This pas week the Norwegian men and women wrapped up a long altitude camp in Italy, packed their bags, and flew home to compete their national championships. The races, held in Molde, Norway along the gorgeous Norwegian coastline, consisted of a shooting contest followed by a Sprint and a Mass Start.
These were the first national championships to be competed without the Boe brothers. Also absent this week were Johannes Dale-Skjevdal who was spending time with this newborn son. Karoline Knotten, who is training independently of the Norwegian organization this year, after disagreements about her training plan left her off the Norwegian national teams, remained at her own camp as well. Endre Stroemsheim ended up not racing either due to illness. We also were without Martin Uldal and Isak Frey who were ill.
After a rainy day for the shooting competitions, which we won’t discuss, the sun shone on the races on Saturday and Sunday leading to some competitive racing, albeit on very tired legs.
Take Aways:
- Don’t worry too much about these results. The teams just finished a long grueling camp in the Alps. Any good performances at these races were a bonus. The real win is the gains made during the big training.
- Now competing for the Danes, Anna De Besche, completed a sterling weekend winning bronze medal in the Sprint and a glorious 20/20 gold medal in the Mass Start. Best weekend in the history of Danish biathlon? Possibly
- Really good weekend from Frida Dokken. She’s still just 24 years old. She won the gold in the Sprint and was 3 seconds from the bronze in the Mass Start.
- The only man to double up on medals this week was Sivert Bakken. He made his return to the IBU Cup last season after two longs years away due to heart difficulties. Now he’s making a great statement for his inclusion on the World Cup roster starting from week 1.
- Really nice weekend for Marthe Krakstad Johansen. She had two silver medals this week. Doesn’t mean anything for the fall, but after only making it back to the World Cup at the very end of last season, maybe she’s going to be able to establish herself on the top level all season this year.
- Einar Hedegart has comitted himself 100% to biathlon. He’s very similar to Johan-Olav Botn in that both have exceptional speed but can have some definite struggles on the range. While Botn followed up his 7th in the Sprint with a very nice gold medal in the Mass Start, Hedegart had two top six finishes himself!
- Honestly looking at the stats these athletes all look pretty tired. But let’s take a look at them!
Sprint
The opening race of the weekend was the women’s Sprint. The races were competed in sunny conditions but the tracks were a little wet.
The title was taken by 24 year old Frida Dokken who went 9/10 and was just fast enough to overcome very good shooting up and down the lineup. While Anne De Besche, who finished in third, was the only woman who was able to knock down each of the targets, it was still a good shooting day overall.
Even on a team who has been desperately searching for consistency to round out it’s World Cup and IBU Cup rosters Frida Dokken has been struggling to break through. She had a good stretch early on in the 22-23 season on the IBU Cup when she had a number of top 10 finishes. Since then, though, it’s been a rough go. She started the 23-24 season on the World Cup, but by January of that season she was back to the ASKO Cup. Last year she was only able to regain her spot on the IBU Cup midseason. However she was able to put up five top 20’s and two top 10’s in eight races. When Dokken is performing well it’s because she’s an excellent shooter, hitting at least 86%, and a decent skier. That was certainly her pathway to success this weekend!
Marthe Krakstad Johansen, on her way to back to back silver medals, matched Dokken with a 9/10 and finished 11 seconds slower. Marthe Johansen, similar to Frida Dokken, has had an tough journey the last two seasons. She started out on the World Cup in Oestersund to open the 2023-2024 season. She had two top 10’s right out of the gate. But by week 5 of the season she was back on the IBU Cup. She started out the 24-25 season on the IBU Cup but had a tremendous stretch in the middle of the season, including seven top 10’s with three podiums in 10 races, to fight her way all the way back to the World Cup to close out the season. Unfortunately she didn’t have any great finishes in the final trimester. Long story short though, this is a good sign for a woman, still just 26 years old, who is looking to re-establish herself on the World Cup roster.
The podium was completed by Anne De Besche. De Besche, the former Youth Worlds champion, announced earlier this summer she is transferring from the Norwegian federation to compete under the Danish flag. The initial results have to bring great joy to the Danes! More on her later.
The top six was rounded out by three familiar names. 4th place was taken by rising potential star Maren Kirkeeide who was 8/10 and just 1 second off the podium and 15 seconds from the gold. Marit Ishol Skogan, another with a familiar story to Frida Dokken and Marthe Krakstad Johanson, also hit 8/10 and was +21. Emilie Kalkenberg, who along with her highly touted brother, is training outside of the Norwegian federation organization this summer, finished 6th with a 9/10 and was +28.
Others to note:
– Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold was 8th at +41 with 9/10 shooting
– Juni Arnekleiv finished 9th at +41 (8/10)
– Siri Skar was 15th +1:34 with 8 hits
– Ann Aaland finished 17th hitting 8/10
– Darcie Morton finished in 25th +2:34
– Ragnhild Femsteinevik with 5 misses was +2:34 and finished 26th
– Ukaleq Slettemark +2:49 in 30th
| Women’s Top 10 | Men’s Top 10 |
| 🥇Frida Dokken (9/10) | 🥇Sturla Holm Laegreid (9/10) |
| 🥈Marthe Krakstad Johansen +11 (9/10) | 🥈Vebjoern Soerum +10 (8/10) |
| 🥉Anne De Besche 🇩🇰 +14 (10/10) | 🥉Sivert Bakken +19 (8/10) |
| 4) Maren Kirkeeide +15 (8/10) | 4) Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen +44 (8/10) |
| 5) Marit Ishol Skogan +21 (8/10) | 5) Sverre Aspenes +54 (8/10) |
| 6) Emilie Kalkenberg +28 (9/10) | 6) Einar Hedegart +58 (8/10) |
| 7) Emilie Flo Stavik +32 (9/10) | 7) Johan-Olav Botn +1:04 (5/10) |
| 8) Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold +41 (9/10) | 8) Ole Suhrke +1:04 (7/10) |
| 9) Juni Arnekleiv +41 (8/10) | 9) Kasper Kalkenberg +1:14 (10/10) |
| 10) Synne Owren +54 (7/10) | 10) Martin Nevland +1:16 (9/10) |
In the men’s Sprint there were no such surprise finishes like there was in the women’s race. Reigning Men’s Overall World Cup Champion Sturla Holm Laegreid hit 9 targets and took the win. Don’t think anybody was surprised by this one.
Behind him was fellow World Cup athlete Vebjoern Soerum. Soerum who had a number of last lap sprints for glory last season nearly did it again. He started lap three 26 seconds back of Laegreid, but ultimately wasn’t able to totally close the gap as he crossed the line 10 seconds back of Laegreid’s time. He just wasn’t able to make up the one extra miss he had going 8/10 on the range vs Laegreid’s 9/10.
Sivert Bakken, fan favorite as he makes his bid to return to the World Cup after missing two long seasons after COVID related heart injury, took the bronze medal. Just like Soerum he hit 8/10 shots and he finished 19 seconds back of Laegreid. He closed strong with the 3rd best last lap in the field behind only Johan-Olav Botn and Vebjoern Soerum.
The top six was rounded out by veteran Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen taking 4th, also with 8 hits. Sverre Aspenes, also with 8/10 shooting, was in 5th at +54. The Einar Hedegart was 8/10 and finished 6th.
Others to note:
– Johan-Olav Botn was the fastest man on the course but couldn’t overcome 5/10 shooting as he finished 7th.
– 20 year old Kasper Kalkenberg, training independently, finished in 9th
– Jorgen Saeter finished just off the top 10, just 0.8 seconds back of Nevland with 9/10 shooting
– Veteran Vetle Paulsen finished 12th after having four misses
– Young Sivert Gerhardsen was 16th hitting 8/10
– Sindre Jorde finished 20th with two misses
– Mats Overby started out the race with the fastest first segments of the race but ultimately finished 21st after two misses in each of his prone and standing shootings.
Mass Start
Sunday was the day for the Mass Starts and we saw some pitched battles, particularly in the men’s race. But first for the women, it was the Dane Anne De Besche who took the win. She was superlative. She hit every shot being one of just three women in the field to do so. While she did most of her damage with her perfect shooting she actually had some pretty good skiing as well. She had several segments of the race where she had top 6 ski splits including the first three segments of the last lap where she put the race away with Johansen trying to chase her down. The young Norwegian/Dane overall is looking very good. There is now a real chance that along with Sondre and Ukaleq Slettemark the Danish federation is going to be able to field a Mixed Relay team for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Marthe Krakstad Johansen polished off her weekend with her second silver medal of the week. 19/20 of shooting is a good day no matter what. Johansen is a really good shooter. In her 17 World Cup races she’s hit 90% or better in 12 of them. So hitting 18 or better today wasn’t going to be a surprise. Her skiing was okay as well. This was a great weekend for her and certainly accomplished her goals to prove her standing as we head towards the last two months of training before the *real* biathlon season kicks off.
Juni Arnekleiv rounded out the podium with a bounce back bronze medal. The Sprint was not her best race as even with just two misses she was 41 seconds back of Frida Dokken. However, in the Mass Start she hit 18/20 which was a very good day for her. She had the best last lap in the field which she needed to get on the podium. She started the last lap a few seconds back of Dokken. She bridged the gap and then put in a huge push to close the final lap to surpass and hold off Frida Dokken in the last few hundred meters.
The above mentioned Frida Dokken settled for 4th place after another very good race. Overall taking the gold and then 4th was probably as good as Dokken could have hoped for coming in. She hit 27/30 of the week so she’s got to be happy. Ragnhild Femsteinevik had a HUGE bounce back from the Sprint. After finishing 26th she needed a good race for her momentum and to power her through the next two months. She got it with a 19/20 effort to take 5th just under 1 minute back. Rounding out the top 6 was Maren Kirkeeide who hit 16 of her 20 shots but was easily fast enough to finish in the flower.
Others to note:
– Young Ann Aaland was one of the perfect shooters on the day and finished 7th +1:16
– Siri Skar came in 8th, a solid return to form after 15th in the Sprint
– Emilie Kalkenberg finished out her solid weekend with a 9th
– Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold was 17th. No worries here. This isn’t her goal. Her goal is November, and more importantly February.
– Marit Ishol Skogan was 21st
– Ukaleq Slettemark finished 28th
– Darcie Morton 36th
| Women’s Top 10 | Men’s Top 10 |
| 🥇Anne De Besche 🇩🇰 (20/20) | 🥇Johan-Olav Botn (16/20) |
| 🥈Marthe Krakstad Johansen +14 (19/20) | 🥈Sverre Aspenes +10 (17/20) |
| 🥉Juni Arnekleiv +29 (18/20) | 🥉Sivert Bakken +19 (17/20) |
| 4) Frida Dokken +32 (18/20) | 4) Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen +1:05 (15/20) |
| 5) Ragnhild Femsteinevik +59 (19/20) | 5) Einar Hedegart +1:27 (13/20) |
| 6) Mark Kirkeeide +1:08 (16/20) | 6) Mats Overby +1:54 (14/20) |
| 7) Ann Aaland +1:16 (20/20) | 7) Sturla Holm Laegreid +2:00 (15/20) |
| 8) Siri Skar +1:34 (19/20) | 8) Herman Borge +2:06 (16/20) |
| 9) Emilie Kalkenberg +1:43 (15/20) | 9) Martin Nevland +2:07 (14/20) |
| 10) Gunn Tvinnereim +1:55 (17/20) | 10) Sivert Gerhardsen +2:13 (15/20) |
The final race of the week in Molde was the Men’s Mass Start. This was a terrific battle with the top three finishing up all within 20 seconds. The gold medal in the Mass Start went to speedster Johan-Olav Botn. On a team full of fast skiers Johan-Olav Botn always stands out. He wins when he hits or whenever everybody else misses. This was much more of the latter. In the top 10 of the men’s race the best hit rate was 17/20 by Sverre Aspenes and Sivert Bakken. Definitely a day of tired legs!
As noted above Botn took the gold medal as he hit just enough shots (and everybody else missed just enough) for his legs to carry him to the win. Botn had one miss in each of the prone shootings. At one point he was back as far as 14th place but was able to work his way back up through the field. By the time they got to the third shooting all of Botn, Aspenes, and Bakken were together while Mats Overby was running 4th about 10 seconds back.
After finally going clean Botn was able to get away for the lead. It looked lie it was going to be all over. Botn was 13 seconds ahead of Aspenes and Bakken after they arrived for the final shoot. Plenty of time to have a miss…or two as it turns out and still be in range for the win. After 2 quick sprints around the penalty loop Botn was right behind Aspenes and they were 5 seconds clear of Bakken.
Botn didn’t wait around at all. He immediately pushed and left Aspenes behind. Aspenes had more than enough in the legs to hold off Sivert Bakken. Meanwhile Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, who after 3 misses in the first shoot was in 32nd place, kept pushing all the way to 4th. Einar Hedegart completed his very good weekend with a 5th place finish hitting just 13 of the 20 shots, but making up for it with his skiing. Rounding out the top 6, Mats Overby was able to hold on to a top 6 spot even with three misses in the final shoot.
Others to Note:
– Sturla Holm Laegreid, like Christiansen, had three early misses but wasn’t able to make climb quite as high and finished 7th with 15/20 shooting
– Sivert Gerhardsen came in 10th also with 15/20 shooting
– Andreas Aas was 16/20 and came in 11th
– Vebjoern Soerum had a very rough day including 4 misses in the last shoot to finish 17th
– Vetle Paulsen finished up his disappointing weekend with a 19th
– Kasper Kalkenberg wasn’t able to put up another top 10 as he had 7 misses and finished 20th