2024-2025 Weekly Previews and Recaps

I’m once again trying a new format for Previews and Recaps. I’m post them all here so you can scroll through the full season whenever you want.

2024-2025 Biathlon Season
November 30 – December 8 in Kontiolahti
December 13 – December 15 in Hochfilzen
December 19 – December 22 in Annecy-le Grand Bornand
January 9 – January 12 in Oberhof
January 15 – January 19 in Ruhpolding
January 23 – January 26 in Antholz
February 12 – February 23 World Championships in Lenzerheide
March 6 – March 9 in Nove Mesto
March 13 – March 16 in Pokljuka
March 21 – March 23 in Oslo Holmenkollen

Olso-Holmenkollen Wrap Up

Oslo-Holmenkollen Preview

And so it has come. The final weekend of the 2024-2025 season is already here. I feel like it was just the other week that I was up late at night researching teams for the preseason previews. It seems like just the other day that the first trimester was over and we thought we knew what was going on this season. I swear that the World Championships just ended last weekend. It has all gone by way too quickly. But here we are, the final weekend of the year. Also the final races in the careers of some of our best and most beloved biathletes. Let’s see what the week holds for us!

Schedule:

– Friday March 21: Men’s 10km Sprint + Women’s 7.5km Sprint
– Saturday March 22: Men’s 12.5km Pursuit + Women’s 10km Pursuit
– Sunday March 23: Women’s 12.5km Mass Start + Men’s 15km Mass Start

Course Overview
– Stadium altitude: 325 meters
– Highest Altitude on Course: 370 meter
– Lowest Altitude on the Course 315 meters
– Stadium capacity: 6,500 spectators
– Course capacity: 11,500 spectators
Continue Reading Oslo-Holmenkollen Preview

Pokljuka Wrap Up

Pokljuka Preview

Schedule

– Thursday March 13th: Women’s 12.5km Short Individual + Men’s 15km Men’s Individual
– Saturday March 15th: Women’s 12.5km Mass Start + Men’s 15km Mass Start
– Sunday March 16th: Mixed Relay (W+M) + Single Mixed Relay (W+M)

Course Overview

The racing takes place at Zemljevid Stadium in Pokljuka, just outside of the city of Bled in Slovenia with the following listed statistics:
– Stadium altitude: 1345 meters
– Maximum altitude on course: 1378 meters
– Lowest altitude on course: 1339 meters
– Stadium capacity: 7000 spectators
– Course capacity: 8000 spectators
Continue Reading Pokljuka Preview

Nove Mesto Wrap Up

Nove Mesto Preview

We had an absolutely thrilling two weeks of racing in Lenzerheide. So much so that I’m still exhausted from it all and I didn’t even put on a ski! During our week off we have been able to see the incredible Youth and Junior athletes competing at Worlds in Oestersund. Now we are off to one of the premier stops on the schedule: Nove Mesto na Morave. This venue comes complete with the biggest grandstand in the sport and will once again bless us with sunset and night time races. With this set up it is always such a unique week! It is unfortunate that the region struggles as climate change continues to affect our lower altitude locations. While Nove Mesto has made the cut for every season up through the 2030 Olympics who knows how many more seasons we get to spend here. Let’s enjoy it while we have it!

Schedule

– Thursday March 6th: Men’s 10km Sprint
– Friday March 7th: Women’s 7.5km Sprint
– Saturday March 8th: Men’s 12.5km Pursuit + Women’s 10km Pursuit
– Sunday March 9th: Men’s 4×7.5km Relay + Women’s 4x6km Relay
Continue Reading Nove Mesto Preview

Lenzerheide World Championships Wrap Up

Lenzeheriede World Championships Preview

Schedule:

– Wednesday February 12: Mixed Relay (W+M)
– Friday February 14: Women’s 7.5km Sprint
– Saturday February 15: Men’s 10km Sprint
– Sunday February 16: Women’s 10km Pursuit + Men’s 12.5km Pursuit
– Tuesday February 18: Women’s 15km Individual
– Wednesday February 19: Men’s 20km Individual
– Thursday February 20: Single Mixed Relay (W+M)
– Saturday February 22: Women’s 4x6km Relay + Men’s 4×7.5km Relay
– Sunday February 23: Women’s 12.5km Mass Start + Men’s 15km Mass Start

Course Overview:

The racing takes place at Roland Arena in Lenzerheide with the following listed statistics:
– Stadium altitude: 1393 meters
– Maximum altitude on course: 1444 meters
– Lowest altitude on course: 1389 meters
– Stadium capacity: 6000 spectators
Continue Reading Lenzerheide World Championships Preview

Antholz Wrap Up

Women’s Athlete of the Week: Lou Jeanmonnot – Lou Jeanmonnot didn’t just win both solo races, she won both races and looked amazing while doing so. In the Sprint she was a perfect 10/10. It’s not like she was the only person to go 10/10 either as 15 women went perfect that day. It’s also not like Jeanmonnot was the only top contender to go perfect as her top rival for the Overall Globe Franziska Preuss hit all of her shots as well as Selina Grotian and Jeanne Richard. No, it’s that Lou Jeanmonnot was perfect shooting and quite nearly the fastest woman on the course. She missed holding that distinction by finishing 0.1 seconds back of Anamarija Lampic on the course. That’s just phenomenal.

Jeanmonnot has never finished a race as the fastest skier on the day. She had been 2nd one prior time in a Mass Start and her best in a Sprint or Individual was 3rd which she did in the Soldier Hollow Sprint last season. Not coincidentally that was the last time we saw her close to this level of form when she closed out the season with 6 straight podiums. That day she was more than 0.1 seconds back of the top ski time so this goes down as her best ski day of her career! Also to be that close to Lampic any day is a magnificent accomplishment.
Continue Reading Antholz Recap

Antholz Preview

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 23: Women’s 7.5km Sprint
– Friday January 24: Men’s 10km Sprint
– Saturday January 25: Women’s 10km Pursuit + Men’s 4×7.5km Relay
– Sunday January 26: Women’s 4x6km Relay + Men’s 12.5km Pursuit

Course Overview:

– Stadium altitude: 1634 meters
– Maximum altitude on course: 1673 meters
– Lowest altitude on course: 1626 meters
– Stadium capacity: 15,000 spectators
– Course capacity: 6,000 spectators
Continue Reading Antholz Preview

Rupholding Wrap Up

Men’s Athlete of the Week: Vebjoern Soerum and Tommaso Giacomel – In a sport that has been so dominated by a select few men over the last several seasons, it is an absolutely rare occurrence that we see two new winners in the same week. Yet here, in Ruhpolding in January, 2025 we have two first time winners.

In the Individual Soerum was just perfect 20/20, his first perfect shooting on the World Cup and the 2nd of his career. He was 11th fastest on the course. If you take out the outrageous Swedes though he was just 30 seconds back of Riethmueller. When you draw it up for an Individual that’s about all you could ask for.

Tommaso Giacomel’s win was a bit more thrilling, not only because it was a Mass Start and they usually are, but because of the nature of this particularly race. Through two shootings, and heading to the range for the first standing shoot there were still 11 men within 7 seconds and 19 within 26 seconds. It was a very tight race! He ended up holding off JT Boe and Sturla Holm Laegreid in a tension filled final shoot before putting in a superb final lap to slam the door shut on Laegreid. A 20/20 day with amazing shooting speed particularly in the final lap, and great strength late…it was a perfect first win!
Continue Reading Ruhpolding Recap

Ruhpolding Preview

With one week of racing under our belts in trimester #2 we head to Ruhpolding for another week. It’s a bit of a relic of the Cold War that Germany continues to host two events every year as Oberhof (East Germany) and Ruhpolding (West Germany) were the respective stops of the Central European nation pre unification. But the result is that now, after what will go down as one of the most thrilling weekends of this biathlon season the field makes their shortest travel of the season, traveling from the unpredictability of Oberhof to the warm embraces of Ruhpolding.

Schedule:
– Wednesday January15: Men’s 20km Individual
– Thursday January 16: Women’s 15km Individual
– Friday January 17: Men’s 4×7.5km Relay
– Saturday January 18: Women’s 4x6km Relay
– Sunday January 19: Men’s 15km Mass Start + Women’s 12.5km Mass Start

Course Overview:

– Stadium altitude: 710 meters
– Maximum altitude on course: 733 meters
– Lowest altitude on course: 701 meters
– Stadium capacity: 12,000 spectators
Continue Reading Ruhpolding Preview

Oberhof Wrap Up

Men’s Athlete of the Week: Quentin Fillon Maillet – When you get your first victory since March of 2022 then you make the list. QFM is underrated amongst biathlon fans. He’s been dramatically overshadowed by Martin Fourcade and JT Boe. With this win, though, he has 17 and ties Frank Ullrich for 7th most in the history of men’s biathlon. The stretch from March 10, 2022 to January 10, 2025 was 59 races. That was the longest in his career without a victory outside of the first 120 races he went until he attained his first victory.

During that stretch of 59 races QFM hasn’t been bad, he just hasn’t been as great as he was prior to that. Well this week he reclaimed his spot on the top of the podium. He followed that up with a 4th place finish. He now has two podiums and four top 5’s this season. He’s climbed up to 7th in the Overall. That would be his best finish in the Overall since he won the Globe at the end of the 2021-2022 season. His ski form appears to be building towards a peak, hopefully for him in Lenzerheide. His shooting, though, has been a struggle as he’s only hit 85% or better in three races this season, including 10/10 in his Sprint win. He went just 15/20 in the Pursuit and was still able to hang on to 4th.
Continue Reading Oberhof Recap

Oberhof Preview

Dates: January 1, 2024 – January 7, 2024

Schedule:
– Thursday January 9: Women’s Sprint
– Friday January 10: Men’s Sprint
– Saturday January 11: Women’s Pursuit + Men’s Pursuit
– Sunday January 12: Single Mixed Relay (M+W) + Mixed Relay (M+W)

Course Overview:

Above you’ll see the entire complex with all of the courses overlaid on each other. Below I’m going to put each course and the corresponding race. You’ll note that several of these races use the same courses. I struggled to decide if I should just put the 3 individual course or if I should lay them out by race like I have in the past. I’m opted to put repeat images and lay them out by race like I have in the past and they’ll all be identified when you click on the images. They are listed in chronological order so the top left corner is the Men’s Sprint followed by Women’s Sprint followed by Men’s Pursuit etc. Continue Reading Oberhof Preview

Annecy-le Grand Bornand Wrap Up

Men’s Athlete of the Week: The Boe Bros – After he finished 2nd by 1.4 seconds and then won the Pursuit comfortably its difficult to put anybody else here. JT Boe continues to look stronger and stronger as the season goes on. One of the best ways to look at his strength is to look at his ski performance vs the rest of the field in a Sprint. He’s gone from being 6.8% faster than median in Kontiolahti to 7.1% faster in Hochfilzen and then 7.8% faster in Annecy-le Grand Bornand. You can also check how hard he’s working by his course time ranks in a race like the Pursuit. In that race his ranks were 24th, 16th, 4th, 6th, and 43rd. There was a slight moment when he felt a little pressure but a 19/20 shooting day and he won by 27 seconds even with completely resting the last lap. As the first trimester comes to an end he has a solid 115 point lead in the Overall and appears firmly in control during yet another solid JT Boe season.

Tarjei Boe possibly saved his season with a win in the Mass Start. He was in a very tenuous position. The Norwegian men have way too many talented athletes and it’s very much a perform or get sent down situation. Before this weekend Tarjei, the defending #2 Overall, had just three top 10’s and no top 5’s. While that’s a great season for most men, on this team it had him on the ropes. Already Johannes Dale-Skjevdal had lost his position to Martin Uldal. Then, when the Norwegian men had to cut down from seven starters to six for the sprint this week, Tarjei was the odd man out. That meant he had fresh legs for the Mass Start and boy did he use them. It was an amazing throw back performance and Tarjei proved to be the strongest man in the race of kings. He got the win, moved back up to 11 in the Overall, and seemingly secured his position for at least a few more weeks.
Continue Reading Annecy-le Grand Bornand Recap

Annecy-le Grand Bornand Preview

Dates: December 19, 2024 – December 22nd, 2024

Schedule:
– Thursday December 19: Men’s 10km Sprint
– Friday December 20: Women’s 7.5km Sprint
– Saturday December 21: Men’s 12.5km Pursuit + Women’s 10km Pursuit
– Sunday December 22: Men’s 15km Mass Start + Women’s 12km Mass Start

Course Overview:

– Stadium altitude: 928m
– Maximum altitude on course: 927m
– Lowest altitude on course: 923m
– Stadium capacity: 4000 spectators
– Course capacity: 15000 spectators
Continue Reading Annecy-le Grand Bornand Preview

Hochfilzen Wrap Up

Men’s Athlete of the Week: JT Boe – The King is the King. JT Boe didn’t look like his absolute best in Kontiolahti as he had just one podium. He still doesn’t look like his world dominating self in Hochfilzen but he came away with two victories and he’s taken the Yellow bib with a narrow lead over Sturla Holm Laegreid. He won the Sprint in pretty classic fashion as he had 1 miss but still beat out Laegreid and Fabien Claude who went clean. The Pursuit had some late race drama but at the end of the day he had himself in the mix on the final shoot and the final lap. Two victories in two races…can’t do better than that and JT Boe is back on top!
Continue Reading Hochfilzen Recap

Hochfilzen Preview

Dates: December 13h, 2024 – December 15th, 2024

Schedule:
– Friday December 13: Men’s 10km Sprint + Women’s 7.5km Sprint
– Saturday December 14: Men’s 12.5km Pursuit + Women’s 10km Pursuit
– Sunday December 15: Men’s 4×7.5km Relay + Women’s 4x6km Relay

Course Overview:

– Stadium altitude: 1,010m
– Maximum altitude on course: 1,035m
– Lowest altitude on course: 997m
– Stadium capacity: 10,500 spectators
Continue Reading Hochfilzen Preview

Kontiolahti Wrap Up

Biathlon is back!!! I think we all share the same feelings that the offseason of biathlon at times feels interminable. Summer biathlon season is a brief reprieve. Then you get to the fall and you’re hearing about the training. Suddenly there is racing in Sjusjoen and Idre Fjall and more and all of a sudden the season is here!

Not we’ve already had two full weekends of racing plus the Individual races in the middle of the week. It was an incredible week highlighted by some phenomenal performances and underdogs fighting their way into contention. So let’s take one more look at the racing in Kontiolahti before we move on to Austria!
Continue Reading Kontiolahti Recap

Kontiolahti Preview

World Cup biathlon returns!!! And this week the biathlon family will be returning to one of its normal kick off locations, Kontiolahti! This is our first time visiting Kontiolahti since the opening weekend of the 2022-2023 season. That week we saw the first signs that maybe Johannes Thingnes Bø was in pretty good shape as he won the Sprint and the Pursuit. It was just a sign of things to come. We also saw Julia Simon win the Pursuit that week, the first of what would become four wins and a fairly dominant Overall Globe winning season.

When I think of Kontiolahti I always think of how lovely the fans are. There is something that almost feels like a youth event where the fans are so overwhelmingly supportive of pretty much everybody. The range always feels so cozy and the fans just seem genuinely happy to be out there supporting the biathletes.
Continue Reading Kontiolahti Preview