The Winners – Top Performers of the Week
Nations Medal Table for the Week
| Nation | Medals |
| Norway | 🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈🥈🥉🥉 |
| France | 🥇🥇🥇🥈🥉🥉🥉🥉 |
| Sweden | 🥇🥈🥈🥉🥉🥉 |
| Italy | 🥇🥈🥈 |
| Finland | 🥇🥈🥈 |
| Austria | 🥇 |
| Czechia | 🥉 |
Athlete Medal Table for the Week
| Athlete | Medals |
| Johan-Olav Botn | 🥇🥇🥉 |
| Suvi Minkkinen | 🥇🥈 |
| Quentin Fillon Maillet | 🥇🥉 |
| Martin Uldal | 🥈🥈 |
| Sebastian Samuelsson | 🥈🥉 |
| Anna Magnusson | 🥈🥉 |
| Dorothea Wierer | 🥇 |
| Lisa Theresa Hauser | 🥇 |
| Sonja Leinamo | 🥈 |
| Camille Bened | 🥉 |
| Oceane Michelon | 🥉 |
Suvi Minkkinen, FIN – IBU World Cup Biathlon, pursuit women, Oestersund (SWE). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Danielsson/IBU.
Women’s Athlete of the Week: Suvi Minkkinen – In my memory this will be the weekend of Suvi Minkkinen. Hard to believe that after Dorothea Wierer had her emotional return to the winner’s circle in the Individual. But the way Suvi Minkkinen ran away with the Sprint, her emotional reaction on winning and then learning she was going to be wearing yellow, it was absolutely perfect. This woman has always been one of the best shooters. Before last season she took it upon herself to go train in the Alps on her own dime to find the elusive ski speed. She found it last year and now is even faster. In the Sprint she had the 3rd best ski time which was a career best ski performance. She came one shot away from the back to back win in the Pursuit and just faded late. It’s hard to feel too bad for her though because she still walks away with a 1st and a 2nd, her first career win, and the yellow bib to wear in Hochfilzen! At least for now she has to be included in the conversation for the Overall!
Johan-Olav Botn, NOR cheering at finish – IBU World Cup Biathlon, individual men, Oestersund (SWE). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Danielsson/IBU.
Men’s Athlete of the Week: Johan-Olav Botn – The book on Johan-Olav Botn has always been he’s one of the best skiers on biathlon but he just has these stretches where he can’t shoot straight. Normally a mid 80’s shooter, Botn went 58/60 this weekend including the relays. Who knows if he can keep this up? But, for this weekend, it was enough for him to run away with the Individual and the Sprint and to grab a strong hold on the yellow bib to start the season.
Women’s Young Athlete of the Week: Maren Kirkeeide – The early blue bib leader, Maren Kirkeeide made a move late in the Sprint race that changed her weekend a little bit. Not that it was off to a slow start, but after finishing 12th in the Individual, halfway through the Sprint race she was sitting in 61st. She cleaned her final shoot and then had the 2nd best 3rd lap to surge all the way up to 7th. That set up her Pursuit where she finished in 5th. She leaves Östersund 6th Overall and firmly in control of the u23 race for now.
Men’s Young Athlete of the Week: Jakob Kulbin – Okay Isak Frey is leading the u23 category at the end of Östersund, but we know his talent. Jakob Kulbin though with a big career best finish of 12th in the Individual to wear blue in the Sprint. He ultimately finished 73rd in the Sprint but he still, watching an Estonian man wear the blue bib for a day was very cool! I’m sure Isak Frey will be back in this category this season!
The podium with Suvi Minkkinen, FIN, Lisa Theresa Hauser, AUT and Anna Magnusson, SWE – IBU World Cup Biathlon, pursuit women, Oestersund (SWE). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Danielsson/IBU.
Women’s Race of the Week: Women’s Pursuit – A race made for me where it comes down between two of the most likeable women in biathlon. Suvi Minkkinen and Lisa Theresa Hauser separated by roughly 30 seconds as they came to the last shoot. Suvi misses her very last shot and Hauser goes clean. Such a clutch moment by Hauser, who later said that she didn’t know what Suvi had done on the range, as she nails her last 5 shots to go 20/20. She leaves the range 12 seconds behind Suvi, tracks her down by half through through the lap, and leaves behind a clearly exhausted Suvi in the last kilometer.
The podium with Sebastian Samuelsson, SWE, Quentin Fillon Maillet, FRA and Johan-Olav Botn, NOR – IBU World Cup Biathlon, pursuit men, Oestersund (SWE). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Danielsson/IBU.
Men’s Race of the Week: Men’s Pursuit – It has to be the Men’s Pursuit if only because the rest of the races weren’t really all that close. Botn winning by about 1 minute in the Individual. Another solid win for Botn in the Sprint with the Norwegians packed in the top. The Pursuit though came down to the final shoot. Botn and Samuelsson led with QFM, Uldal, Perrot, Christiansenwithin 10 seconds. Then Laegreid, Frey, and Wright were within 30 seconds and still in podium contention. Everybody had at least one miss but QFM who got away for the win and Wright who finished off his first career 20/20 and moved up to 6th. Samuelsson and Botn dueled down the stretch before Samuelsson shook free to take 2nd. Then Giacomel and Perrot went back and forth before Giacomel pulled away for the 4th and Perrot finished 5th.
Super Sprints – A super quick hop through some top stories
Yellow Bib Updates
I’m really only putting these here as a placeholder. It is WAAAAY too early to be taking this too seriously. But as the season goes along this will be the area where we really discuss how the Overall is going and who is in the mix and how it is shaking out. For now who is at the top of the leaderboards. Fun to see some of these names up this high!
Suvi Minkkinen, FIN in yellow – IBU World Cup Biathlon, sprint women, Oestersund (SWE). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Danielsson/IBU.
1) Women’s Top 5
| Athlete | Total (Points Back) |
| Suvi Minkkinen | 191 |
| Anna Magnusson | 174 (-17) |
| Camille Bened | 148 (-43) |
| Lisa Theresa Hauser | 145 (-46) |
| Dorothea Wierer | 136 (-55) |
2) Men’s Top 5
Johan-Olav Botn, NOR – IBU World Cup Biathlon, pursuit men, Oestersund (SWE). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Danielsson/IBU.
| Athlete | Total (Points Back) |
| Johan-Olav Botn | 245 |
| Sebastian Samuelsson | 190 (-55) |
| Quentin Fillon Maillet | 181 (-64) |
| Martin Uldal | 180 (-65) |
| Sturla Holm Lægreid | 142 (-103) |
3) No Boe No Problem – While we knew that the Norwegian men had a TON of talent on the IBU Cup, we really didn’t know what things would look like without the Boe brothers. Well, it turns out it doesn’t look all that difference. Norwegian men went 1-2 in the Individual and the Pursuit. As the first week comes to a close the Norwegians have three in the top five of the Overall and five in the top 10. Johan-Olav Botn looks phenomenal. Martin Uldal with a tremendous week. Sturla Holm Laegreid a quiet 5th, 4th, and 8th. Sivert Bakken returns to the World Cup and finishes 4th, 7th, and 9th. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen with two top 10’s including a flower ceremony. The Men’s Relay team was dominating until Christiansen briefly opened the door only to slam it shut again. A great week for the Norwegian men in Östersund.
4) Finland’s Glory – You know who we saw almost as much as the athletes this week? Finnish coach Erik Kulstad. That’s usually a good sign for the team that they are having a great week. And they are!
– Suvi Minkkinen: 15th, 1st, and 2nd and wearing yellow
– Sonja Leinamo: 2nd in the Individual
– Inka Halamalainen: 12th and 22nd in the Sprint and Pursuit, her two best career races
– Venla Lehtonen finishes 26th in the Induvial
Dorothea Wierer, ITA in yellow – IBU World Cup Biathlon, individual women, Oestersund (SWE). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Danielsson/IBU.
5) Dorothea Wierer Shines – One of the big throughlines for the 2025-2026 season is Dorothea Wierer’s final season of her career and if she can possibly find a way to contend for a medal in her home Olympics. The Queen of Biathlon is almost universally beloved and she showed right out of the gate that she’s going to have a chance for at least a medal. She won the very first race of the season. It was an unbelievable moment and a real statement that that she’s here and will be in the mix!
Flower Ceremony – Some Personal Top Finishes (not comprehensive but I tried!)
1) Johan-Olav Botn – We noted above that Johan-Olav Botn was absolutely on fire this weekend. No secret to winning races on the IBU Cup he’s apparently bringing his dominance to the World Cup now. Before this his best finish was 3rd in the Soldier Hollow Sprint in the 2023-2024 season.
1) Suvi Minkkinen – Suvi Minkkinen with her first career win! She finished 3rd 3x last season and climbs to the top this weekend in Östersund.
2) Sonja Leinamo – Finland was all over our screens this week but it really started with Sonja Leinamo’s incredible Individual performance. She was just 0.3 seconds away from the win. Regardless a marvelous race for Leinamo and her emotions afterward were so touching! This takes over for her prior career best of 8th in the Oberhof Sprint last season.
Camille Bened, FRA – IBU World Cup Biathlon, individual women, Oestersund (SWE). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Danielsson/IBU.
3) Camille Bened – What a HUGE weekend for Camille Bened. She entered the week coming off of the IBU Cup Overall win last season which granted the French team 7 bibs for the first two weeks to start the season. She grabbed one of those “extra” spots with a great performance at the test races in Bessans. Then in Östersund she made a real claim to holding on to one of the World Cup spots even when the roster is cut down as she finished 3rd, 13th, and 4th. Before this week she only had three career World Cup races with a career best of 13th in the Oslo races last season.
6) Maya Cloetens – A huge performance from Maya Cloetens in the Individual got her to her first career Flower Ceremony and her second career top 10. Her prior career best was 8th in the Sprint at the 2025 Lenzerheide World Championship.
6) Joanna Jakiela – Just like Maya Cloetens, Joanna Jakiela made her first career Flower Ceremony with a 6th place finish, this time in the Sprint. She then finished 21st in the Pursuit as well which tied for her 4th best finish ever. Her prior career best was 11th in the Individual in Östersund to start the 23-24 season.
10) Malte Stefansson – Racing in front of home fans Malte Stefansson Sprinted to a new career best of 10th and then had his 2nd best ever finish of 15th in the Pursuit. His prior career best was 24th in the 2023 Östersund Individual. The man likes to race at home!
11) Maxime Germain – A new career best by 1 place! He started out the Sprint on fire and it looked like a first career top 10 was possible. His previous career best of 12th came at the 2025 Lenzerheide World Championship.
12) Jakob Kulbin – The young man briefly took the blue bib after finishing 12th in the season opening Individual. This was an improvement of 20 places over his 32nd place in the 2025 Lenzerheide World Championship Individual.
12) Inka Hamalainen – Big time weekend from the young Finn as she finished 12th in the Sprint and 22nd in the Pursuit. Her previous career best was 30th in the Oberhof Sprint last season.
16) Lena Repinc – Lena Repinc now has three of her career best finishes in the first weekend of the seasons. Last year she started off finishing 18th in the Short Individual in Kontiolahti. This season she went 16th in the Östersund Individual.
17) Jan Gunka – Jan Gunka with not only a top career finish but also the first Polish top 20 since 2011. After finishing 23rd in the Sprint, Gunka advanced to 17th in the Pursuit. His prior best was 29th in the Hochfilzen Sprint in the 24-25 season.
23) Estere Volfa – A very nice weekend for Volfa. The 20 year old started with a career best of 28th in the Individual. She then finished 44th in the Sprint before a big Pursuit took her to 23rd. Before this week her career best was 34th in the Nove Mesto Pursuit last season.
26) Marit Oeygard – The medical student who authored the surprising finishes in Geilo and grabbed a spot on the World Cup. Only 1 prior race before this weekend with a finish of 84th. She finished 64th, 26th, and 27th this week in Östersund.
31) Shilo Rousseau – Another aspiring medical student, Shilo Rousseau finished 31st to score her first World Cup points and find the Pursuit for the first time on the World Cup. Her prior best was 70th in the Sprint to start last season in Kontiolahti. Her other finishes this week were 47th in the Pursuit and 56th in the Individual.
34) Mark-Markos Kehva – The 21 year old finished 34th in the Individual. His prior best was 76th in the Short Individual to start the season in Kontiolahti last year.