World Cup biathlon returns!!! And this week the biathlon family will be returning to one of its normal kick off locations, Kontiolahti! This is our first time visiting Kontiolahti since the opening weekend of the 2022-2023 season. That week we saw the first signs that maybe Johannes Thingnes Bø was in pretty good shape asContinue reading “Kontiolahti 2024-2025 Preview”
Category Archives: Commentary
France 2024-2025 Team Preview
17 Overall Crystal Globes. 32 Olympic Medals. 130 World Championship medals. While they aren’t one of the traditional founding members of biathlon like Germany or Russia or Norway, France has emerged over the last 20-30 years as one of the great powers. Quinton Fillon Maillet and Julia Simon. Raphael Poiree and Anne Briand. Eric PerrotContinue reading “France 2024-2025 Team Preview”
Italy 2024-2025 Team Preview
If you ask somebody to rank the top five nations in biathlon today, the rankings will usually go something like: Norway, France, Germany, Sweden, and Italy. The top three are almost always the top three, and then Italy comes in fourth or fifth. Sound about right? Interesting because of the last 10 Overall titles noContinue reading “Italy 2024-2025 Team Preview”
Czechia 2024-2025 Team Preview
While the Czech Republic may not be one of the traditional powers in the biathlon world they seem to never be far behind. While the Norwegians, French, Italians, Germans, and Swedes are powering through the season battling for the top positions in the Nations Cup there is always a small group of nations pushing andContinue reading “Czechia 2024-2025 Team Preview”
2024-2025 Season Preview
1.Team by Team PreviewsThese will be pretty much exactly what you think. I’ll be taking a look at who will be the athletes you see the most of throughout the year. I’m going to try to share their recent histories, their trajectory as an athlete, and what we might expect from them this season. I’llContinue reading “2024-2025 Season Preview”
Sweden 2024-2025 Team Preview
Sweden shares a border and a friendly, but intense, rivalry with their Norwegian neighbors. It’s a constant competition in everything. While historically one sided, the biathlon battle is starting to heat up! The Swedish women, boosted by the Oeberg sisters, finished ahead of the Norwegian women in the Nation’s Cup in the 2022-2023 season forContinue reading “Sweden 2024-2025 Team Preview”
Austria 2024-2025 Team Preview
Austria is a nation steeped in winter sports tradition. When you think of winter sports and the Winter Olympics its hard not to see Austrians. Almost every winter Austrian fans are assured of having one of the winningest winter sports rosters. The overwhelming majority of this success, though, comes in alpine skiing. Of course thisContinue reading “Austria 2024-2025 Team Preview”
Germany 2024-2025 Team Preview
When you think of German biathlon what comes to mind first? Is it one of their great athletes like Sven Fischer or Magdalena Neuner? The forests of Oberhof? The Ruhpolding stadium with the fans right on top of the shooting range? Or is the fans, made with biathlon passion? Maybe a little of all ofContinue reading “Germany 2024-2025 Team Preview”
Finland 2024-2025 Team Preview
I’ve got reindeer and jingle bells dancing in my head. Jolly people singing. Snow. It either means I’m thinking about Christmas…or Finland. In this case, with the holiday season here it could be both! But right now, we’re going to focus on Finland! (I’ve been writing these for I don’t know how long straight nowContinue reading “Finland 2024-2025 Team Preview”
Switzerland 2024-2025 Team Preview
We are in the midst of the best run in the history of Switzerland biathlon. Over the last two seasons the Women’s team has had back to back 6th place finishes in the Nations Cup while the Men finished 5th and 6th the last two seasons. We’ve seen Niklas Hartweg win the u23 Globe inContinue reading “Switzerland 2024-2025 Team Preview”