz-Bouchet because Jeanmonnot raced as well and won the Pursuit. However Simon and Vittozzi would almost certainly have benefited from the extra rest day going into the Pursuit and they finished 2nd and 3rd.

As a fan it was interesting. However, it may not be something we want to continue to do especially late in the season and especially at 1700m.

6. Biathlon T-Rex – All biathlon venues have a mascot. The Biathlon T-Rex is the best.

Flower Ceremony – We’ll recap some top finishes from the week!

🥇Eric Perrot – Sprint. First career win and 2nd career podium after 22-23 Oestersund Mass Start

🥉Johan-Olav Botn – Sprint. First career podium. Followed that up with a 10th in the Pursuit. A really nice jump from his adventures in Oberhof (extra penalty loop and early start penalty in the Pursuit) where he finished 26th and 24th.

4th US Men’s Relay – 2nd best finish ever. Best finish since 1991. See more above

4th Austrian Women’s Relay – This is the best ever finish. They had two 5th place finishes last season which were the best ever at that point. Lots of youth coming up and Lisa Hauser isn’t old yet so maybe a podium coming next season?

6th Anna Gandler Sprint – It’s her first time in the Flower Ceremony. Previously had 7th x2 in the 22-23 Oslo Mass Start and the Nove Mesto Worlds Mass Start. Top 5 coming up next! Also of note she has 4 top 10’s this season after her first career top 10 in the last race of the 22-23 season. She’s on the way up!

6th Campbell Wright Sprint – Just like Anna Gandler he just keeps going up and up. This surpasses his last career best of 8th that he set all the way back…last week.

6th Tuuli Tomingas Pursuit – She ties her career best from the 2023 Oberhof Worlds Individual! She also is set to have the best Overall finish of any Estonian woman.

8th Aita Gasparin Sprint – She’s 30 years old and has 159 non-relay races but she sets a new career best! It surpasses her 9th place finish in the 19-20 Pokljuka Individual.

15th Regina Ermits Sprint – This isn’t a career best but she has finished 12, 13, 15, and 19 all in her last 5 races. Those are her four best ever finishes. This is really nice career peak for Ermits right now!

18th Kristo Siimer Sprint – This is his 2nd best ever finish behind his 14th in the Nove Mesto Worlds Individual. It’s worth noting because his 3rd best ever finish was 34th which was this week in the Pursuit. After that it is 42. So this 18th along with the 14th is a real stand out!

Hey look at that! 3 Estonians. Plus the Estonian women’s relay in Nove Mesto. This has been a great Estonia season!