2025-2026 Oberhof Recap

The Winners – Top Performers of the Week

Nations Medal Table for the Week

Nation	Medals
Sweden 🇸🇪	🥇🥇🥉🥉🥉
Norway 🇳🇴	🥇🥈🥈🥉
France 🇫🇷	🥇🥈🥉
Italy 🇮🇹	🥇🥇
Finland 🇫🇮	🥈🥈
Germany 🇩🇪	🥉🥉

Athlete Medal Table for the Week

Athlete	Medals
Tommaso Giacomel 🇮🇹	🥇🥇
Elvira Öberg 🇸🇪	🥇🥇
Suvi Minkkinen 🇫🇮	🥈🥈
Philipp Nawrath 🇩🇪	🥈
Martin Uldal 🇳🇴	🥈
Johannes Dale-Skjevdal 🇳🇴	🥉
Julia Simon 🇫🇷	🥉
Sebastian Samuelsson 🇸🇪	🥉
Hanna Öberg 🇸🇪	🥉

Men’s Athlete of the Week: 🇮🇹 Tommaso Giacomel – This will be a weekend I remember for the rest of my sports watching life. Sivert Bakken’s passing was one of the most shocking and painful moments that we have experienced a biathlon family. His journey was one that was so inspiring as we’ve shared before. While it was painful for us, it was infinitely more so for Bakken’s family and friends who were as close as family like Tommaso Giacomel.

Throughout Bakken’s struggles to overcome heart inflammation, Tommaso Giacomel was one friend who never left his side. It would have been easy to understand if he had. GIacomel was rising through the ranks of of the World Cup while Sivert Bakken was stuck on the sidelines. But Giacomel stayed close with his friend. There is a particular Instagram post from right when Bakken was starting to train again of Giacomel out for a ski with him and really boosting him and reminding everybody that Bakken was going to be back. Nobody seemed happier for Bakken’s successes last season with the IBU Cup wins and the European Championship Sprint Gold.

Tommaso Giacomel was so closely associated with Sivert Bakken that when the biathlon family reconvened in Oberhof to start the second trimester Giacomel was set up for a separate press availability as everybody was going to want to talk to him. He handled it with patience, strength, and grace while clearly emotional and tearful throughout. During the moment for Sivert Bakken before the Sprint Giacomel stood alongside Bakken’s Norway teammates who were effectively his brothers in grief that day.

What happened next only happens in sports movies. Tommaso Giacomel was perfect. He had a miss prone. But the way he powered around the course after that was amazing. Third best course time overall. He started in bib 62 so he knew when he crossed the finish line that he had done something special and may very well have won the race. He pointed to the heavens and his good buddy Sivert Bakken who was undoubtedly looking down with a huge smile. Giacomel came to a stop in the finishing area and was greeted by his teammate for the day Johannes Dale-Skjevdal, who himself had a great race finishing in 3rd. They shared a warm embrace as Giacomel told him “for Sivert.”

After that the tears came easily and readily. The interview was gut wrenching. The podium ceremony brought tears to everybody. It was a moment that will live with me forever.

The Pursuit we won’t spend as much time on, but he pulled off a near miraculous comeback. After 2 misses on each of the first three trips to the range he came to the final shoot 1:04 back and in sixth position. Martin Uldal threw three wild and everybody else had just enough misses that when Giacomel threw down a massive 5/5 in 19.5 seconds. He left the range in the lead and held on all the way to the finish to go back to back, and complete three straight wins dating back to the le Grand Bornand Mass Start.

Three straight wins including two in Oberhof. Add to that the top leg 4 in the men’s relay that, even if it didn’t end up on the podium, was still a dominant flex. Tommaso Giacomel is the man right now.

Women’s Athlete of the Week: 🇸🇪 Elvira Öberg – At the end of the first trimester Elvira Öberg admitted that she wasn’t pleased with her performances. She had four top 10’s and two top 5’s, but looked nothing like she (and we!) have come to expect. She’s just set the bar so high.

During the holiday break she decided to stay separate from her family to stay healthy and get in some good training. She also told her team that she didn’t want to hear any splits or gaps on the course during the races. Elvira just wanted to run her own race. It’s a little bit of everything but it made an undoubtable difference. Wins the Sprint by 21 seconds with the best course time by 16.7 seconds. She has a very smart and well controlled Pursuit going 0-1-0-0 and never letting the very dangerous Julia Simon/Suvi Minkkinen chase duo to get closer than 15 seconds.

By the end of the weekend she had moved from 241 points back and 10th in the Overall all the way up to 5th and just 133 back. She’s right back in the mix and if she’s going to race like this she’s absolutely a threat to Lou Jeanmonnot’s yellow bib!

Men’s Young Athlete of the Week: 🇺🇦 Vitalii Mandzyn – Isak Frey was definitely the man of the week. He finished in 13th in the Sprint and 12th in the Pursuit which was the best of any of the young men. That’s not three straight top 15’s for Frey and it feels like he’s starting to get his momentum going forward.

However I wanted to shine a light on Vitalii Mandzyn briefly. We all first noted him when he finished 4th in the season opening Individual last year. He was plucky throughout the season and finished 2nd behind the run away u23 winner. He’s managed to have a quietly solid season so far. He currently ranks 27th in the Overall and now has three top 20’s. His statistics aren’t quite as good as last year btu he’s running a little ahead of where he was last season. I’m really hopeful that he can keep this up because he’s fun and seems like a genuinely good guy. While all bets are on Isak Frey there is still a chance that Mandzyn could at least make him really work for it!

Women’s Young Athlete of the Week: 🇳🇴 Maren Kirkeeide/🇩🇪 Julia Tannheimer – I definitely wanted to celebrate Maren Kirkeeide with another 4th place finish in the Sprint. While not as high flying as her recent podiums or her win in le Grand Bornand it was another powerful performance to prove that she is well established as one of the top women in biathlon. Unfortunately the 22nd in the Pursuit was also her worst finish of the season. She now has three top 4 finishes at Oberhof in the last two seasons which is pretty wild.

It was also nice to see Julia Tannheimer have the best weekend of her season so far. She started out with 17th in the Sprint and then improved to 12th in the Pursuit. Her skiing continues to be sensational. Just 20 years old and she has been top 10 in course time ranks all but two races this season. That included being 8th fastest in both races this past weekend. She currently sits 6th in overall skiing is incredible. At some point we’re going to see her consistently shoot in the 80’s (or higher!) and when that happens she’s going to be a star. As it was this week she hit 80% and 85% and she had her non-relay week of the season.

Men’s Race of the Week: Relay – What else can you say? This race was absolutely bonkers. Honestly thank you to first Emilien Jacquelin and Johannes Dale-Skjevdal for those penalty loops to help open the door to this wild finish. Also thank you to Jesper Nelin and Malte Stefansson who were excellent to set up the final legs of the Swedish relay to be in the battle for the win rather than trying to make a wild late charge. And thank you to the entire German team for racing at such a high level and avoiding the penalty loop, particulaly Lucas Fratzscher and his 1 extra round!

All of that led us to the final leg. So start the leg there were seven nations within 33 seconds and three (Norway, Sweden, and Germany) all together at the front. Even after the first shoot still six teams were within 33 seconds as they went to the last shoot of the relay. It was basically a perfect storm with two extra rounds each by Christiansen, Perrot, and Zobel while Samuelsson and Giacomel each had one extra round. Giacomel by the way had 1 extra round and still only 22.8 seconds. Five men within 12 seconds racing for the win.

Ultimately it was the big diesel engine of Vetle Christiansen that carried the day. He pulled up to Eric Perrot, and after a little back and forth pulled away for the win. But there were shots in that last lap were you had five men all lined up in a wild drag race. That NEVER happens in a relay. At the finish line it was five within 5.4 seconds. The closest top 5 in a men’s relay ever with Czechia coming home 6th just 25 seconds back. Whew!

Women’s Race of the Week: Relay – The Women’s Relay wasn’t nearly the excitement of the Men’s Relay. And that’s not their fault because rarely will a relay be like that! The excitement in the Women’s Relay was really twofold.

First, the French women displayed their immense talent and just blasted the field. Lou Jeanmonnot had the lead after the first shoot and never looked back. She led by 8.6 seconds after leg 1. Oceane Michelon pushed the lead out to 30 seconds after leg 2. Justine Braisaz-Bouchet slammed the pedal to the floor and handed Julia Simon a 1:30 lead. Simon never had any stress and cruised home to the win. A win that was never in doubt.

The other excitement was the wild up and down throughout the field.
– After leg 1 Slovenia was 4th, Latvia 5th, USA 6th, Estonia 7th, and Slovakia 8th
– After leg 2 Slovakia was 2nd after a big time leg by Anastasiya Kuzmina, Slovenia 3rd, USA still 6th, and Poland 7th
– After leg 3 Slovenia, Slovakia, USA and Poland stayed strong
– In leg 4 we saw huge comebacks from Suvi Minkkinen and Elvira Öberg who charged up the field to bring Finland and Sweden to 4th and 5th, adding to their dominance of the weekend, while the United States women closed out their best relay in four years.

Super Sprints – A super quick hop through some top stories

Yellow Bib Updates

1) Men’s Top 6

Athlete	Total (Points Back)
Tommaso Giacomel 🇮🇹	611
Johan-Olav Botn 🇳🇴	560 (-51)
Eric Perrot 🇫🇷	529 (-82)
Sebastian Samuelsson 🇸🇪	505 (-106)
Johannes Dale-Skjevdal 🇳🇴	380 (-231
Quentin Fillon Maillet 🇫🇷	375 (-236)

This race got very interesting for a couple of reasons this week. First, and most importantly, Tommaso Giacomel has pulled on his superman cape and won the last three races to charge into yellow. Unfortunately the other part of it is that Johan-Olav Botn is more or less out of the race. After missing Oberhof sick, he is out of Ruhpolding. The Norwegian Olympic team was previously announced to be skipping Nove Mesto so more than likely he won’t be there either.

That leaves two main challengers: Eric Perrot and Sebastian Samuelsson. Both are 100% in the mix with 11 races to go. Samuelsson has confirmed that he won’t be skipping Nove Mesto just like Giacomel. Perrot we don’t know yet. It’s shaping up to be a 3 man run to the finish!

I put in Johannes Dale-Skjevdal and Quentin Fillon Maillet only for context to show how far back 5th and 6th are.

2) Women’s Top 5

Athlete	Total (Points Back)
Lou Jeanmonnot 🇫🇷	553
Suvi Minkkinen 🇫🇮	503 (-50)
Maren Kirkeeide 🇳🇴	487 (-66)
Anna Magnusson 🇸🇪	441 (-112)
Elvira Öberg 🇸🇪	420 (-133)
Hanna Öberg 🇸🇪	395 (-158)

It was a relatively uninspiring week from Lou Jeanmonnot and she still managed to limit the damage by finishing in 7th and 10th. If those are your bad weeks you’re doing okay. Really wouldn’t count on her doing that again. She still managed to hang on to a relatively solid lead as Maren Kirkeeide only gained 2 points after finishing 4th and then 22nd. It was a bit of a missed opportunity for the young woman.

The big winners this week were Suvi Minkkinen and Elvira Öberg. Minkkinen took 2nd place in both races to cut her deficit from 128 to just 50 as she surged to second place. Elvira Öberg came from just outside the top 10 all the way to 5th after two wins and she is now just 133 points back and nearly caught her teammate Magnusson for 3rd.

The real question will be who races in Nove Mesto. As of now all six of these women are in for Ruhpolding. We already know Suvi Minkkinen is skipping Nove Mesto to focus on the Olympics. It’s highly likely Maren Kirkeeide will miss it as well as the Norwegians do a training camp for the Olympics. Will anybody else skip? If everybody else goes it’s a good chance for them to open a gap on Minkkinen and Kirkeeide.

3) 🇺🇸 US Women Coming Strong – The United States men have had some good performances this season already. But how about this relay from the US women? Deedra Irwin led off the relay and exchanged in 6th position. Irwin has been having a really good season so that wasn’t necessarily a surprise. She turned it over to Luci Anderson who picked up after her career best 21st in the Sprint and held the position exchanging to Joanne Reid in 6th again. Joanne Reid came over from Arber and after finishing 5th on the IBU Cup she ALSO held serve by keeping the team in 6th position. It all came down to Margie Freed who had a heck of an anchor leg. She had just 2 reloads. She exited for her final lap in 7th but closed down the gap on young Manca Caserman to bring the US women home in 6th. It was their first top 10 relay finish since they finished 5th and 7th in the 2021-2022 season. While Deedra Irwin and Joanne Reid were a part of those relays this team feels like it’s in a completely different place.

Also want to quickly mention that the US women put all three in the Pursuit this week:
– Luci Anderson finished a career best 21st for her first points
– Margie Freed in 39th scored points again
– Deedra Irwin finished 48th in the Sprint and 37th in the Pursuit.

Importantly these strong finishes have the US women up to 14th in the Nations Cup which would return them to a starting quota of 4 for next season!

4) 🇸🇪 Swedish Week – There have been many times during the Johannes Lukas era when the Swedish team came out of the holiday break with dead legs from heavy training. It’s no secret at the Swedes like to enter the season very strong, but then focus on a second peak for Worlds/Olympics before regathering for a strong finish. As a result sometimes they look a little off during Oberhof and Ruhpolding. Well that was NOT the case this week. The Swedes definitely had a week to remember and feel like they are in a VERY strong position for this season:

– Elvira Öberg with back to back wins
– Sebastian Samuelsson 3rd in the Pursuit and a near podium or even win in the Sprint except for his journey on the last shot of the standing shoot. He paused. And paused. And reset. And reset. Finally he let the shot go. He visibly looked like he wasn’t ready yet but just knew he had to let the shot fly and he confirmed as much to us after the race. He told us he just had fatigued legs and had to let it go. But still finished 5th!
– Hanna Öberg a comeback from 13th to 3rd for the podium in the Pursuit
– Men’s Relay team got a very good start from Jesper Nelin and Malte Stefansson. Although they couldn’t convert it to a win, the did finish on the podium, were in the mix until the end, and it’s still encouraging for the Olympics run

5) Career Years Unfolding – The first races of the second trimester can sometimes show us who had a career first trimester vs who is having a career year. There were a couple of athletes who showed that the form from the first trimester is ready to carry over:

– 🇪🇪 Regina Ermits had her 2nd top 10 of the season when she went from 23 to 9th in the Pursuit with a perfect 20/20 shooting. She’s now up to 21st in the Overall. Her career best is 47th. She’s skiing faster than median for the first time in her career with an average ski rank of 36.4. Her shooting is even more impressive at 90.6%. Her career best in a full season on the World Cup is 85.8% in the 2018-2019 season. Other than that just one season hitting better than 80%.
– 🇨🇭 Joscha Burkhalter didn’t have a great Sprint but he had one heck of a Pursuit. He squeaked into the Pursuit in 59th position but charged all the way up to 23rd with a 19/20 day on the range. Just like Regina Ermits he’s hitting 90.6% which is a big improvement over last season’s prior career best of 83.8%. He also is skiing faster than median for the first time in his career. As a result Switzerland now legitimately might have three top 25 athletes as Burkhalter is 21st in the Overall.
– 🇮🇹 Rebecca Passler didn’t start the season on the World Cup but it’s hard to remember that now. She’s been top 25 in all but two races this season and one of those was a 27th. She had her three best career finishes of 13th, 11th, and 11th in a three race span ending with the Oberhof Sprint. Just like the above two she’s having a great season on the range hitting 90% and 6.2% improvement over her prior career best and 10% better than last season. She’s doing that while averaging 23.2 seconds per shoot making her one of the best all around shooters on the range. She’s up to 28th in the Overall and her presence greatly improves the abilities of the Italian relay team!

Flower Ceremony – Some Personal Top Finishes (not comprehensive but I tried!

11) 🇮🇹 Rebecca Passler – Already noted above, but Passler continued her hot streak that ended the first trimester and tied her career best of 11th in the Sprint in Oberhof!

16) 🇳🇴 Sverre Aspenes – He had both of the best finishes of his career as he finished in 16th and 19th. If Johan-Olav Botn is not able to return in Ruhpolding a good chance that he returns for another go on the World Cup!

19) 🇨🇦 Nadia Moser – This was the first top 20 of Nadia Moser’s career! Her prior career best was 23rd which she achieved twice in the 23-24 season. This is her second top 30 of the season and at 46th she could be in position for the best season of her career.

20) 🇳🇴 Martin Nevland – He made his debut and finished in 20th to set his career best!

21) 🇺🇸 Luci Anderson – Even as she continues to race occasionally on the FIS XC World Cup Luci Anderson is becoming a biathlete. She achieved her first career top 10 on the IBU Cup in the first trimester. Now, after sweeping the American Olympic trials races, she got her World Cup career best of 21st as she scored the first points of her career!

23) 🇵🇱 Grzegorz Galica – After becoming the youngest man to score points on the World Cup with his 24th in the Hochfilzen Sprint, he one upped himself by surging from 57th to 23rd in the Oberhof Pursuit. This young man is such a talent!

31) 🇸🇰 Jakub Borgula – A first top 40 for Borgula as he scores his first career points. He scored a 31st in the Sprint!

39) 🇸🇰 Martin Matko – Another Slovakian scoring his first points was Martin Matko. After making his World Cup debut in the Hochfilzen Sprint he has improved every single race from 94th to 79th to 55th and now 39th in the Oberhof Pursuit!