17 Overall Crystal Globes. 32 Olympic Medals. 117 World Championship medals. While they aren’t one of the founding traditional 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. Martin FreakingContinue reading “France 2023-2024 Team Preview”
Category Archives: Commentary
Sweden 2023-2024 Team Preview
While the Swedish biathlon team oftentimes comes out on the short end of their biathlon battles with the friendly neighbors and rivals Norway, things are getting more competitive than they have been in quite some time. Magdalena Foresburg is indeed one of the all time great women in biathlon. And Swedish men like Bjoren FerryContinue reading “Sweden 2023-2024 Team Preview”
Finland 2023-2024 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 2023-2024 Team Preview”
Germany 2023-2024 Team Preview
When I think biathlon, I think Germany. I think Oberhof and Ruhpolding. I think wild cheering. I think the best fans in the world. I think Sven Fischer and Magdalene Neuner. I think Andrea Henkel and Laura Dahlmeier. Maybe it should be Norway or France or even Sweden. But in spite of the relative lackContinue reading “Germany 2023-2024 Team Preview”
Austria 2023-2024 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 2023-2024 Team Preview”
United States 2023-2024 Team Preview
The United States is my home federation. In theory that means that I should know these athletes than any others. However, in practice it is much different. As everybody reading this knows biathlon in the United States is not even a secondary sport. It’s basically relegated to small groups of people in a handful ofContinue reading “United States 2023-2024 Team Preview”
Czech Republic 2023-2024 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, 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 and fightingContinue reading “Czech Republic 2023-2024 Team Preview”
Italy 2023-2024 Team Preview
Ciao bella! I don’t know why but every time I start talking about the Italian team I always want to start out that way. To my knowledge I haven’t ever done it yet so now I have. And honestly it really fits. Hey, no not because Giacomel has the hair of a Fabio or thatContinue reading “Italy 2023-2024 Team Preview”
Slovenia 2023-2024 Team Preview
Slovenia isn’t one of the traditional biathlon powers. That doesn’t mean that Slovenia doesn’t have a biathlon history. If you look back through the histories of biathlon you won’t see all that many instances of a powerhouse Slovenian team. Every now and then though you’ll see little moments. You’ll see a surge by Jakov Fak,Continue reading “Slovenia 2023-2024 Team Preview”
Switzerland 2023-2024 Team Preview
Few teams provided as much of a pleasant surprise last year as the Swiss squad. Both the men and women surpassed expectations to have their best years in well…ever. It certainly wasn’t expected when both Benjamin Weger and Selina Gasparin retired following the 2021-2022 seasons. But as mentioned above surprise was the name of theContinue reading “Switzerland 2023-2024 Team Preview”