A Weekend of Unforgettable Memories

It’s been four days but I still can’t believe that it all happened. I can’t believe that JT Boe won a race in his last weekend. I can’t believe he and Tarjei Boe retired. I can’t believe that we had such an incredible final weekend of racing in the Women’s Overall. I can’t believe that I was there for all of it.

Ever since walking off the grounds of the venue on Sunday evening I have been trying to organize my thoughts. I want to make sure I can secure them for the rest of my life. I want to be able to recall those images, the sounds, the smells…those feelings forever. So, in an attempt to do that I’m going to run through a list of some of my favorite moments from my time in Oslo-Holmenkollen.

I want to stress that these are not listed in any particular order and certainly not by importance. This is just how they came to my mind as I set down to write this all out. This is a LONG list and it isn’t even near comprehensive. I’ll try to keep it relatively brief. Feel free to scroll around and jump around.

RJ Weise – I said that these weren’t in any particular order but that’s not entirely true. I would be remiss if I put my experience with RJ anywhere other than the top. I quite literally would not be here doing this if he wasn’t around. One of my first “online” biathlon friends he and I have been chatting about biathlon for five years now. It led to our podcast and quite literally I wouldn’t have been in Holmenkollen without him. We’ve had multiple efforts to finally meet up in the real world that have failed. This started with a “1% chance” that we would go but it turned into reality. RJ is just as good of a person as you would expect. There are very few people that I could spend four days in such close quarters with, but I’m more than happy to say that RJ is not only one of those people, but one with whom I’m actively planning more trips!

Tobias Torgersen – Once again I am breaking my own rule because my experience with Tobias surpassed anything I ever could have dreamt of. Tobias has been a multiple time guest on the podcast and we’ve chatted in DM’s a bit over the last two seasons so we knew each other a little bit. Nothing could have prepared me for how warm and gracious Coach Torgersen would be though. Every time he saw us he sought us out for a chat. It didn’t matter where we ran into each other, after a race, before a race, at the hotel, it didn’t matter. He came over and chatted with us for far longer than was necessary. He let us behind the scenes of his thinking and his team. He shoed for everybody to see his absolute joy at Natalia Sidorowicz’s successes this weekend! He introduced us to people he had no need to including but not limited to his brother and cousin, Darya Domracheyva Bjoerndalen and her kids, Tiril Eckhoff, Max Cobb and Olle Dahlin, and many more. He was warm like a brother we hadn’t seen in ages. Quite simply, Tobias Torgersen is a prince among men and I’m honored and thankful to know him.

Saying goodbye to Tarjei Bø – One of the many people that Tobias went out of his way to introduce us to was Tarjei Bo. Long after the Goodbye Ceremony had concluded as athletes, coaches, techs, and family were milling about on the snowy infield of the Holmenkollen arena, we were chatting with Tobias and his family. The two honored men, JT and Tarjei Boe, still donning their Norwegian flag royal robes, were making their way around being congratulated by…well pretty much everyone. They were celebrating and taking selfies with anybody who asked, laughing and crying with their friends who had shared their journey with them.

As they were making their way around Tarjei came by to talk with Tobias who he of course has known for a very long time. I stood to the side not wanting to interrupt them. Tobias apparently said something to Tarjei in Norwegian explaining to him how meaningful Tarjei has been in my life. Tarjei turns around and comes right up to me. He shakes my hand and I finally get to tell him what it meant to me to see him succeeding in that 2010-2011 season. How his success paralleled my own success and how I’ve always felt a connection with him these many years. In many ways without Tarjei I’m not writing this right now and I certainly wouldn’t have been in Holmenkollen on that glorious Sunday afternoon.

It all happened so fast but I will never forget the look at Tarjei’s face as I thanked him. Equal parts kind, acknowledging, and also questioning “Who is this idiot?!?” It was everything I could have hoped for and I owe it all to Tobias.

Emma Lunder’s final races and all the time she spend with us – It hit me late on Sunday afternoon as I watched her do her lap of honor that I would never see Emma Lunder race again. I’m not Canadian (yet) but she’s always been somebody I’ve highly respected. Then last summer we had the opportunity to have a long chat with her on the podcast and I became a very big fan of hers. This week we had many chances (as documented below) to stand around and chat with Emma and her teammates in a completely casual manner.

First off, Emma is as nice as they come. This was the last week of racing of her career and she had family in town for the events and she still never failed to spend far longer with us than she had to. Every time she was so happy to chat and laugh and really open the doors to show us everything that she was feeling on this momentous week. In these instances I think my favorite moment was when we were chatting about her hitting her last 5 shots of her career and that no matter what she can always say that. The casual fan may not remember Emma Lunder’s career but I certainly will never forget one of the great recent Canadian biathletes. A two time Olympian with 13 career top 10’s including six in her magical 2022-2023 season when she finished 23rd in the Overall she’s everything you hope for in a biathlete. They say never meet your heroes, but in Emma’s case that couldn’t be further from the truth. Here’s to hoping that’s not the last time we meet!

Campbell Wright – Is there anybody funnier in the sport than Campbell Wright? I certainly can’t think of anybody off the top of my head. Campbell has quickly become a fan favorite in biathlon and it’s easy to see why. As an American it was the most wild thing to hear a crowd full of Norwegian, German, French, Swedish fans, as well as those from all over the world, absolutely roar when Campbell Wright was mentioned on the PA or he came in for a finish.

He’s so personable. He lets you right into his thought process. Every time we saw him he would immediately just starting chatting away with us and when he did you felt like the most important person in his world at that moment. A few of our favorite moments with him this week:
– “Well I shot like a bag of shit huh?” after his Sprint race. This happened while we were headed to the interview area and he was walking down in front of all of the fans.
– “During the 3rd lap my legs were GONE!” This was during the Pursuit in which he ended up finishing 10th after a big time comeback.
– Everything that happened in the u23 ceremony!

Meeting Christophe and Lizzie and so many others – Oslo-Holmenkollen 2025 proved to be a bit of a biathlon podcast reunion! In the weeks leading into the event we all started chatting about going. Christophe of course was the first to commit. Then me. Then finally RJ and Lizzie. I already discussed RJ but it was just a real pleasure to get to spend time with Christophe and Lizzie. I know you’ll be stunned to hear this but they are EXACTLY like you think they are. Really they are. Lizzie is so warm. She just wants to share her true enthusiasm for biathlon and life. There is just such a huge energy that comes out of her! Christophe is no less ready and willing to embrace you and bring you into the family. I wasn’t able to spend nearly as much time with them as I wanted to. The interviews and such ended up taking far longer than I anticipated. I desperately need them to go to another biathlon weekend so we can spend more time together!

Standing next to Emma Lunder, Pascale Paradis, Zachary Connelly, and Logan Pletz during the “Moment” – During the last lap of the race everybody standing on the bridge gravitated towards the side of the course where Preuss and Jeanmonnot would emerge as they came up along the side of the Bo Haugen. They were about to come up and make the turn into the stadium and all of the latest updates from the PA announcement had been that after Jeanmonnot made a Sprint up the hill they had matched each other step for step. This was setting up for a spring to the finish. I found myself drawn to the Canadian contingent and I ended up standing next to the four I noted above. I’m not sure why exactly but they felt like “my group.”

I was standing alongside of them when suddenly Jeanmonnot was down sitting on the snow. At first we couldn’t even absorb that it happened. Jeanmonnot was down, Elvira was coming around, and Preuss was going down the straightaway towards the range. Franziska Preuss was running away and was about to win the 2024-2025 Women’s Overall. An incredible season long race, an incredible Mass Start, all fell apart before the Sprint we seemed destined to see. Instead it was just…over. None of us could believe what happened. There were stunned mutterings throughout the entire group. We were all astounded. I just remember talking to Emma Lunder and saying something to the effect of, “I didn’t care who won but I just didn’t want it to end like that…” She agreed. We all agreed.

Watching Preuß and Jeanmonnot – As long as I live and watch and care about biathlon I don’t know that I will forget this moment. We had just watched an unbelievable race that ended in the most stunning and heartbreaking way. None of the people I was standing around could believe what we had just seen over the last 35 minutes or so. We were just sort of standing there watching. And we saw Preuss do the most amazing thing as she walks over, kneels next to Jeanmonnot and puts her arm around her. We all sort of watched, absolutely entranced by the scene. They embraced on the snow and then stood side by side at the finish line as the last few women finished up. It was a beautiful moment and I cannot believe I watched it play out right in front of me.

Finally meeting Baiba – The second person that we ever interviewed for the podcast was Baiba Bendika. Over the last three years I’ve chatted with her frequently. She has answered innumerable questions, she’s been open telling me about what’s going on in her life and how it has affected her racing, and we’ve just talked about what it’s like to be parents of little kids. She’s been a friend and I’ve really appreciated it. I know that she was really excited about get home to her family that she’s been missing so much lately so we weren’t able to spend too much time together. But I was able to give her a small gift for her little boy. She was so sweet about everything and I was so happy to finally get a chance to chat with her.

Spike ball and Chatting with Sandra Flunger and Lea Meier – On the morning of the Sprint we were sitting out in the sun outside the hotel where most of the athletes were staying when the Swiss women came out and started playing spike ball. This turned into a very competitive game with Lena Haecki-Gross quite nearly diving for the ball at one point. Maya Cloetens came over and joined in that day. She had never played before but she clearly got the hang of it and was asking if she could keep playing with them. On their way back into the hotel I asked Lea Meier if this was something they play all the time and she said they play every day! She also joked “we’re much better biathletes than spike ball players, and we’re not even good biathletes!” I assured that in fact they are very very good biathletes. That day they put three women in the top 10 of the Sprint!

The next day the girls were once again playing spike ball but they were joined by the coaches including Sandra Flunger who was kicking a football around. It was such a fun loving group. I asked Coach Flunger about who started the spike ball and she said that she started them on it this season. She said that at first the girls weren’t sure about it and didn’t like it, but now they are beating the boys in competition! After just that short interaction with Coach Flunger I can see why so many athletes like her. She’s a really playful spirit and clearly is invested in the mental and social health of the athletes as much as their physical training.

QFM’s girlfriend surprised him – On Friday morning we were sitting in the lobby of the Holmenkollen hotel when Quentin Fillon Maillet came over and was chatting with a gentleman. As he was chatting a woman came over and stood very close to him. He looked over and a HUGE smile came over his face and he pulled her in for an embrace and a kiss. Of course it turned out it was his girlfriend. We asked him about this after the Sprint and he told us he wasn’t expecting her to show up until Saturday morning and she came in early for a surprise. He truly looked surprised and overjoyed to see her there that morning. These are the sorts of moments I loved so much from this weekend, getting to see behind the scenes and see their “real lives.” It was such a touching moment.

Standing with the Canadian team during the Last Dance – For the last race of the season RJ and I headed back out along the course where most of the teams were gathered. As the athletes leave the range/penalty loop they head straight up and out of the stadium. On the way they go over a bridge which is actually over the media center. This is where most of the athletes/techs/coaches come because you can see the shooting, you can see the athletes into and out of the range, and you actually have a decent look at the racers as they are skiing along up in the hills.

As the last race got underway we just found ourselves drawn to the Canadians who we had chatted with so often. They are of course all incredible friendly. We watched as JT Boe led the way out of the stadium. We watched as Emilien Jacquelin did Jacquelin things including blasting away for a big lead, as is his custom, on lap 2. In fact I won’t name names but I heard a couple of athletes in the crowd taking a side bet on how when he would blow up. One of the athletes nailed it by the way including the number of misses in the 3rd shoot. I just want to point out that the athletes are incredibly supportive. As Nik Hartweg was struggling through the race clearly under the weather they all cheered him every time he passed by. This was one of those moments where I just kept thinking “love this sport!” These athletes are so relatable. They are all such normal people. They are all so willing to embrace anybody who comes to them with a positive approach to the sport. I cannot wait to have this opportunity again.

Chatting with Suvi Minkkinen – By this point if you’ve followed by posts at all you know how much of a fan of Suvi Minkkinen I’ve been. Well one of my dreams came true and I was able to have a few brief chats with Suvi. One of them is posted below! She was every bit as wonderful as I could have hoped. Each time genuinely happy to stop and have a brief chat even if she didn’t know at all who we were!

Lotte Lie was so Awesome – One of the “hidden gems” of the biathlon family is Lotte Lie. She has the biggest smile and every time she stopped to chat with us we got to see it. We chatted with her after each race and she was happier and happier to stand around and chat each time. Clearly she was tired after a long grueling season but I really don’t think I’ve seen a bigger smile. Such a joy!

JT Bø Is a True Champion – Johannes Thingnes Boe was a fantastic champion of the sport not just for the way in which he dominated on the course but the way he treated everybody off of it. He’s the greatest active biathlete that we have and after winning what turned out to be the last victory of his career he patiently took time to answer every question from every media member in the long long loooooong line that day. He was clearly tired because shortly after we finished he met with the Norwegian media contacts who shuffled him off for pictures with this Sprint globe. We could clearly hear him say with exhaustion clear in his voice, “Really? Do we have to do it now?” Here are a couple of samples of the various interview we had with JT Boe this week:

Sturla Receives the Isolated Pursuit Globe – One of the little fun things we’ve been doing this season on the podcast has been RJ tracking who would win the “Isolated Pursuit discipline.” If you aren’t familiar with it this looks at who does best in a Pursuit if you remove the stagger. Obviously it’s not totally relevant (right now) because oftentimes the leaders are able to cruise to the finish without having to push the entire last lap. This allows those further back in the pack who are pushing the entire last lap to have better times for that particular race. However, in a dream world where it does exist as a “real globe” it might prompt the leaders to push the entire last lap to secure their positions for this discipline!

Regardless the very first winners of our globes this season were Sturla Holm Laegreid and Lou Jeanmonnot. Lou didn’t get to accept her globe until well after the Women’s race, which was the 2nd race of the day, and she was clearly tired. She definitely was curious and happy to see it but also obviously tired. Sturla was completely intrigued. He definitely was interested in “what is this crazy thing.” He joked with us a little bit and seemed completely happy to add it to his trophies for the week! We even caught a glimpse of it in his bag later so we know it made it home and not directly into the trash haha!

Oceane Michelon – Very nice interaction with her after she won the u23 Globe. She was carrying about 12 things at once and was clearly struggling with it all. Fortunately her teammates came to her rescue. Unfortunately I spoke too quickly and she was trying to switch from French to English so our interaction was relatively brief and choppy but she was so sweet to us!

Talking to Lou after her fall – This was one of the moments I had been dreading all weekend. I’m not kdding when I say I literally lost sleep on Saturday night wondering how I would be able to talk to whomever lost the Globe. Eventually one of these woman was going to have to lose right? I just didn’t expect it to happen quite in this manner which made it all the worse.

Lou was amazing that afternoon. She took more time than she had to with everybody. Her press person wasn’t the nicest but she seemed to ignore him at times and continued to chat and answer questions when nobody would have blamed her one bit for just walking away. When she got to us I didn’t have any questions for her. I simply told her that I’m so incredibly proud of her. I told her that I have a young daughter at home and I am so happy that one of the first great athletes she’s going to grow up watching is Lou Jeanmonnot. I told her that she is an amazing role model and I’m so happy that she is the way she is so my daughter can have a great hero. I don’t know that it will sink in for her now but I hope she remembers it some day.

Talking to Lou’s family – As the Women’s Globe ceremonies were taking place we were fortunate to be able to stand on the snow in the infield amongst the athletes, coaches and techs. After her part in the ceremonies were complete Lou Jeanmonnot came back to stand with her family and and teammates who by pure happenstance happened to be standing behind us and to our left. Lou came right over and got a big big hug from her mom. I think, from the appearance of the hug, this might have been the first time they had been together since the race. It was such a genuine moment of a kid needing a hug from their mom. A few minutes later Lou had moved on to stand with Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and a few other teammates while her parents now stood alone. I took that moment to go to them and tell them exactly what I had told Lou herself, that their daughter is an amazing woman and I’m so proud of her and I am genuinely pleased that my daughter will grow up watching her.

Watching races at night – Every evening, after we had squeezed every ounce of daylight out of the venue, RJ and I would head back down into Oslo for the evening. Usually we would walk around, maybe do some touristy things, before sitting down for dinner. Of course we are two biathlon obsessed individuals so what did we do? Put on the races on the iPad so we could rewatch! Now we got to see all of the details that we missed like exactly how far off the misses were and what happened out on the loops out of sight of the arena. Yes, we are obsessed haha!

Natalia Sidorowicz – She is one more wonderful person in this biathlon family. We only briefly said hello to her on Friday. However, the next day she quietly said “Hi” as she passed by. We hadn’t even turned and she could have only barely seen us, but she recognized us and remembered us. She spent more time with us than we could have hoped for after the Pursuit and the Mass Start. It was such a joy to see her after the Mass Start when she was the only woman to hit all 20 shots. She was so excited! Tobias was over the moon for her. It was so much fun to see them celebrate. Nati was an incredibly kind to us and I am really excited to see her continue to grow over the next several seasons.

Meeting JT Bø’s in-laws (and daughter) – It was a gorgeous Saturday morning and RJ and I, after hiking up into the hills of Holmenkollen, were lounging around on the Adirondack chairs outside the Scandic Holmenkollen hotel when I caught sight of what appeared to be a couple and either their daughter or granddaughter. At that particular moment I was very much missing my own kids and I commented to RJ on how sweet they looked. They were clearly having a wonderful morning as the, what appeared to be about 18 month old girl toddled around the grass, climbed on benches, and generally had a fantastic time.

Eventually they came over to take a picture in front of the amazing views of the Oslo harbor from the hotel overlook. Seeing this I hopped up go to help them out and snap a picture for them. They were grateful and we got to chatting. It turns out the beautiful family I had been watching this whole time were JT Boe’s mother and father in-law and his beautiful 18 month old girl. We had a wonderful little chat talking about how amazing it is to be a father and how while I’ll be sad to no longer have JT Boe racing, I’m so so happy that he gets to focus this much more time on his family. I won’t share any of the details we discussed but Johannes is per his in-laws and incredibly loving dad, and I’m so happy that he gets to spend more time with the people he clearly loves so much!

German Family Becomes our Family – Speaking of family, there was one German family that, by the end of the weekend, was practically our family. I first met them on the afternoon of the Sprint races. I happened to be standing along the railing of the finishing stretch as Lou Jeanmonnot was sprint to the line. Ultimately we now know that Jeanmonnot finished 0.2 seconds behind Franziska Preuss’ time. From my vantage point I could see the clock, however this family, who was carrying a large Franziska Preuss sign, was unable to see it. They just knew it was close. One of the really neat moments of my week was getting to tell the brother and sister holding the sign that their girl Preuss had held on for the win by an incredibly narrow margin. They were overjoyed.

Well as it turns out we kept running into these wonderful people! We saw them again later that weekend and of course I had to get a picture. Then we saw them on Saturday morning as they were hiking up towards the Kapellskogan. Of course we had to have some laughs and share a chat. Then on Sunday as we were roaming around the Kapellskogan talking with fans from all over Europe we heard them calling to us again! It felt like a family reunion at this point! We ended up spending the better part of an hour with them just talking about life, thinking about the athletes and the upcoming race, and generally just enjoying the atmosphere together. This wonderful family made a huge impact on me this week and I hope that we run into them again on our travels!

Preuß family – On the morning of the Mass Starts we were out chatting with some of the crowd who were out there for the race including our German friends. As we were standing there it became apparent that there was a familiar looking group standing off to our left along the fence of the course. They looking stunningly like Franziska Preuss. As it turns out it’s because it was Preuss’s family. I took a few moments to chat with them, offering good lucks for Franzi and seeing how they were feeling. No surprise with around an hour until the races at that point they were all quite nervous. Also no surprise, they were all very pleasant and happy to chat before the race. After meeting then it’s no surprise that Franziska Preuss is such a wonderful sportswoman and person.

Standing out on the snow watching the globe ceremonies especially the last one – Following the conclusion of the races on Sunday they of course had the Globe ceremonies. As it turns out we were eligible to go out on the snow in the infield for these ceremonies. This turned into the most out of body experience I think I’ve ever had in biathlon. For the women’s ceremony it was cool enough. We walked up the stairs and out onto the infield alongside the entire German, French, and Swedish teams and members of just about every federation imaginable. By the time the men’s ceremony occurred, followed by the retirement ceremony for the Boe boys, pretty much every athlete, coach, tech, and rep was out there. We were able to watch the French team pull out a jug of unknown alcohol and start the party. The Finnish team was taking pictures (one of which I took ended up on Instagram!). The Germans were still celebrating Franzi’s victory. The Swedes were pumped up about Sebbe’s win. And so many other teams were just out there getting loose and ready for the party. It was so much fun just watching them all be themselves!

Justine and the Mickey Mouse – Anybody who has followed us over the last two seasons knows that RJ and I are absolutely in awe of the women who are able to be mothers and race at the same time. The time commitment to being a mom at all is enormous. I am constantly amazed by my own wife who is able to being incredibly successful in her own job and is the most wonderful mother I could hope my kids would have. I truly cannot believe how women like Baiba Bendika, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Milena Todorova, and Paulina Batovska-Fialkova are able to be world class athletes and moms. It truly is incredible!

I brought a few gifts for the kids of the moms that I would run into, all of which were different Disney characters. One of them was a Mickey Mouse for Justine’s daughter. On the very first morning we had been in Holmenkollen we saw Justine walking through the hotel lobby with her daughter in arm. It looked like it had either been a rough night or a very busy morning. Justine looked exhausted, her hair was going every direction, and yet she was completely in “mom mode” as she hauled her little one towards the restaurant presumably for lunch. It was so imminently relatable. On Saturday afternoon I saw Justine walking away towards the exit of the arena. I ran after her and caught her shortly before she exited. I think at first she was a little flustered at this crazy American chasing her down. When I explained what I was doing and showed her the Micky Mouse for her daughter her face changed entirely. Suddenly she was mom Justine. She was incredibly thankful, made note of my name, and thanked me about 3 or 4 more times. It was an incredible interaction that I will carry in my heart. Hopefully her little girl is enjoying her Mickey Mouse!

Maren Hammerschmidt Is Super Nice – During the weekend one of the true pleasures was getting to talk for a short while with Maren Hammerschmidt, the former biathlete now serving as top media contact for the German team. She has been nothing but friendly and helpful to our little podcast even with she had no reason to be. We were so happy to say Hi to her during the week and she of course continued to be lovely. She did have the unfortunate job of trying to enforce a “2 question” rule on all media after Franziska Preuss won the Overall Globe. I later joked with her that she had the worst job in the world that day. Unfortunately I don’t think it was too much of a joke as she really did look quite stressed trying to keep Preuss moving along for her scheduled interview with ARD. Maren Hammerschmidt is truly a generous person though.

Chatting with Ukaleq – The night of the Sprint we were hanging out in the lobby of the Holmenkollen hotel when in wandered Ukaleq Slettemark one of our early guests on the pod and somebody we definitely wanted to chat with. I of course made a fool of myself by assuming that she qualified for the Pursuit. In my defense when I had last checked late in the race she had appeared safe, and she too thought she would qualify, but she was just bumped out at the end. Ukaleq had grown so much over the last few years. Not so much physically but she just feels older, and she’s still so young! She feels like a she has been around for many years now. This season was disrupted by her knee injury but I’m really happy to see how she responded late in the season. Her maturity really shown through in our conversation and I’m quite happy to see her in the next several seasons and especially in Single Mixed relays with her brother Sondre

Just a sampling of athletes we were able to catch up with: Justus Strelow, Emilien Claude, Regina Ermits, Eric Perrot, Nik Hartweg, Johannes Dale-Skjevdal, Ida Lien, Lisa Theresa Hauser, Anna-Karin Heijdenberg, and so many more. They were all absolutely gracious with their time and willing to just talk about whatever.

Showing Sverre Roeiseland Selina Grotian’s Crash – What was one of the truly surreal moments of the weekend occurred on the evening of the Sprint. During the Sprint Selina Grotian had fallen right in front of us. RJ had been filming some of the athletes just for personal reasons. We saw Sverre Roeiseland walking out of the stadium and RJ asked if he had seen the video yet. He hadn’t seen it and RJ showed it to him. It was just such a strange moment. I can’t even put my finger on why.

Of course you may be aware that video got us into a little hot water. RJ sent it to Selina Grotian, who put it on her Instagram story. From there it was picked up by ARD. The IBU of course saw it then and found it had come from RJ. We then got emails from the IBU letting us know that we had broken our promise to not film the racing. Whoops!

The Bø Haugen – There is a portion of the course that is known as the Haugen. It’s a big hill and the Pursuit/Mass Start course wraps around it in the back half of the loop. From the right view you can see not only the athletes skiing directly in front of you but all the way down into the arena and to the shooting range. I knew it existed but I didn’t know what a party it is. It is an absolute wild atmosphere. It’s just rows and rows of people backed up on the slopes around the course. We were out there about 90 minutes before the women’s race on Saturday and it was in full party mode. There were kids already climbed up on the troll rock carving. The cheers from this part of the course echoed all over the grounds. This is a really happening place!

Watched Men’s Pursuit Finish with Some New Friends – The finish of the Men’s Pursuit wasn’t exactly thrilling regarding who won the race. Sturla Holm Laegreid outshot JT Boe in the final trip to the range and put himself out with a huge lead. It was thrilling because it confirmed finally that Laegreid was going to take over the Overall title. As he came down the final stretch with a large Norwegian flag the crowd was going wild. Just to my left I had a couple of other interested women watching the race as well. See if you can figure out who else is standing next to me.

Sebbe wants thanks from Campbell for the tow – Following the Pursuit where Sebastian Samuelsson and Campbell Wright rose from the middle of the pack to the top 10 we briefly chatted with Samuelsson. We had noted that the entire way Campbell was tracking along right behind Sebbe. We asked him about that:

Molly the Doping Dog – One of the really fun surprises being in Holmenkollen was getting to meet Molly the doping control dog! She hangs out with the athletes and she uses her incredible nose and powers of smell to track doping violators. She also is a part time emotional support dog for the athletes. I saw her spend plenty of time with the athletes and I took advantage of her magic myself. Just a few moments of petting her silky smooth fur and you instantly feel better!

Tandrevold Devastated – Directly after the athletes leave the finishing area, they enter the a little athlete corral where there are snacks and drinks. This is a protected area where they can stack their skis, put their rifle back in the bag, and generally rest. There are many many signs up not to take pictures and we received several notices that we were not to interview athletes here. All athletes had to make the trek past all of the media members on their way out before exiting the stadium. But the athlete finish corral is a protected area. After the Pursuit Tandrevold missed out on the Mass Start by exactly 1 point. I think at that moment the enormity of what an emotional year, good and bad, washed over her. She sat down and basically curled up in a corner of the area so that she could be all alone. Several of her friends came by including her good friend Julia Simon and stayed with her a few minutes. She was visited by Molly the dog for a little while. But Tandrevold stayed in this spot for well over an hour. She waited until every member of the media moved on. She waited until the crowd emptied out. She waited until she could just sneak out all alone. Watching her there was just such an empty feeling. You just wanted to go give her a hug. I really hope she bounces back strong after this!!

Giorgio and Mateusz and Giulio and Michael Roesch and Ron – These are all media members of various forms that I have had the extreme pleasure to interact with over the last several seasons. They have all been immensely helpful to me. This weekend I finally was able to meet them. They are all absolutely terrific people. I could have just spent hours with them. I appreciate them all and I am so happy to know them!