Norway 2025-2026 Team Preview

Norway, the traditional native homeland of biathlon, continues to march forward as a biathlon super power into the mid 2020’s. The Norwegian men have been a force for decades now including two of the three kings of the sport, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Johannes Thingnes Boe, two of the three greatest of all time. The Norwegian women have collected four Overall titles in the last 13 seasons and came achingly close to a fifth two seasons ago. As we move forward, though, it is a rare moment of potential imbalance in recent years.

The Boe brothers have retired leaving a potential leadership void in the sport. And potentially even more, Seigfriend Mazet is leaving his position at the helm at the end of this season. Sturla Holm Laegreid and Isak Frey definitely have the physical talents to continue the Viking reign of dominance into the next decade. Will the rest of the young men continue to come along and will there be great coaches to fill the lollypop shaped void at the head of the team?

On the women’s side Tandrevold was within days of winning the 2023-2024 Overall Globe but a late season trip up, along with Vittozzi and Jeanmonnot’s surge, left her in third place. But her success that year may have covered up an opening gap between the Norwegian women and many of their top competitors including the French, the Swedes and the Germans. Maren Kirkeeide looks like she’s coming along well and will be a player in the Overall mix in the coming seasons. Can Tandrevold find that 2023-2024 form again? Is there another woman who can make a move as well?

While the Norwegian team continues look excellent at the top, there are some questions that we’ll be looking to have answered this season.

Men

The Norwegian men are one of the most dominant forces in the sport. Norwegian men have combined for 12 of the last 21 Men’s Overall World Cup titles. Just three individual non-Norwegians have won an Overall title during that span with Martin Fourcade of course accounting for a record 7 of them. As we head into the 2025-2026 season, though, we are entering a new era, not just for the team but possibly for the sport. Johannes Thingnes Boe, of the greatest all time biathletes of all time, along with his brother, fellow past Overall champion Tarjei Boe, celebrated their retirement last March. In doing so they handed the leadership of the team over to a new group of men including reigning Men’s Overall Champion Sturla Holm Laegreid. Then in August head coach Ziggy Mazet who has captained this juggernaut through the last few wildly successful seasons will be following the Boes out the door after this upcoming season. Will the loss of the Boe bros bring about the end of the Norwegian dynasty? Or will Laegreid and his teammates keep the campaign of domination going?

Head Coach: Siegfried “Ziggy” Mazet (for one last go around!)
2024-2025 Nations Cup Rank: 2nd
2024-2025 Relay Finishes: 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 2nd, 1st (WC), 2nd
Quota: 6 Athletes to Start (+1 for Oestersund and Hochfilzen)

World Cup – We know Sturla Holm Laegreid will be there. But who else will join him. Are there even any “locks” behind him? Of course with the JT and Tarjei Boe gone, that opens up two spots on the World Cup and relieves a little bit of the log jam. But be honest, would you be surprised to see any of these guys, outside of Laegreid, spend time on the IBU Cup at some point this season? Ziggy Mazet and company have shown no hesitation to demote or hold out individuals regardless of who they are including in recent years Tarjei Boe, Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, and Johannes Dale-Skjevdal all of whom have top 3 Overall finishes in the last three seasons. So we’ll leave Laegreid in a category by himself before discussing the rest of the top World Cup contenders. And of course, any of these men who doesn’t make the World Cup squad will instantly be a favorite to win an IBU Cup race or even the IBU Cup Overall. Here’s who will start the season on the World Cup at least:
– Sturla Holm Laegreid
– Vebjoern Soerum
– Martin Uldal
– Endre Stroemsheim
– Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen
– Isak Frey
– Johan-Olav Botn

Sturla Holm Laegreid (28)

After running up three consecutive 2nd Overall finishes from 2020-2021 through 2022-2023, and a fourth Overall in 2023-2024, Sturla Holm Laegreid finally overthrew the reigning King of Biathlon in a dramatic late season surge to the 2024-2025 Overall Title. Johannes Thingnes Boe definitely showed some cracks in the armor including being sick for the races in Pokljuka, but Laegreid earned this completely on his own merit. Even with JT Boe putting in a last minute effort with a win in the Sprint in Oslo, Laegreid showed no nerves going 2nd, 1st, and 4th in the final three races of the season to secure the Globe. In fact.

From start to finish 2024-2025 really was a microcosm of the Sturla Holm Laegreid experience. In short: The man is excellent at biathlon. He started out the season on the podium and ended up there 13 times in 25 races last season. He had 18 top 5’s and 22 top 10’s. Basically a very high floor so even with “just” three wins compared to JT Boe’s six, and two fewer podiums than his top challenger, Laegreid basically wrapped up the Overall with a couple of races to go in the season. What is so fun about Laegreid is that he is relentless in his excellence and performance but he always feels like he’s having fun. He clearly takes it seriously but there is a lightness to his approach.

How does Sturla Holm Laegreid have such a high floor (and high ceiling)? Well he’s just really freaking good. Last season he ranked 7th in overall skiing. He ran 3.6% faster than median and just 0.7% slower than the median top 10 and had an average course time rank of 9.6. That’s good enough for the second best skiing of his career. While that’s awesome but he was actually even better at shooting hitting 93.3% good enough for the 2nd best hit rate on the World Cup last season. To top it off his average shooting time of 25.8 seconds keeps him quite competitive as well. Just try to find a weakness in that?

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2019-2020	100	96.7	98.3	29.8
2020-2021	96.2	89.1	92.6	26.5
2021-2022	87	85.4	86.2	28.6
2022-2023	97.8	89.2	93.5	25.1
2023-2024	88	88.5	88.3	26.5
2024-2025	96.2	90.5	93.3	25.8

Looking at social media and the overwhelming favorite for the Men’s Overall Globe this season is Eric Perrot. There is good reason for that. Perrot has been sensational all summer long and was 3rd in the Overall just last year. But let’s not count out the reigning champion just yet. At this point the only reason he wouldn’t be involved in the Overall discussion is if it just isn’t in his plans. It’s not impossible to see him aiming for a JT Boe or QFM like medal haul in Antholz. In that case he might, as JT Boe did that season, put the Overall race as a secondary consideration while building his entire season around being in perfect form in February. He is still good enough that he may end up in the Overall fight in the end even if he does follow that pathway. I’ll say what I said earlier, he’s really freaking good!

Martin Uldal (24)

Best known for his occasional extreme shooting speeds, Martin Uldal turned himself into a consistent World Cup top 10 threat last season. In total he had nine top 10’s in 19 races including six top 5’s. In the Annecy-le Grand Bornand Sprint he even put together an incredible race and came away with the win by 1.4 seconds over JT Boe in one of JT Boe’s favorite locations. After two straight seasons of high IBU Cup finishes of 6th and 4th, he finished 11th in the World Cup Overall last season proving his position.

While Uldal is best known for the shows he can put on while on the shooting range, last season he showed more than enough other skills to prove he’s more than a one trick pony. He skied 2.3% faster than median with an average ski rank of 16th putting him just outside the top tier of skiers, but good enough in his own right. He hit 84.2% overall including 91% prone and 77.4% standing so it wasn’t just that he was shooting quickly, he was fairly accurate as well. He ended the season 37th most accurate which, while not incredible, is actually pretty good considering the speed. Speaking of he averaged 24.5 seconds per shoot but pulled off some pretty ridiculous standing shoots including three different sub 16.5 second standing shoots. He only took more than 24 seconds on a standing shoot three different times last season with two of them happening in Mass Starts which speaks to the dynamics of those races.

Martin Uldal secured his spot on the World Cup this season with that win back in Annecy. He really has the potential to have some great seasons going forward. While the shooting speed is cool, he’s also putting together the skiing and possibly the shooting to make it worthwhile. He really has the potential to be a Sprint superstar. If he can shoot fast and clean it just puts so much pressure on everybody else to make up the ground on the shorter courses. If he can get that shooting percentage up a little bit further, towards the mid/upper 80’s, he’s going to be locked into the top 10 almost every week now.

Endre Stroemsheim (28)

It is fair to say that Endre Stroemsheim wasn’t gifted anything. He only earned his position on the World Cup in the 2023-2024 season by winning the previous season IBU Cup Overall which got him the extra bib to start the year. From there he did what he’s always done which is race hard and get the results to keep him there. He started out hot and he kept fighting. His 23-24 campaign peaked with three podiums in four races including his first career win, the Oberhof Pursuit. That earned him the right to return to start last season. He wasted absolutely no time getting back into the winner’s circle winning the very first race of the season. He had a slightly slow season until the World Championships when he went 7th, 8th, 9th, and the won gold in the Mass Start. he closed out the 2024-2025 season on another high note with a 3rd place finish in the last race of the season. Endre Stroemsheim just keeps battling and clawing his way into position to be on the team.

Endre Stroemsheim has a fairly well rounded statistical profile. He is a solid skier ranking 18th and 23rd in overall skiing each of the last two seasons. His average ski rank dipped from 17th to 22nd but it was fairly close year over year. Stroemsheim was not really all that smooth though. If you look at a plot of his course time ranks by race it is like a sawtooth. Up one race, down the next. Regardless it averages out to solid skiing that puts him in the 2nd to 3rd tier of skiers on the World Cup. His hit rate bumped up from 85% to 87.6% year over year including a very nice 91.1% prone hit rate. That again ranks him 19th in total hit rate. Combined with an average shooting time of 24.7 seconds and that’s not bad at all!

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2022-2023	80	81.2	80.6	22.8
2023-2024	89.5	80.5	85	24.6
2024-2025	91.1	84.2	87.6	24.7

Looking at the big picture Stroemshiem has a solid overall statistical profile that is leading to solid overall finishes. Hidden in the numbers is a bit of an up and down from race to race. While it averages out well, it indicates that there is another step that he can take. If he can smooth out those curves, and raise the bottom of those performances, it can boost his Overall finishes just that little bit more. He may never be in contention for the Overall Globe but there is every reason to believe that he has several more top 10 Overall finishes in store for us.

Vebjoern Soerum (27)

It’s hard for me to believe that Vebjoern Soerum is already 27 years old. I guess that’s part of the “problem” when you have guys like Tarjei Boe who continue to race at such a high level later into their careers. The depth of the program meant that guys like Soerum didn’t get their big breakthroughs until they were already 25 when maybe on other teams they would have come earlier. However, 27 is still not anywhere close to “old” so we still have plenty of seasons of Vebjoern Soerum still to come!

The last two seasons of Soerum have given us enticing signs. Two years ago he was the “odd man out” for much of the season. That year, really like most years, the Norwegian men had seven men they could have raced any particular day. However, outside of the first two weeks of the season and the last two weeks, they only had six starting positions. Through his excellent racing, though, he was able to score enough points to continue to qualify for Mass Starts. That means that in Annecy, Antholz, and Oslo, he raced the Mass Starts even though he wasn’t able to race the other races those weeks. Even in intermittent racing he was able to finish 26th Overall. Last year Soerum didn’t let himself fall into that same come and go position. He started out the year with six top 10’s in the first eight races and later earned his first career win in the Ruhpolding Individual. He ended the season ranked 9th Overall.

Throughout his career he has developed a real strength in his skiing. Last season he had an average course time rank of 12th while skiing nearly 3% faster than median. That’s helped him overcome his relatively weaker shooting hitting juts 80.5% and 81.3% in each of the last two seasons. He also has been learning the faster shooting of Uldal and Stroemshim as he dropped his average shooting time by a little over 1.5 seconds last season down to 25.7 seconds per shoot.

Vebjoern Soerum has all of the potential to be another very solid Norwegian biathlete for several more seasons. Will be rise higher in the Overall? He certainly has the speed to do that. It really comes down to is he can rise his hit rate above the low 80’s where he’s been stuck for most of his career including both IBU Cup and World Cup racing. The other issue, at least for this season, is that he experienced some significant muscle weakness/pain during the races in Geilo. Hopefully this is not a long term issue. There hasn’t been any further word on it. They did announce that he may be miss the first week of the year. It, at least at this point, does not look like something that will significantly limit him long term.

Once he’s recovered though we should hope and expect see Soerum looking like he always has racing towards top 10’s.

Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (33)

It might be hard to believe but Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, who had three consecutive top 5 finishes in the Overall from 2021-2022 through 2023-2024 entered the 2025-2026 season still having to earn his way on to the team. The formerly steady diesel engine of the team has actually had a little bit of a rocky run lately that even started back during the 2023-2024 campaign when he still managed to finish 5th Overall. If you remember back to the first trimester of that season, Christiansen certainly wasn’t bad. It’s just that the entire team was so amazing that cutting from seven to six became exceptionally difficult. As a result Christiansen was left at home for the Oberhof week of competition and he was not pleased, saying so quite publically. He came back in Ruhpolding and won his first race back and finished 2nd the next day. In Antholz the next week he won the Mass Start. He then went on to win two bronze medals at the Nove Mesto World Championships to really drive home the point.

Last year, though, started off the same. After two 6th place finishes in Konthiolahti he had just one top 10 the rest of the first trimester. He came back for the Mass Start in Ruhpolding but finished just 16th. He was publicly irritated with the team management and communication and made it well known. Even still this is all relative as in his “poor” limited racing he still managed to collect enough points to finish 30th Ovearll even missing half the season. On the IBU Cup he was at times maybe not quite locked in but he finished strong going 2nd, 2nd, and 1st to close out his year before skipping the last week in Otepaa.

Trying to pinpoint the reason for the declinine in performance if pretty simple. His hit rate barely changed hitting 87.1%, 87.7% and 87.3% in each of the last three seasons. That put him pretty close to his career averages. The decline was in his skiing. Last season he skied 1.9% faster than median. That was his “slowest” since 2018-2019. I put slowest in “” because he still had an average ski rank of 17th which is still pretty darn good.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2018-2019	91.8	84.1	88	28
2019-2020	88.8	82.9	85.9	28.1
2020-2021	85.1	86.9	86	28.6
2021-2022	90.3	87.7	89	29.4
2022-2023	91.9	82.4	87.1	27.9
2023-2024	88.7	86.7	87.7	26.7
2024-2025	89.3	85.3	87.3	27.4

The great news for Christiansen and his many fans is that this offseason appears to have been good for him. He’s been back up to his normal silliness and has been included Sturla Holm Laegreid in many of his videos. Frankly some of them are hilarious and it’s been great to see Laegreid in on the laughs. It looks like his performance is in a good position too as he ran well in Geilo finishing 4th and 5th. He had the 4th best course time in the Mass Start as well. In the Sprint he was 8/10 while the three men ahead of him went clean and Christiansen was still just +25 at the end. All in all it looks like Christiansen is in good form as the season gets underway. He appears to be in a good headspace. I would bet on a career rebound from Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen this season.

Isak Frey (22)

Ask just about anybody who the “next big Norwegian” is going to be, athlete, coach, or fan, and you’ll almost immediately hear Isak Frey. Maybe even before you finish asking the question. That’s how good he is. He’s got the whole package. As a 20 year old he finished 5th Overall on the IBU Cup. He absolutely dominated the IBU Cup last season as a 21 year old with six wins, 14 podiums and 19 top 5’s in 22 races. He ran away with the Overall globe and took home the Sprint, Pursuit, and Individual globes for good measure. Then he came to the World Cup in Pokljuka and Oslo-Holmenkollen to race the first five World Cup races in his career. He was nothing short of terrific finishing 17th in his first career race, and finishing 4th, 5th, and 9th in the Oslo races. In just five races he scored 193 points and finished 34th Overall. He had the 6th best average points per race of anybody on the World Cup ahead of Sebastian Samuelsson.

What makes Isak Frey so special is, well everything. He skis well and shoots even better. On the IBU Cup his average ski rank last season was 5th as he ran an amazing 6.4% faster than median. When he came up to the World Cup he skied 1.8% faster than median with an average course time rank of 20th. It’s worth reiterating he was 20 years old. And also worth reiterating that his shooting was even better. On the IBU Cup he hit 90% in the 23-24 season and 89.1% last season. In his five World Cup races he hit 91.1%. His shooting times are very good for somebody his age as well. On the IBU Cup he averaged 28.9 seconds per shoot. On the World Cup it was a pretty crazy 24.5 seconds per shoot.

If Frey stays healthy he is a lock for the u23 Globe. The bigger question is can he get himself into the mix for the Overall Globe? Honestly I wouldn’t put it past him. I’m not saying he’ll be in contention in the last weeks of the season, but would it surprise anybody to see him top 5 after the first trimester? I sure wouldn’t. He’s that good. The sky is the limit. If you told me right now that he ended his career with three or four Overall Globes I would believe it. I am so excited to see him battle it out with Eric Perrot, Sturla Holm Laegreid, Tommaso Giacomel and more over the next decade!

Johan-Olav Botn (26)

If you’ve seen Johan-Olav Botn race I’m sure that you’ve been wowed by his speed. There is no way you can’t be. Let’s put it this way, two years ago his average ski rank on the IBU Cup was 1.0. You might think that’s because he raced just once. Nope he raced 15 times and his average course time rank was 1.0. That’s absolutely crazy. So it’s no surprise then that he has 10 IBU Cup wins and 23 podiums over the last two IBU Cup seasons. In those two years he’s missed the top 10 just twice. He also raced seven times on the World Cup in the 23-24 season and finished with four top 10’s.

With that kind of speed why isn’t Botn a lock for historical biathlon glory? Well his shooting is still a work in progress. Thankfully, last season we were able to see that important word: progress. While hitting in the low 80’s for most of his career, last season he boosted that up to 86.8% with fairly even splits. That was the first time in prolonged racing that he better than 80% prone. Now we’re cooking. You put that kind of absurd speed, skiing 8+% better on the IBU Cup than the median, along with mid 80’s or better shooting and we’re looking at some excellent performances.

The big question now is can Johan-Olav Botn continue that shooting. If he is going to hit 87% on the World Cup, while skiing around what we can assume will be 4-4.5% faster than median, or roughly in the range of Samuelsson and QFM, we’re looking at somebody who really could contend in the Overall. That’s the recipe for success that so many men before him have rode straight to the top. So, can he keep up the shooting? Unlike Frey we haven’t seen him do it before. But, you always have to start somewhere and what if last season was that start? I certainly would be excited to see it. We’ll know soon enough!

IBU Cup Persistence – In a way I admire these men as much as anybody in biathlon. Look at the talent and success that is further up this list. Yet these men keep fighting on hoping that they can find the magic that gets them the call up. To be fair the Norwegian roster is so crazy deep that there are a number of men who are on the ASKO Cup we may see but I didn’t take the time to discuss in depth. This includes men like Harald Oeygard or Martin Femsteinevik or Petter Bjoern. To start the season on the IBU Cup for the Norwegian men we will see:
– Sivert Bakken
– Johannes Dale-Skjevdal
– Jorgen Saeter
– Herman Borge
– Kasper Kalkenberg
– Vetle Paulsen

Sivert Bakken (27)

The return of Sivert Bakken last season was such a tremendous story. The last time we saw him was the close of the 2021-2022 season when he won the Mass Start to end the season. He seemed like part of the future for Norway. Then he missed two full seasons as a result of heart muscle inflammation. He kept at it though and qualified to return to the IBU Cup last year right out of Sjusjoen. He confirmed his form with a 10th place finish right away. Then an 8th. Then a 4th. He just kept plugging along and eventually scored a podium in Obertilliach. Then he won a race in Brezno-Orsberlie. Then he won gold at the European Championships in the Sprint. And he closed out the season with another win in the Short Individualin Otepaa. In total he had three wins, seven podiums, 15 top 5’s and 21 top 10’s in 24 IBU Cup races last season as he finished 2nd Overall.

It had been so long since we last saw him there was no way to know what we were going to see. What we saw was amazing. He looked to have retained a good amount of his speed as he ran 6.6% faster than median with an average course time rank of 5.5. He didn’t really lose his shooting as he hit 85.7% just a couple of points down from where he was in his prior racing.

There is every reason to believe that Sivert Bakken could return to the World Cup any time now. In fact he is the top reserve and if Vebjoern Soerum isn’t able to go in Oestersund we could see Sivert Bakken this week. I see no reason to believe that he wouldn’t be able to put up solid racing right away as he finished 4th in the Mass Start just ahead of Vetle Christiansen. To be fair he was 33rd in the Mass Start with five misses, but hopefully that was just a fluke. I cannot wait for Bakken’s grand return to the World Cup. It’s going to be a great moment whenever it happens!

Johannes Dale-Skjevdal (28)

As the 2025-2026 season gets started Johannes Dale-Skjevdal finds himself in a familiar position. He’s once again fighting to re-establish himself on the World Cup. This is a man who in his last four full World Cup season’s has finished 9th, 5th, 7th, and 3rd. Yet he always seems to be fighting against negative momentum carrying him away from the World Cup. That’s not meant as a criticism of Dale-Skjevdal. When he’s had moments where he’s had to prove it in 21-22 and last season he just wasn’t able to do it.

Really what this does is reinforce what we all sort of know about Johannes Dale-Skjevdal. As much as we love him, he has a really high ceiling and a pretty low floor. Just take a look at his last two full World Cup seasons in 22-23 and 23-24. In each of those seasons he was able to score a win. He also had “only” 10 top 10’s in 22-23 and 15 in 23-24 meaning that his bad days he was finishing further down in the points. And those were his really good seasons. Last year in 10 starts had four top 10’s and five top 20’s. So what happens is he’s prone to these episodes like last season where just doesn’t put up the performance that demands to be on the World Cup.

Dale-Skjevdal is no stranger to all of us. We know who he is. He’s as fast as pretty much anybody on the World Cup. He has been a top 10 skier on the World Cup in each of these seasons. The shooting though leaves a little to be desired. It all comes down to the shooting. When he hits in the 83-85% range he’s a to p10 biathlete in the World. When he hits 80% or less he is pretty easily surpassed by the other incredibly talented men on this Norwegian team.

We all know what to expect here. If Johannes Dale-Skjevdal hits his shots he’s going to be putting pressure on the guys on the World Cup to perform or he’ll be a threat to take their position. If he hits “only” 80% then he’s probably going to be on the IBU Cup all year. If he’s on the IBU Cup all year his speed is so good that he’ll still be a top 5 IBU Cup Overall athlete this season.

Jorgen Saeter (25)

After a solid weekend of racing in Geilo with finishes of 6th in the Sprint and a less solid 24th in the Mass Start, Jorgen Saeter the 2024-2025 ASKO Cup Champion carried himself back to the IBU Cup. Over the last two seasons he’s only been able to race seven times on that level with the rest of his competitions coming in the ASKO Cup. He hasn’t been back in those seven races though. He has three top 10’s and six top 12’s. He had one top 10 last year when he finished 6th in the Sprint in Brezno-Osrblie. Prior to that he had a number of Juniors races with his best finish coming in the 2021 Junior Worlds when he finished 5th in the Pursuit.

Not a ton of IBU data to go off of here. He was running 3.5% faster than median last season and he hit 85% in limited racing. The year before in just a handful of starts he was a little bit faster and hit 90%.

Take all of this into account and we see a guy who, if given more extended IBU Cup racing, seems like he could be pretty solid. In recent years Norwegian men on the IBU Cup have crammed into the top 5-6 spots in the Overall. He might not be one of those guys, but he could be pretty good continuing to put up a high level of top 10’s and top 20’s. In Geilo he finished 6th in the Sprint when he went 10/10. He went 18/20 in the Mass Start and had the 35th best skiing time. If I’m being honest, with skiing like this right now, to me this looks like a guy who is going to have to shoot exceptionally well to be able to continue to hold on to his spot on the IBU Cup. He may very well do that but there is definitely an opening for somebody like Mats Oeverby to try to fight his way back up.

Herman Borge (28)

Herman Borge, the 2024-2025 ASKO Cup 3rd place Overall finisher, will be making his IBU racing debut when he kicks off the season with the Norwegian IBU Cup team in Obertilliach. ASKO Cup statistics are a little bit harder to come by, and I’ll be completely honest, these projects take a lot of time, so rather than frustrated myself digging for them all, I just let it go and said to myself “we’ll see Borge soon enough!” I can tell you that last season he had a win, a 2nd, and two 3rd place finishes on the ASKO Cup where his main competition was Jorgen Saeger, Ole Suhrke, Vetle Paulsen, Martin Femsteinevik, Mats Oeverby, and Einar Hedegart amongst many others.

Kasper Kalkenberg (20)

Kasper Kalkenberg has the rare distinction of making his IBU Cup debut after he made his World Cup debut. By distinction of being the top point earner at the Junior Worlds Kalkenberg earned a bib at the Oslo-Holmenkollen World Cup weekend where he finished 83rd. Not to worry though, the young man has had an ultra successful run at Youth and Junior Worlds. Competing in the last three editions of those competitions he has finished outside the top 4 just one time when he finished 10th. Otherwise he has four gold medals, and two silver medals along with two 4th place finishes. It’s fair to say that he’s one of the highest profile Juniors that is graduating to the Senior level at this time, and not just because of his name.

Kalkenberg raced to all of those medals on the back of excellent skiing. he’s only finished outside the top 3 in course time rank twice in nine Juniors races. I’m certainly not an expert but even I can say that’s pretty darn good. His shooting has been up and down. He has just as many events hitting 75% or worse as he does 90% or better.

Kasper Kalkenberg has the look of somebody who can make it to the World Cup. The skiing has obviously been very good. Now comes the need to get the rifle squared away. Skiing can only take you so far when you aspirations are as high as Kasper Kalkenberg’s should be, which is high on the World Cup. Hopefully he has a good full season of IBU Cup racing where he will have a very high ceiling, including potentially winning races, based on his speed. I really want to see how his shooting settles out though. High 70’s is fine for this year. Low 80’s would be nice. Anything above that and I’m going to start to get very excited.

Vetle Paulsen (25)

Yet another one of these men who seems to exist in the space between being able to be a consistent dominator of the IBU Cup and competing on the ASKO Cup is Vetle Paulsen. Over the past two seasons the now 25 year old raced 20 total times (11 in 23-24 and 9 in 24-25) over which he has 12 top 10’s and six top 5’s. His average finish in those seasons is 10.5 and 11. I think we all know that if he was from any other nation he would not have raced half seasons, but would have run the full year. That was the 13th best average finish of the year on the IBU Cup. Paulsen, like all of these men, just happens to race for the most talent rich biathlon nation on Earth.

You’ll be stunned to find out that Vetle Paulsen is yet another very fast skier. His average ski rank the last two seasons was 9th and 15th as he skied 4.8% and 3.9% faster than median in those two seasons. His shooting really isn’t terrible either. He hit 79.4% in 23-24 and 83.8% last year. Both of those year he hit over 90% prone. Paulsen’s big weak point is the standing shooting in particular.

If Vetle Paulsen doesn’t do anything except make a big improvement in his standing shooting then we can expect that he’ll be able to make some noise on the IBU Cup sooner rather than later. If and when he’s on the ASKO Cup he’ll be right at the top again just like he was last year finishing 4th even with missing the time for those IBU Cup races. For what it’s worth he finished 7th in the Geilo Sprint hitting 9/10 and 26th in the Mass Start hitting 15/20 with the 20th best skiing.

Mats Oeverby (25)

If you had told me at the close of the 2023-2024 season that we would still be awaiting Mats Oeverby’s World Cup debut, well I might have believed you, but only because the Norwegian team is so ridiculously stacked with talent. That year he raced the full season on the IBU Cup and had three wins, 10 podiums, 18 top 5’s and 22 top 10’s in 23 races as he raced his way to 5th in the Overall. At that point he looked like he had claimed a position in line behind Johan-Olav Boten and Isak Frey as one of the top call ups.

Then the following off season didn’t really go quite as hoped. He raced just six times on the IBU Cup last season with just two top 10’s. On the ASKO Cup he had four podiums including a win and two second place finishes. But was far from dominating it.

Looking back, when we last saw Mats Oeverby in top form he was all around pretty darn good. That great 23-24 IBU Cup campaign he had an average ski rank of 6.3 while running 5.6% faster than median on the tracks. He was 7th fastest man that season. Meanwhile he hit 88.9%. Easy to see why he had such great success and we were all so high on hi. Of course since then it hasn’t been the same. In his limited 2024-2025 racing his speed dipped dramatically with his average ski rank down to 29th. He did recover a little towards the end of the season though as he finished out the season 2nd, 2nd, 1st on the ASKO Cup.

In the racing in Geilo he finished 13th in the Mass Start with the 18th best course time and 18/20 shooting. That was over 30 seconds back of Kasper Kalkenberg who had the same shooting. He did finish 10th in the Sprint though right between Tommaso Giacomel and Emilien Jacquelin. In fairness to those two men they did each have one more miss than Oeverby but that’s part of the game. Mats Oeverby enters the season as the top reserve for the IBU Cup.

Sverre Aspenes (28)

How on Earth is Sverre Aspenes 28? Like seriously? 28?!? In my mind he’s still a young up and coming talent. But now, no offense to Aspenes, but he’s older than these younger men now. He remains persistent though racing at least a couple of races on the IBU Cup every year including 10 races last season in which he won a race, had four podiums, five top 5’s and seven top 10’s. He also had a win and a 3rd on the ASKO Cup as well.

Statistically last year looked a lot like the rest of Aspenes’ career. He was exceptionally fast with an average ski rank of just 3 in his 10 races. However his shooting held him back from an even greater season. He hit 72% which was unfortunately not a dramatic deviation from where he has been the last few seasons. He did hit 83.1% in the 2021-2022 season but that’s four seasons ago now.

With that kind of speed it is no surprise that Sverre Aspenes has such good results when he’s on the ASKO Cup. When he’s on the IBU Cup, though, he really needs to have better shooting to be able to have more consistent racing, both in terms of his finishes and how many races he’s running. It’s never too late to re-establish that skill so hopefully 2025-2026 is the year! This season, after finishing 23rd in the Sprint and 14th in the Mass Start he will start the year on the ASKO Cup as he was once again held back by his shooting hitting just 20/30 over both races. We’ll see how long it takes him to make it back to the IBU Cup, but I feel like he still has some successes in him!

Martin Nevland (24)

Martin Nevland is a prime example of how difficult this Norwegian federation. Two seasons ago he finished 3rd Overall on the IBU Cup. He was a member of the magnificent Norwegian IBU Cup team that suffocated the competition basically blocking out the sunlight from shining on anybody else. He accounted for 19 top 10’s, 12 top 5’s, 7 podiums and a win. He was the 5th fastest skier and he hit 86.9% of his shots. Everything about that should indicate that he would be alongside Frey, Botn, Bakken, etc fighting for World Cup time.

Instead? Last season he race zero IBU Cup level races instead spending the season on the ASKO Cup entirely where he six times and finished 21st Overall. It was a season marred by poor form and illness. The seven time Youth/Junior world gold medalist still retained a position on the Norwegian B team and had a solid summer. He had top 10’s at Norwegian Championships and had a good competition at Blink as well. Geilo, two weeks ago, was a story of two days. In the Sprint he was 69th with four misses finishing nearly three minutes off of Botn’s time. The very next day he crushed the B Mass Start though.

Martin Nevland will start this seaosn on the ASKO Cup. I have no doubt we’ll be seeing him on the IBU Cup sooner or later though. The talent is still in there, it just needs to shine through.

Ole Suhrke (23)

The 2nd place Overall finisher from the ASKO Cup last season, Ole Suhrke has just four IBU Cup finishes across two weekends in his career both of which came last season. He finished 14th in a Sprint in Brezno-Osrblie and 12th in both an Otepaa Sprint and the Short Individual in Brezno. Meanwhile on the ASKO Cup he had three wins and three second place finishes coming just seven points shy of Jorgen Saeter.

With just limited data to go off of we can see that Ole Suhrke is fast with course time ranks of 4th, 5th, 7th, and 19th. Meanwhile on the range he went 80%, 80%, 70%, and 60%.

This season in Geilo Surhke finished 14th in the Sprint even with four misses. He was just seven seconds out of the top 10. Then he finished 10th in the Mass Start hitting 14/20 with the top ski time in the race. Unfortunately for Surhke he just wasn’t quite good enough to qualify for the IBU Cup. However, he clearly has the talent, and the speed, to be competitive. So much so that he competed in the cross country test race this past weekend and finished 5th in the 10km event. He’s still so young so he’s nowhere close to running out of time. It would be a surprise if we didn’t see him at some point this season even if only a race or two.

Sindre Jorde (29)

At 29 years old Sindre Jorde still has biathlon dreams. He’s had a few chances to live out that dream on the IBU Cup, even making a World Cup start in in the 21-22 season. When he’s made his starts he’s had some success including two IBU Cup wins and one other podium and seven total top 10’s in 17 total races. His IBU Cup statistics look a lot like Sverre Aspenes. He’s quite fast with course time ranks nearly all in the top six in his career Unfortunately his 17 total races he has seven races hitting 70% or worse. 13 races hitting 80% or worse. It’s been a significant limitation on his even on the ASKO Cup. Last season he has an ASKO season’s best of 4th.

This year in Geilo he finished 19th in the Sprint going 8/10 on the range and 45th in the Mass Start hitting 14/20 with the 37th best course time. We’ll see if he’s able to fight his way back up the IBU Cup this season.

Einar Hedegart (24)

I’m putting Hedegart’s name in here, not because we’re actually going to see him, but because I just can’t shake him. He’s obviously got all world speed. He’s so fast that he’s quite literally won FIS Cross Country races. This season he raced in Geilo but also stated that he sees cross country skiing as the best avenue to the 2026 Olympics so that’s where he’s going to put most of his efforts this season. He won the 10km test race this past weekend so it appears to be a good bet for him! Hopefully he has a great cross country season, makes his way to Milan for the Olympics, and then we can reassess after it’s all over.

Juniors – The Norwegian Juniors are a difficult group to figure out. We usually only see them for Junior Worlds. Otherwise they remain in Norway. Because when you have such a high level of internal competition it really isn’t worth it to spend the money on travel otherwise. But we’ll do our best! To be fair some of these guys aren’t Juniors anymore but they really only have Juniors competition to date so I left them here.

Sivert Gerhardsen (21)

– 2024-2025 season was third season of IBU competition. Raced 22-23 Youth Worlds and 23-24 & 24-25 Junior Worlds. Also made IBU Cup debut in Otepaa
– In his entire Juniors career has never finished worth than 9th. Has three individual Youth/Junior gold medals with one each at the last three Youth/Junior World Championships. Five total Youth/Junior Worlds medals
– 2025 Junior Worlds: 1st, 8th, 8th
– 2025 IBU Cup finishes: 7th and 4th
– 24-25 Junior Course Time Ranks: 5th, 17th, 10th
– Shooting percentages: 100%, 100%, 70%
– IBU Cup Course Time Ranks: 25th & 9th
– IBU Cup Shooting Percentages: 95% & 100%

Haavard Tosterud (21)

– 2024-2025 season was second season of IBU competition. Raced 23-24 and 24-25 Junior Worlds. Also made IBU Cup debut in Otepaa.
– First medal in 2024-2025 Junior Worlds
– 2025 Junior Worlds: 16th, 1st, & 19th
– 2025 IBU Cup finishes: 40th & 41st
– 24-25 Junior Course Time Ranks: 9th, 1st, 5th
– Shooting percentages: 85%, 100%, 60%
– IBU Cup Course Time Ranks: 44th & 35th
– IBU Cup Shooting Percentages: 85% & 70%

Andreas Aas (22)

– 2024-2025 season was second season of IBU competition. Raced 21-22 Youth Worlds and 24-25 Junior Worlds.
– 2025 Junior Worlds: 36th & 4th
– 24-25 Junior Course Time Ranks: 31st & 23rd
– Shooting percentages: 80% & 85%
– 6th in ASKO in age 20-22 of ASKO Cup

Sivert Bjoerndalen (22)

– 2021-2022 was only season of IBU racing when he raced at Youth Worlds
– Last season finished 2nd in age 20-22 of ASKO Cup with with four 2nd place finishes and one 3rd
– 21-22 Youth Worlds: 30th, 24th, 23rd
– 21-22 Junior Course Time Ranks: 41st, 46th, 41st
– Shooting percentages: 80%, 90%, 80%

Andreas Prasterud (20)

– 2024-2025 was debut on IBU levels at Youth Worlds
– 5th in the Age 20-22 ASKO Cup with three 2nd place finishes
– Junior Worlds: 24th & 36th
– Junior Course Time Ranks: 15th & 25th
– Shooting percentages: 80% & 65%

Tov Roeysland (19)

– 2024-2025 was debut on IBU levels at Youth Worlds
– Youth Worlds: 15th, 3rd, 27th
– Junior Course Time Ranks: 21st, 16th, 23rd
– Shooting percentages: 80%, 100%, 75%

Oliver Alm (20)

– 2023-2024 was debut on IBU levels at Youth Worlds. No IBU racing in 24-25 season.
– 23-24 Youth Worlds: 20th, 18th, 3rd
– 23-24 Junior Course Time Ranks: 21st, 12th, 3rd
– 23-24 Shooting percentages: 80%, 80%, 90%

Jakob Lundby (22)

– No history of IBU racingt
– Finished 3rd in Age 20-22 ASKO Cup with a win, a 2nd place, and three 3rd place finishes

Women

As the 2025-2026 Olympic season gets underway the Norwegian women find themselves in an unenviable position. They’ve lost the heavy hitter star power of Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland. Tiril Eckhof, after coming achingly close to taking the Overall title in the 2023-2024 season suffered heart issues to start the season and was never able to get back to her peak form. Maren Kirkeeide is too young to be consistently relied on for week in and week out high level finishes. The rest of the team is, just not up to the standards being set by their top rivals in France, Germany, and Sweden amongst others. Last season they put just one woman in the top 10 (Kirkeeide at 10), two in the top 20 (Knotten at 14), and three in the top 25 (Lien at 24). For over half of the Mass Starts last season the Norwegian women had three or fewer starters. In most nations that would be a great season. Norway has higher expectactions though.

Head Coach: Patrick Oberegger
2024-2025 Nations Cup Rank: 4th
2024-2025 Relay Finishes: 3rd, 6th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd (WC), 2nd
Quota: 6 Athletes to Start

World Cup Locks: The Norwegian women start the season with three who are locks to be on the World Cup pretty much from start to finish: Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, Maren Kirkeeide, and Karoline Knotten. Sure Karoline Knotten had a bit of a falling out with the federation over the last year, but she is undeniably one of the top talents on the team right now.

Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (29)

Over the last couple of seasons we’ve seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for fan favorite Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold. For most of the 2023-2024 season she racing at a level we had previously only dared to dream about. She collected three wins, eight podiums, and 11 top 5’s. She had a hiccup at the World Championships but came out of it with a 1st, 4th, and 2nd in her next three races. After that 2nd place finish in the Sprint I publicly questioned whether she had wrapped up the Globe. She showed no signs of the shooting difficulties from the Nove Mesto Worlds, and with a 2nd place finish in the Sprint presumably she was set up well for another podium, or at least a top five in the Pursuit. It turns out that was the apex of this portion of Tandrevold’s career.

In the Pursuit that weekend she had six misses in the standing shootings to tumble to 11th. She had turned out to be a disastrous Sprint in Canmore finishing 17th and at that point there was no recovering. While the start of last season seemed promising as she dominated the two test races in Geilo, it quickly turned disastrous. Her chronic heart condition flared up multiple times in Kontiolahti. She paused her season and had surgery in December. She returned to racing in Oberhof but was clearly well off her peak level. She had a nearly miraculous Sprint win in Nove Mesto but that was her only top 14 finish of the season.

She had steady risen over five seasons, building the form needed to become the heir to the throne built by Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland. It felt like it all came tumbling down. A painful long tumble. First from her standing shooting. Then by her own body. If you ignore her skiing decline last season, and really we should because of the start/stop nature of her season (and she was still 10th overall in skiing!) the decline in performance rests solely on her shooting. She hit a career best 87% in the 2021-2022 season. It’s been down a little every year since then. Her standing shooting dipped to just 70% last season.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2017-2018	85.5	82.7	84.1	33.4
2018-2019	90.2	73.6	82	31.5
2019-2020	91.8	74.7	83.2	31.5
2020-2021	92.3	73.9	83.1	32.4
2021-2022	92.4	81.6	87	31.8
2022-2023	94	78.5	86.3	28.2
2023-2024	96.2	73.8	85	29.8
2024-2025	94.6	70	82.3	30

There are two moments of Ingrid Tandrevold’s 2024-2025 season that I will remember forever. -Both of them happened in Oslo. The first in the moments after the Pursuit. She finished up the race and went into the athlete’s corral. It’s directly behind the finishing area just out of sight of the TV cameras. It’s in view of the media lineup but media is strictly not allowed in this area. We could see absolutely everything that happens in there. Tandrevold came in and went to the corner where the Norwegian athletes had their gear stored, and she sat down, tucked her knees into her chest, and cried. Her season was over. She had missed out on the Mass Start and this season, which had turned from promise with two strong wins in Geilo, to total sad disappointment, was finally over. It felt like since Soldier Hollow the year before everything had been falling down hill. She stayed there tucked in a ball for over an hour. The rest of the athletes were all gone, but she was still there waiting until she could sneak out of the corral and not be stopped by anybody. (Thankfully most of us at that moment realized that she wanted to be left alone but I understand why she did it).

The other moment happened the very next day. Tandrevold wasn’t racing, but it was going to be an amazing day of biathlon and of course she was there. And boy was it an amazing day of racing. There was drama galore. There were celebrations. At the end of all of that you know who was one of the last athletes out there greeting fans? Ingrid Tandrevold. She was smiling and laughing, and I can tell you from what I witnessed, giving some people memories that will last a lifetime. There were little girls who were awestruck, grinning from ear to ear.

That’s the Tandrevold experience. She’s wears her emotion right on her sleeve. She is such a magnetic personality that she is nearly universally beloved. It almost physically hurts to watch her be sad or suffer like she did at times last season. But she also remains relentlessly optimistic, and she understands her position in the sport. She knows that brighter days are still ahead. And we know that too.

We are now back to the start of a season again. All offseason Tandrevold gave us no reason for optimism. She didn’t really look like Tandrevold anywhere. She kept saying all of the right things in interviews talking about how she was getting into the best shape of her life. She said she felt like she had conquered the problem with Antholz now that her heart procedure was done. Everything she said was right, but none of the races or results looked right. That was until Sunday in Geilo. That Mass Start was magnificent. She put in a surge on lap four to gain an advantage on Wierer going into the last shoot. She confidently hit 5/5. She skied away from everybody on lap 5 and took home the Mass Start W. I’m all the way back in. Ingrid Tandrevold I’m here for it. It might not be an Overall Globe or even a top 3 again. But I’m so ready to see her mixing it up for podium finishes and re-establishing herself as a top dog in women’s biathlon.

Maren Kirkeeide (22)

One woman who seems intent on rising up to be a future (and current!) leader for the Norwegian women is Maren Kirkeeide. You can see her talent from a mile away. As a Junior she showed excellent speed a solid shooting, particularly standing shooting. That translated quickly to IBU racing as she won the 2022 Youth Worlds Sprint in her first weekend of IBU racing. The following season on the IBU Cup she made the podium in her first weekend. She got to the top of the podium in her third weekend. She ended the season with a total of three wins and was top 10 in each of her last nine IBU Cup races. She finished the year with a World Cup start and finished 25th in her debut.

The 2023-2024 season was a big step forward for Kirkeeide. She started out how on the IBU Cup and moved up to the World Cup in the 2nd trimester. She returned to the European Championship where she had two gold medals and a silver. She closed out the year on the World Cup and she hasn’t looked back. Last season it was right to work on the World Cup, moving up the finishing positions every week before back to back 2nd place finishes in Oberhof. She had another peak in her season at Worlds finishing 8th in the Individual and winning bronze in the Mass Start. She included a couple of top 10’s in the third trimester as well as she finished 10th Overall.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2023-2024	77.3	89.3	83.3	33.1
2024-2025	78	89.5	83.8	30.5

As her career continues to progress, and she continues to rise up the ranks, Kirkeeide remains an excellently fast skier. Last season her average course time rank on the World Cup was 10th and she ranked 7th overall in skiing. That was as a 21 year old. Nothing wrong with that! Her shooting will definitely need to come along a little more if she wants to reach her overall (or should I say Overall) career goals. She continues to hit in the low to mid 80’s hitting 83.3% and 83.8% each of the last two seasons. Unlike Tandrevold, she has a definite preference for standing shooting as she as neared 90% each season.

Maren Kirkeeide has the potential of a future contender for the Overall. Her skiing is already in range of where she would need to be to make that happen. She’ll of course want to see that continue. However, the big effort will need to be in improving the prone shooting. If she gets that anywhere close to 85% or above she’ll be in fight for the Overall Globe. It doesn’t need to be next year, just at the peak of her career. For this season I would love to see it climb above 80%. That alone would put her on the podium several times this year.

Karoline Knotten (30)

For most of her career, Karoline Knotten was a solid World Cup level athlete for the Norwegian team. She could be routinely counted on to be in the top 30, about half the time in the top 20 and occasionally in the top 10. She could be a consistent member of the relay team who did not hurt the team too much. Then two seasons ago she took the top off her performance. In the 2023-2024 season she collected 12 top 10’s and five top 5’s, far outpacing her career totals through then. She ended up 9th Overall, well above her career best 18th from the 22-23 season. Last year was a small step back, but still five top 10’s, good for second most in her career, and 14th in the Overall.

After being a very good shooter for most of her career, including hitting 92.1% in the 22-23 season, Knotten was able to find new ski speed that took her career to a new level. She skied faster than median for the first times the last two season. She saw her average ski rank improve into the 20’s for the first time in her career as well. That new speed was enough that even as her shooting regressed, and she hit only 87.6% and 84.4% the last two years she still had the two best Overall finishes of her career.

	Prone %	Standing %	Total %	Shooting Time
2019-2020	85.7	81.9	83.8	27.2
2020-2021	89.4	88.9	89.2	27.5
2021-2022	88.6	83.6	86.1	26.1
2022-2023	94.7	89.5	92.1	26
2023-2024	87.7	87.7	87.7	25.3
2024-2025	88.8	80	84.5	25.6

Now, at age 30, Knotten is forging a new path. After training within the national training groups for her career up until now, Knotten has spent this season on her own. There was a disconnect between her and the team late last season as she pushed for more autonomy for her training. Ultimately the team rather unceremoniously left her off the training roster and she was on her own. If you want more information about her offseason and the training I high recommend listening to the interview she did with us recently. She spoke at length about the steps of making their own plan, training with friends, and how she feels reinvigorated going into this season.

While the starts in Geilo don’t show her to be in top form, it’s important to note that she was already secured of a spot. She showed well over the summer including Blink, nearly winning the City Biathlon race, and a good showing in Loop One. Geilo wasn’t a place to show off it was just a check point. In speaking with Knotten there is every reason to be optimistic that she’s ready to make a push back towards the top 10 in the Overall. With Knotten in this form, along with Kirkeeide and Tandrevold, the Norwegians are going to have three women consistently in the top 10 this season. I know for sure I’ll be pulling very hard for Knotten to have a career best year this year!

World Cup/IBU Cup – After the above three there is a large group who could find themselves on the World Cup at various times this season. The Norwegians will run six women in World Cup Sprints and Individuals this season. So who will join the top three? It is highly likely that, while these three start the season, there will be many more who will join them at various points. As noted above several of these women made the World Cup team to start the season but they are by no means locks to stay there all year long. In this list you’ll see both the remaining World Cuppers and the IBU Cup athletes (at least to start the season).

Here’s who will at least start in Oestersund on the World Cup:
– Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold
– Maren Kirkeeide
– Karoline Knotten
– Ragnhild Femsteinevik
– Marthe Krakstad Johansen
– Marit Oeygard

Ragnhild Femsteinevik (30)

I have a soft spot in my heart for Ragnhild Femsteinevik. She’s not flashy. She’s doesn’t get people all excited. Well, maybe she does when she wears something fun in her headband. But she keeps on fighting and earning herself chances on the World Cup. Over the last several years she’s found herself on the starting line 52 times including relays.

Last season was another chapter in her story of persistence. After not racing on the World Cup at all in the 2023-2024 season, Femsteinevik started the year on the IBU Cup last year. She raced there the first 11 races of the season and earned six top 10’s, eight top 11’s, and a podium. That got her to the World Cup where she promptly finished 17th, 14th, and 17th in her first races back on that level. Those were the 6th, 7th, and 8th top 20 finishes of her World Cup career. She added another when she finished 12th in the World Championship Individual, the second best finish of her career. For good measure she got another one with the Nove Mesto Pursuit. In just 11 races she had five top 20’s matching her entire career total prior to last season. She finished 44th Overall, just a few points shy of surpassing her career best finish of 34th. And her average finish of 29th was easily the best of her career.

Femsteinevik’s strong point in her career has been her skiing. It’s getting stronger as she matures in her career. Last season on the World Cup her average course time rank was 16th, well above her career best of 27th. She skied 2.8% faster than median and ended the season ranked 12th overall in skiing. But the real trick for Femsteinevik is her shooting. Last year she hit 80% which was the best of her career outside of a 83.8% on the IBU Cup in the 2020-2021 season.

I for one an really happy to see Ragnhild Femsteinevik back on the World Cup. I love her spirit. I love her feisty attitude. I love how hard she has worked to continue to be a part of the top Norwegian roster. Will she be a top 10 Overall athlete? Probably not. However, if she were to be able to replicate last season’s performance over a full season she would have finished 24th in the Overall last season. Certainly a first career top 30 is within her grasp. Hopefully she shows what she’s got and goes out and grabs it!

Marthe Krakstad Johansen (26)

Marthe Krakstad Johansen started out the 2023-2024 season on fire. After making her debut at the last week of the prior season, she came out and started with an 8th and a 7th in Oestersund and 17th and 22nd in Hochfilzen. It felt like she had found her place. But she missed Lenzerheide and struggled in Oberhof earning her a bump back to the IBU Cup. She returned to the World Cup to close out the season and was solid if unspectacular. Last season she missed out on the first two weeks of the season and returned to the IBU Cup. However, her season was basically an inverse of 23-24 as she picked up steam on the IBU Cup with seven top 10’s, three podiums, and a win in 13 races to earn a spot back on the World Cup. She closed out the year with five races and all finishes between 12th and 38th.

Johansen has settled out and over the last two seasons has represented basically the dividing line between the World Cup and IBU Cup. On the IBU Cup she’s been excellent, one of the best. On the World Cup she’s good enough for regular top 30’s and occasional top 20’s. So how does she take the next step to start being a consistent top 20 athlete on the World Cup?

Marthe Johansen is the opposite athlete as Femsteinevik. She’s an excellent shooter regularly with a hit rate in the high 80’s and low 90’s. Last season she hit 89.5% on the IBU Cup and 93.8% on the World Cup. The skiing has been what has kept her from turning those top 30’s into higher finishes. Last season on the World Cup she had an average ski rank of 49th. Just to show the difference between the World Cup and IBU Cup her average ski rank on the IBU Cup was 14th.

If Femsteinevik can show improved skiing, she can really make that shooting sing for her. Her shooting is right up there with the top hit rates on the World Cup. While I’m sure she would love to be a top 10 Overall athlete, I think that she likely is going to be aiming for “just” top 25 Overall. That she can definitely accomplish provided her skiing improves. If her skiing stays the same though, she will likely continue to finish in about the same range. It would also put her at risk of losing her position if Ida Lien can come back healthy or one of the other IBU Cup athletes like Juni Arnkeleiv starts out hot. I only want good things for everybody though so hopefully she can show off some fantastic skiing improve this year!

Marit Oeygard (26)

26 year old Marit Oeygard was the surprise coming out of Geilo. This isn’t altogether uncommon. A couple of seasons ago it was Marit Skogan. Last year Gro Randby. It seems to be every year now there is a surprise Norwegian women who surges to the World Cup out of Gielo. Oeygard was an even bigger surprise because, as I’m sure you’re all aware now, she decided to put biathlon on the back burner this summer and focus on her studies as a medical student. Now, I haven’t been a biathlete but I have gone to medical school. The classic saying about it is that it’s “like drinking from a fire hose.” And frankly it is exhausting. Without knowing anything else about Oeygard I’m already in awe.

To this point in her career Oyegard has primarily been challenging herself on the ASKO Cup in Norway. She only raced eight times as a Junior and had a career best finish of 11th. Last season she qualified for the IBU Cup and raced there the entire season except for week 2 when she made her World Cup debut in Hochfilzen finishing 87th. On the IBU Cup Oeygard was quite good at times. She had five top 10’s including a second place finish. In total in 13 races she was top 30 for 12 of them and had nine top 20’s. She ultimately finished 15th in the IBU Cup Overall.

Last season Oeygard was a sensational shooter. She hit 96% prone and 88% standing for a spectacular 92% overall hit rate. Her skiing really wasn’t bad either. She was 2.4% faster than median with an average ski rank of 24th. Looking for World Cup success, that hit rate is going to give her a very solid floor and helps to explain why she was constantly in the top 30. However she’s going to find it difficult to get high level finishes on the World Cup if the skiing isn’t a little better. However, what she showed in Geilo is in fact a little better.

I’m really excited about Marit Oeygard. I feel a kinship with her (like I do about all of the potential med student biathletes). I know what she’s going through. To see her succeed like this is so dang exciting! Cmon Marit! Do your thing!

Here’s who will be starting the season on the IBU Cup:
– Juni Arnekleiv
– Karoline Erdal
– Siri Skar
– Frida Dokken
– Eline Grue
– Aasne Skrede

Juni Arnekleiv (26)

Just two seasons ago, as a 24 year old, Juni Arnekleiv had a sensational season as she brought home four top 10’s, three top 5’s and a podium on her way to 13th in the World Cup Overall. She showed good speed and shot well enough to make it work. All in all she looked like a great addition to the World Cup team and somebody we would be seeing a lot more of. Last season was a bit more up and down. She started out the season and looked like a shadow of the woman we saw in 23-24. She had one top 20 in five races and three finishes outside the top 50. She went back to the IBU Cup at the European Championships and found her footing. In the final seven races of the IBU Cup season she had six top 10’s including five top 5’s.

The cause of her slip in performance to start the season was a major step back in skiing and less dramatic drop in shooting. On the World Cup her average ski rank dropped from 16th in 23-24 to 39th last year. Her hit rate slipped from 84.2% to 82.7% driven mostly by her standing shooting dropping from 81.6% to 72.7%. Thankfully when she got to the IBU Cup she seemed to herself again. Her average course time rank of 8th was the best of her IBU Cup career. And she hit 85% of her shots, also a rebound.

Which Juni Arnekleiv will we see this season? Is it the woman who looked overmatched at times last season? Or the one who started out the 23-24 season so strong and rebounded late last season? She didn’t look terrible in Geilo. She finished 14th in the Sprint and 13th in the Mass Start. It just wasn’t good enough to make it to the World Cup. The more worrisome part was that she actually shot well hitting 9/10 in the Sprint and 16/20 in the Mass Start. I would bet that we’ll see her start out the IBU Cup strong and we’ll more than likely see her on the World Cup, maybe even before the end of the first trimester.

Karoline Erdal (28)

At 28 years old Karoline Erdal has become a steady hand for the Norwegian women. She isn’t spectacular, but you sort of know what you’re going to get from her. On the IBU Cup she’s going to be very good. She has finished top 10 in the Overall on that level five of the last six seasons as she routinely has 2-4 podiums, 8-10 top 10’s and consistent top 20’s. On the World Cup when she’s gotten a handful of chances she’s regularly top 30 and top 40 but has just give top 20’s in her last 22 WC races.

She’s settled into being a solid and steady shooter. Each of the last four seasons on the World Cup she’s hit between 82% and 86%. On the IBU Cup it’s been slightly more variable, and interestingly not as accurate, ranging between 77.1% and 82.1%. Possibly as she has prioritized ski speed and “going for the win.” Her skiing, though, is still showing signs of improvement. In that lst four season stretch her average ski rank on the IBU Cup has been between 9th and 10th. On the World Cup, however, she’s seen it improve from 46th to 20th over that period indicating definitely a higher level of base skiing. That gives me some interest going forward.

Karoline Erdal had a decent week in Geilo. She finished 12th in the Sprint hitting 7/10 and 9th in the Mass Start with with six misses. She actually ended up being the highest qualifier who didn’t make it to Oestersund and she is the top reserve should anybody get sick or injured that weekend. The skiing in Geilo makes me intrigued that she has made even more ski improvements. If she really has, and she’s able to continue hitting in the low 80’s that gives her a solid and steady floor to her performance. Of course on the IBU Cup she should continue racking up top 10’s and podiums on her way to another high Overall finish. However, if she coaches decide they just want a steady presence on the World Cup, with predictable top 30 or better results, Erdal has herself positioned well.

Asne Skrede (25)

Aasne Skrede enters the 2025-2026 season still searching for her first World Cup racing of her career. A few years ago that would have been hard to believe. In the 2020-2021 season she finished the IBU Cup campaign with seven top 10’s and two podiums on her way to 4th Overall on that level. Unfortunately that version of Skrede has been nowhere to be seen the last few seasons. To the point where she raced just seven times total on the IBU Cup the last two seasons combined. She did have two top 10’s at least in those seven races. But unfortunately she has just six top 20’s in her last 18 IBU Cup races. Even on the ASKO Cup she wasn’t doing awesome. She finished 8th overall. So what happened?

Honestly it’s hard to tell. If you look at her raw statistics nothing really looks all that different. Her average ski rank during that successful year was 14th. Since then it’s be 19th, 12th, and 16th. Her hit rate that season was 81.8%. She’s hit 80.6%, 73.8% and 83.3% in the last three seasons. If you look a little deeper though it quickly becomes apparent that the average course time ranks covers up for a drop in skiing. During that really great year she was top 10 in course time rank 10 times in 15 races. However those five times she wasn’t top 10 her course time ranks were 42nd, 17th, 26th, 41st, and 20th. So her average course time rank was dragged down, but her “true” skiing speed was much faster.

In Geilo, Aasne Skrede looked much more like the woman we saw in the 2020-2021 season. She finished 4th in the Sprint just 6 seconds slower than Kirkeeide. To be fair Kirkeeide had two misses and Skrede just one. But Oeygard and Lie in 2nd and 3rd were each clean. Skrede then finished 8th in the Mass Start hitting 16/20 with the 5th best course time. Honestly, the only reason she isn’t on the World Cup to start the season is because she didn’t score any World Cup points in the 24-25 season and she didn’t have an IBU Cup podium either. Those were pre set as qualifications to start the season on the World Cup. Otherwise her performances in Geilo would have gotten her there.

At this point, if Aasne Skrede can keep up this level of form it’s a matter if when not if Skrede sees the World Cup. The skiing is definitely fast enough to compete. Now, can she keep up the shooting at this level she’s going to have a chance to have some very nice finishes as well!

Siri Skar (22)

At this point it is only a matter of when, not if, we see Siri Skar on the World Cup. Last season in limited racing on the IBU Cup she was excellent She raced 13 times and finished top 10 in nine of them. She was in the flower ceremony for seven of those including the European Championship Sprint where she finished 6th. Skar finished out her season with the Junior World Championships where she finished 4th in the Individual and 14th in the Sprint.

Skar showed a very good all around form of biathlon. Skiing she was one of the best on the IBU Cup ranking 7th overall in skiing on that level. Her average course time rank was 10th. Meanwhile shit hit 87.5% on the range with nearly even splits. The only weakness in her performance was her shooting speed as she averaged 37.4 seconds per shoot. But at just 21 years old slow shooting isn’t necessarily unexpected.

Siri Skar looks the part of not just a future World Cup athlete but a very good World Cup athlete. It’s never a bad thing to hit in the high 80’s with top 10 skiing. While she did that on the IBU Cup she was just 22 years old and should continue to advance her skills. Even if she “only” continues to hit in the high 80’s that’s good enough to be excellent. If that part of her performance stays steady then the ceiling is the limit. It’s all a matter of how fast she can get. So she’s going to start out this season on the IBU Cup. But if the skiing is able to advance then she may very well find the World Cup this season.

Frida Dokken (24)

If you asked me right now how old Frida Dokken is I would guess about 27. It just feels like she’s been around for a lot longer than she really has been. That’s a credit to her because she made her presence felt at such a young age. At just 21 years old she was sweeping up top 10’s in the early part of the IBU Cup season. Since that time though her path has been a little more difficult. In the 23-24 season she made her World Cup debut in Oestersund but quickly was relegated back to the IBU Cup. She made only five more starts that season in IBU races, the rest on the ASKO Cup. To her credit she was able to finished 3rd in the Overall on the ASKO Cup even missing several races to race on the IBU Cup. She ultimately had two wins and four total podiums. Last year she didn’t make her IBU debut until after European Championships and in the eight races she had two top 10’s.

Frida Dokken has the ability to be a solid and even very good shooter. When she had that early career success she hit 87.9% in the 22-23 campaign. In her end of season racing last season she hit 85.4%. Where she loses ground is in her skiing. However she is showing signs of improvement. Her average course time ranks previously in her career were in the 30’s. Last year, though, it improved to 19th in her racing in the last trimester of the season. She ran a career best 2.9% faster than median in those races.

In the races in Geilo I wouldn’t say that Dokken looked exceptional, but she was solid. She was 7th in the Sprint and 17th in the Mass start with just 15/20 shooting. Her skiing was outside the top 10 in both races. All in all, Dokken looked good enough to be on the IBU Cup for now but with the likely return of Ida Lien at some point Dokken, at least right now, looked like one of the weaker qualifiers. It would not be a surprise to see her alternate from the IBU Cup to the ASKO Cup a few times this season along with a few other women. However, if she can take that next step with her skiing, the shooting is in place to allow her to be competitive.

Eline Grue (29)

After racing on the IBU Cup just seven times in the last three seasons Eline Grue will make her return right out of the gate to start the season. Grue undertook some pretty serious changes in her training and preparation pattern this offseason for precisely this reason. She showed some flashes in her performances at Blink. She raced decently at the Swedish Summer National Championships. Then she got to Geilo and finished 19th and 16th. It wasn’t the most amazing finishes in the world, but it was good enough to get her to the starting line in Obertilliach!

Not a lot of recent data to go off for Grue. She is right around average IBU Cup speed. Her shooting is up and down, but as she showed in Blink, when she’s good she can be very good. She also has the ability to shoot very quickly unleashing a 12.1 second 5/5 shooting in the finals of the Blink shooting competition. On the ASKO Cup she finished 1st in the Overall with a win, two 2nd place finishes, and a 3rd. This included competition from now competing for Denmark Anne De Besche, Frida Dokken, Tuva Straete, and Synne Owren.

Let’s see what Eline Grue can show us in Obertilliach. I’m worried that her time on the IBU Cup might be limited, but I’m hoping that she can absolutely make the most of it. Go out and surprise us Eline! Go do your thing!

Just Outside Looking In: There are a handful of other athletes that won’t start the season on the World Cup or IBU Cup but the are worth mention. Some, like Ida Lien and Gro Randby have health considerations. Others are women who have previous IBU Cup (or even World Cup) experience and who will be providing upward pressure for the women ahead of them. There are a LOT more athletes in the ASKO Cup that could come up as well but I can’t mention all of them!

Ida Lien (28)

I don’t want to spend too much time on Ida Lien mostly because it just makes me sad. Lien has at times flashed ability that few athletes have. Her ski speed, when she’s in form and healthy, is on par with some of the best athletes on the World Cup. Her average course time rank last year on the IBU Cup was 1.7. On the World Cup it was 7.5. She finished she season with two 4th places finishes in Oslo and seven top 20’s in 16 races. She finished 24th in the Overall, a career best even in a limited season, and over a full season she was on pace for a top 15 Overall season.

The difficulties for Lien are twofold and they are well known. She struggles with her shooting which at times leads to some really poor stretches of racing. Last year was her best shooting season and she hit 80.7%. The other issue is the reason why she is starting off the season not racing anywhere. Her back has been giving her trouble over the years and now it’s starting to dramatically affect her ability to race. She missed racing all summer. She missed racing in Geilo.

At this point there is no time table for her return. Maybe it’s in a few weeks. Maybe after the New Year. Unfortunately we’ve seen some back issues in biathlon recently with Lisa Vittozzi missing a full season, Marketa Davidova missing most of last year, and Emilien Claude needing surgery. I just hope that she has excellent physicians. I hope that she has excellent advisors. I hope that she does everything she can to maximize the rest of her career. At 28 she’s no longer a young talent. But she’s also certainly not old. If she can get healthy we can still have another excellent stretch of racing. Let’s all hope for it because when she’s healthy she can be so much fun to watch!

Gro Randby (23)

After making her World Cup debut to start out last season, 23 year old Gro Randby undoubtedly had dreams of repeating that this season. Unfortunately tragedy struck this offseason as she contracted a parasitic disease known as Chagas. It is transmitted by an insect and has fairly predictable symptoms including eye swelling. The unusual thing is, the disease is primarily only found in tropical climates being quite common in areas of Central and South America. Fortunately for Randby, her boyfriend (Martin Uldal) has had it before and he recognized the symptoms right away.

The result is that she went into a total pause of activities. As of now she’s starting to work her way back into shape. I haven’t seen yet that she’s in biathlon training but certainly it’s on her mind as she discussed in a recent interview that she has absolutely not closed the door on this season. With it being late November I can’t imagine that we’ll see her before the holiday break, at least on the IBU level. Maybe an ASKO race or two. More likely we’re looking at the second half of the year. Thankfully, at just 23, this should not be the only chance at the Olympics in her career. My hope is she gets it treated, recovers fully, and comes back strong.

When she does we’ll be looking at an athlete who can definitely ski and is just needing the shooting to come along. Last season she ran 2.7% faster than median on the World Cup. As a 22 year old that’s excellent. It actually ranked 13th best in overall skiing on the World Cup. On the IBU Cup at that level she translates to top 10 in skiing. Her shooting, though, still needs to come along. She’s consistently hitting in the mid 70’s. In her World Cup racing last year she hit 72.5% and 73.6% on the IBU Cup. In 2023-2024 she hit 78.6% on the IBU Cup.

The talent is there. She can absolutely be a World Cup athlete. The hope is that first she gets totally healthy. This year or next the ski speed will return. Then it’s only about getting that shooting up there. She’s a lot like the woman just ahead of her on this list, Ida Lien, in that respect. She has the ability to be a top 15 Overall World Cup athlete. She (and we!) just have to be patient! Cheering for you Gro!

Marit Ishol Skogan (27)

Two seasons ago Marit Ishol Skogan was one of the big surprises coming out of the season opening races in Sjosjoen. After some very nice performances there, and with just three prior IBU Cup races, she went straight to the World Cup to make her debut. Rght away she finished 10th in the Individual, her debut race. Two weeks later in Lenzerheide she finished 6th in the Sprint and found her first podium in the Pursuit as she finished 3rd. That proved to be the peak of her career as she wasn’t quite able to recapture the magic finishing no better than 28th the rest of the season. Still a promising start. Last season though, she wasn’t able to find the World Cup to start. After a good open to the season on the IBU Cup, though, her form slipped as the season went on. She ended up losing her spot on the IBU Cup after the 4th week of the season.

Marit Skogan’s statistics don’t speak to somebody who profiles as a consistent World Cup contender. And on high profile team like Norway she’s going to struggle to find World Cup starts, and even IBU Cup starts at times. Her skiing is okay. She has run a little faster than median on the World CUp and about 3-4% faster than median on the IBU Cup. That would all be okay if she was a great shooter but she’s hit just 77-80% over the last few seasons. Either one of those (the skiing or the shooting) would be just fine if she was strong in the other. So far though, she just hasn’t been.

So we find Skogan in an interesting spot. At 27 years old she’s not old, but she’s also not young. She doesn’t have a consistently strong skill that she can rely on to buoy her performances like Lien or Skrede. It’s going to take Skogan really putting it all together and making solid all around advances for her to run consistently on the IBU Cup and earn her way back to the World Cup. Hopefully she’s going to be able to do that!

Emilie Kalkenberg (28)

Another member of the Norwegian contingent who is plotting her own course this year is Emilie Kalkenberg. She and her brother Kasper decided it was in their best interests to train with their own coach this offseason to best set themselves up for not just just success in 2025-2026 but beyond. What dividends that will pay remains to be seen. So far in her career Emilie Kalkenberg has been an on again off again member of the World Cup squad. She raced a career most 13 times in the most recent Olympic season while running 11 in 18-19 and 10 in 20-21. In the last three seasons she has seen her World Cup time diminish with each succeeding season dropping from 13 to nine, then eight, and just five last season. At first that meant that she was spending the time on the IBU Cup. Unfortunately last season she was not only racing just five times on the World Cup, but just twice on the IBU Cup.

Kalkenberg, like several other members on the Norwegian roster finds herself in a difficult position. When she is on the IBU Cup she has proven to be quite good with four wins, seven podiums, and 16 top 10’s. On the World Cup, however, she has three total top 10’s an eight total top 20’s. And last season, of course, she struggled to even find time on the IBU Cup. It’s no surprise then that she was looking to change something up to reverse the current trajectory of her career. Especially when the current iteration of the Norwegian World Cup squad isn’t loaded with talent in quite the same way that the French, Swedes, and Germans are.

The difficulty for Emilie Kalkenberg lies in the fact that at this juncture of her career she has proven to be pretty good at skiing and pretty good at shooting. However she is not good enough at either to have it lay her a solid foundation for her performance. And she just isn’t seeing it all come together enough to justify, in the eyes of the federation, continued IBU Cup and World Cup experience at the expense of the younger athletes. Just for the sake at looking at numbers in her last few World Cup seasons her average ski ranks have been 51st, 43rd, 31st and 30th. In those seasons she has hit 83.7%, 85.7%, 75%, and 75.7%.

Emilie Kalkenberg has proven previously that she can be a high level IBU Cup performer. However, she has struggled to establish herself on the World Cup and aside from a modest improvement in skiing, which has unfortunately been offset recently by a drop in shooting, she has not shown the improvement that the federation is looking for to continue to give her high level performance. For Kalkenberg to re-establish herself it will take broad across the board improvement. And she’ll need to start out with some excellent performances on the ASKO Cup. As noted previously there are openings for athletes on this team to earn their way up so the door is not completely shut. But the time is now.

Synne Owren (24)

Synne Owren remains very early in her career. She’s primarily been competing on the ASKO Cup but she did competed at the 18-19 Youth Worlds and the 20-21 Junior Worlds. In those competitions she had four top 10’s including winning the silver medial in the Pursuit at the 2021 Junior Worlds. She kept plugging away and working her hardest and last season she earned her first career IBU Cup starts. She made her debut in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, the week after the European Championships, and raced the last eight races of the season. She had four top 20’s in those races with a season, and thus career best, of 11th in the final Sprint of the year. That came along with having a 5th place Overall finish on the ASKO Cup with three total podiums.

In last season’s racing Owren was decent at skiing and shooting. She ran 1.7% faster than median on the skis and had an average course time rank of 24th. She hit 82.3% with a slight advantage in prone shooting vs standing.

Synne Owren will start out the season back on the ASKO Cup and will continue to fight towards hopefully more IBU Cup starts later this season.

Juniors: Lastly come the Juniors on the roster. We may not see a lot of these women this year. That’s not because they aren’t good. It’s because they get pretty good competition running in the Norwegian races without needing to travel to IBU Juniors races outside of the Junior Europeans or Junior Worlds. That actually makes it very difficult to figure out what we’ll see from these athletes because we just don’t have as much readily accessible data! So here’s the best I’ve got.

Silje Christine Berg-Knutsen (20)

– 2024-2025 season was second season of IBU competition. Raced 23-24 Youth Worlds and 24-25 Junior Worlds
– She was 6th in the Junior ASKO competition
– Junior Worlds: 25th, 6th, 22nd
– 24-25 Course Time Rank: 13th, 14th, 13th
– Shooting percentages: 80%, 100%, 65%

Martine Skog (18)

– 2024-2025 season was her IBU debut
– She was 6th in the Junior ASKO competition
– Youth Worlds: 8th, 1st, and 7th
– 24-25 Course Time Rank: 7th, 7th, 8th
– Shooting percentages: 85%, 100%, 85%

Ann Kristin Aaland (21)

– 2024-2025 season was second season of IBU competition. Raced 23-24 Youth Worlds and 24-25 Junior Worlds
– She was 1st Overall in ASKO Juniors competition with two wins, a 2nd, and a 3rd
– Junior Worlds: 6th and 7th
– 24-25 Course Time Rank: 26th and 21st
– Shooting percentages: 100% and 85%

Bjoerg Eide (19)

– 2024-2025 season was her IBU debut
– Too young for ASKO 20-22 year old qualification
– Youth Worlds: 30th, 8th, and 10th
– 24-25 Course Time Rank: 11th, 16th, and 5th
– Shooting percentages: 75%, 90%, and 80%

Guru Ytterhus (21)

– 2024-2025 season was her IBU debut
– Finished 2nd in ASKO Junior Cup with 2 wins, a 2nd, and a 3rd
– Youth Worlds: 55th, 17th, 29th
– 24-25 Course Time Rank: 10th, 11th, 9th
– Shooting percentages: 60%, 70%, 55%

Sara Tronrud (19)

– 2024-2025 season was her IBU debut
– Too young for ASKO 20-22 year old qualification
– Youth Worlds: 40th, 10th, 14th
– 24-25 Course Time Rank: 15th, 18th, 11th
– Shooting percentages: 70%, 90%, 80%

Stine Haarstad (19)

– 2024-2025 season was her IBU debut
– Too young for ASKO 20-22 year old qualification
– Youth Worlds: 14th, 32nd, 39th
– 24-25 Course Time Rank: 21st, 34th, 21st
– Shooting percentages: 90%, 80%, 55%

Anna Maehre Torjussen (20)

– 2023-2024 season was her IBU debut. Did not race 2025 Junior Worlds
– Finished 4th in the ASKO Cup with a win and two 4th place finishes
– 2024 Youth Worlds: 4th, 6th, and 14th
– 23-24 Course Time Rank: 6th, 5th, 7th
– Shooting percentages: 85%, 90%, 80%

Maren Brannare-Gran (21)

– 2023-2024 season was second season of IBU competition. Raced 22-23 Youth Worlds and 23-24 Junior Worlds
– Did not race Junior Words last season
– 28th in ASKO Cup last season
– Best finishes: 3rd and 5th in 2023 Youth Worlds
– Course Time Ranks: 5th, 7th, 7th, 20th, 14th, 9th
– Shooting percentages: 70%, 90%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 85%

Agathe Brathgen (20)

– 2023-2024 season was her IBU debut. Did not race 2025 Junior Worlds
– Finished 5th in the ASKO Cup with two 2nds and a 3rd
– 2024 Youth Worlds: 4th, 6th, and 14th
– 23-24 Course Time Rank: 27th, 26th, 23rd
– Shooting percentages: 75%, 90%, 100%