With one week of racing under our belts in trimester #2 we head to Ruhpolding for another week. It’s a bit of a relic of the Cold War that Germany continues to host two events every year as Oberhof (East Germany) and Ruhpolding (West Germany) were the respective stops of the Central European nation pre unification. But the result is that now, after what will go down as one of the most thrilling weekends of this biathlon season the field makes their shortest travel of the season, traveling from the unpredictability of Oberhof to the warm embraces of Ruhpolding.
Dates: January 14, 2026 – January 18, 2026
Schedule:
– Wednesday January 14: Women’s 4x6km Relay
– Thursday January 15: Men’s 4×7.5km Relay
– Friday January 16: Women’s 7.5km Sprint
– Saturday January 17: Men’s 10km Sprint
– Sunday January 18: Women’s 10km Pursuit + Men’s 12.5km Pursuit
Course Overview:
– Stadium altitude: 710 meters
– Maximum altitude on course: 733 meters
– Lowest altitude on course: 701 meters
– Stadium capacity: 12,000 spectators
I really liked how they overlaid the three courses. The dots correspond to the turn points for each of the courses. So, where you see a red dot it’s where the 2km course turns. The green dot is where the 2.5km course turns. The blue dot is the 3.3km course. Pretty cool to see the commonalities right on top of each other.
Weather:
– Average Temperature for mid December: High 3C and Low -5C.
– In general it isn’t particularly sunny in January in Ruhpolding with rain/snow a little over 50% of the days.
– By and large not usually windy
Well it looks like its going to be a warm and sloppy week in Ruhpolding. The great news is that it’s still getting below freezing at night. The course crews will be able to do great work to get the course back in shape. As we’ve seen in the past the Norwegian and French teams have done the best waxing in warmer conditions. The Germans have unfortunately struggled a bit in those warmer slushier snows. Hopefully they can change that this week!
News and Notes:
Johan-Olav Botn, NOR in yellow – IBU World Cup Biathlon, individual men, Oestersund (SWE). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Danielsson/IBU.
1) Johan-Olav Botn Waves Goodbye to Overall – The big thing here is that Johan-Olav Botn will NOT be returning to the team this week. He has not been cleared from his illness that kept him out of the Oberhof races. Unfortunately, the man who wore yellow from race one through the entire first trimester now watches his Overall chances flow away. He will almost assuredly not be in Nove Mesto either so it will come down to Tommaso Giacomel, Eric Perrot, and Sebastian Samuelsson.
2) Norway Roster Changes – In good news Sturla Holm Lægreid is back from illness. He’s going to replace Martin Nevland.
On the women’s side Juni Arnekleiv and Siri Skar are back to the World Cup. Aasne Skrede is back to the IBU Cup and Marit Øygard is going to take a rest break
Elvira OEBERG (SWE), Hanna OEBERG (SWE) – IBU World Cup Biathlon, pursuit women, Oberhof (GER). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Heilwagen/IBU.
3) Sweden and the Olympic Question – The Swedish team is bringing another “heavy” women’s roster to the Ruhpolding stop. In addition to the Big 4 of Elvira and Hanna Öberg, Anna Magnusson, and Ella Halvarsson they will be bringing all three of Anna-Karin Heijdenberg, Linn Gestblom and Johanna Skottheim. It seems this will be the final trial for the Olympics.
At this point it seems that Anna-Karin Heijdenberg and Linn Gestblom have the step up on Johanna Skotthim. With Sara Andersson out this week she seems to be out of the running for the 2026 Olympics. Thankfully she’s quite young and should hopefully be around for 2030 and 2034! Johanna Skottheim appears to have one last opportunity to make a statement. At this point though it seems that Heijdenberg and Gestblom will be the reserves for the Olympics with a possible start in the Individual if one of the Big 4 gets sick or needs a rest.
4) Returns – We have several athletes returning to competition this week
– Sturla Holm Laegreid as noted above is back
– Dorothea Wierer and Lisa Vittozzi return after their training camp to prep for the Olympics
– Ella Halvarsson is back after illness kept her out of Oberhof
– Lisa Hauser back after illness as well
– Jakov Fak returns after having knee surgery in December to repair his meniscus
5) Illness/Injury – And a few athletes are going to miss the week due to illness/injury
– Philipp Horn is out with the illness that came on late in the week in Oberhof
– Johan-Olav Botn as noted above
6) Load Management – The Czech team is doing an important thing this week. While they have brought up Tereza Vinklarkova to the World Cup the bigger choice was resting Marketa Davidova for the relay. With the early start this week, it will give Davidova (and her back) the ability to rest up until Friday before returning to racing.
Recent History
Elvira Oeberg (SWE) – IBU World Cup Biathlon, mass start women, Ruhpolding (GER). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Svoboda/IBU.
Women’s Top 5 Finishers Last 5 Competitions
– Does not include retired or ineligible athletes
| Athlete | Finishes |
| Lisa Vittozzi | 🥇🥇🥈🥉 |
| Elvira Oeberg | 🥇🥇🥈, 5 |
| Hanna Oeberg | 🥇🥈🥉, 5 |
| Lou Jeanmonnot | 🥇🥈, 4, 4 |
| Dorothea Wierer | 🥉🥉, 4, 4 |
| Linn Gestblom | 4, 5, 5 |
| Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold | 🥇🥈 |
| Julia Simon | 🥇🥉 |
| Franziska Preuss | 🥈🥈 |
| Paulina Batovska Fialkova | 🥈, 5 |
| Johanna Skottheim | 4, 5 |
| Oceane Michelon | 🥉 |
| Jeanne Richard | 🥉 |
| Juni Arnekleiv | 🥉 |
| Oceane Michelon | 4 |
| Suvi Minkkinen | 5 |
| Lena Haecki-Gross | 5 |
| Vanessa Voigt | 5 |
| Justine Braisaz-Bouchet | 5 |
Men’s Top 5 Finishers Last 5 Competitions
– Does not include retired or ineligible athletes
| Athlete | Finishes |
| Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen | 🥇🥈🥈🥈🥉, 4 |
| Quentin Fillon Maillet | 🥇🥇🥈🥈 |
| Tommaso Giacomel | 🥇🥈, 5 |
| Sturla Holm Laegreid | 🥈🥉, 4 |
| Emilien Jacquelin | 4, 4, 5 |
| Johannes Dale-Skjevdal | 🥇, 5 |
| Andrejs Rastorgujevs | 🥉, 5 |
| Vytautus Strolia | 4, 5 |
| Vebjoern Soerum | 🥇 |
| Emilien Claude | 🥈 |
| Jakov Fak | 🥉 |
| Niklas Hartweg | 4 |
| Sebastian Samuelsson | 4 |
| Vitezslav Hornig | 5 |
| Justus Strelow | 5 |
| Tero Seppala | 5 |
Recent Memorable Moments/Performances
2025 Men’s Individual: This one is most memorable not for the top 5, which we’ll talk about later, but because of the man who finished in 85th. This man had five misses, which certainly isn’t a way to have success in an Individual race. With his normal ski speed, though, it shouldn’t have wrecked his race. In retrospect we know that Johannes Thingnes Boe was in a bit of a strange headspace as he would tearfully announce his pending retirement that week. To me, though, the most memorable moment of the worst finish of JT Boe’s sterling career takes place late in the race. While Boe was just sort of ambling along after the range Emilien Jacquelin, who was on his way to a 19th place finish and himself has struggled with mental health and has had some funky races in his career, came up to him and told him that “the yellow bib doesn’t quit.” Boe noted this specifically after the race and clearly it meant something to him. It meant something to me too. I really appreciate that message especially from Jacquelin.
On the other end of the race Vebjoern Soerum attained his first career victory and third career podium with a gorgeous 20/20, one of seven on the day. He ran away from the rest of the field and won by nearly a minute. Behind him was Emilien Claude who had his first career podium and had one of four top 10’s of the season. Andrejs Rastorgujevs with a strong podium finish. Niklas Hartweg with a top 5 for the first time in two seasons. Vitezslav Hornig with a top 5 for the first time in his career to serve as the peak of his breakthrough season. Otto Invenius in 7th. David Komatz in 9th. Joscha Burkhalter in 10th. Quite a top 10!
2025 Men’s Mass Start: Tommaso Giacomel raced to his first career victory and he did it in impressive fashion. Late in the race he was battling head to head with Sturla Holm Laegreid and a reinspired JT Boe. Those two men were the man who would win the 24-25 Overall title and the defending Overall champion. Yet Giacomel showed no nerves. He went 20/20 when just a single miss would have sunk his race. He was happy to lead on the course as well. It was a real moment for Tommaso Giacomel to declare himself as somebody who could do more than grab an occasional podium, but could be one of the dominant men for the coming seasons and especially in the post JT Boe era.
Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR) – IBU World Cup Biathlon, sprint men, Ruhpolding (GER). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Svoboda/IBU.
2024 Men’s Races: Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen was given an extended winter break by his coaches in order to give Johan-Olav Botn a look on the World Cup. Christiansen publicly expressed his frustration with that decision. Then he came to Ruhpolding and showed his frustration by winning the Sprint and getting second in the Pursuit. That served as a springboard for him. After just one podium in the first trimester he went on to have six in the 2nd and 3rd trimester including two bronze medals at the Nove Mesto World Championships. He ended the season 5th in the Overall for his 3rd consecutive top 5 Overall finish.
The Pursuit, by the way, ended in a thrilling three man Norwegian sprint to the finish between Christiansen and Johannes Dale-Skjevdal and Johannes Thingnes Boe. They came off the range together, and after JT Boe wasn’t able to shake them loose it came down to a final Sprint. Dale-Skjevdal proved to be the strongest man while Christiansen finished 2nd and Boe went 3rd.
2023 Men’s Individual: While we all remember the massive Individual performance that JT Boe had at the World Championships, the win in Ruhpolding was quite impressive as well. While he shot 18/20 vs. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen’s 19/20, JT Boe came out victorious by 9.9 seconds He ran 1:14 seconds faster on the course than Martin Ponsiluoma and 1:15 on Christiansen. Last year Christiansen was on tremendous form and ended the season ranked 3rd Overall and actually won the discipline globe for the Individual. It was one of our many hints that JT Boe was about to do something wild in Oberhof.
2023 Women’s Individual: It was a shooting clinic as we saw 10 total misses amongst the top 14 women in the race. At the very top was Lisa Vittozzi who put the capstone on her triumphant return to top level of women’s biathlon by going 20/20 while running the 3rd best course time. It was one of the most popular and cheered victories of the season. Right behind her was Lou Jeanmonnot, who scored the first podium of her career and announced her presence on the World Cup stage. We of course have seen her go on to really great things over the last year including back to back wins this season in Oestersund. Rounding out the podium was Julia Simon who was was her way to winning the Overall Globe.
2023 Women’s Mass Start: The hope with a Mass Start is that it comes down to at least two athletes going head to head on the last shooting and the last lap with a chance to win. That’s exactly what happened in this race as Lisa Vittozzi, coming off her first win in years in the Individual, and Julia Simon, leading the Overall, were leading going to the final shooting. Simon (20 seconds) shot fast but missed while Vittozzi shot slow (31 seconds) and went clean. The result was they were neck and neck going into the last lap. The problem was the opened the door for Anais Chevalier-Bouchet to catch them with clean and quick shooting! The final lap was a three woman race but ultimately Simon won the three woman final Sprint with Vittozzi in 2nd and Chevalier-Bouchet in 3rd.
2022 Women’s Sprint: What if I told you the following women went clean in a Sprint: Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, Dorothea Wierer, Dzinara Alimbekava, Lisa Hauser, Anais Bescond, and Linn Persson, while Justine Braisaz-Bouchet was 9/10? You would probably say that was a heck of a race. And it was! Except Elvira Oeberg went 10/10 and dusted the field by a solid 21 seconds on Roeiseland. It was Elvira’s 2nd win of the season and her 2nd in a row. She wasn’t quite strong enough to hold off Roeiseland in the Pursuit but it was still a top notch Sprint. It was Elvira Oeberg at her full powers.