2025-2026 World Cup Season Recap
Name a more likable biathlete than Lou Jeanmonnot. I’m serious. Name one. We are blessed that in this era of biathlon we have many men and women who bring us joy. They make us smile win or otherwise. But names one that is more likable than Ms. Jeanmonnot. She must have an approval rating nearing 100%. It’s unlike near anything else in the sport…or really unlike nearly anything else in an increasingly polarized world.
Are you French? Well you definitely love her. Italian? How could you not. German? Well if Franziska Preuß is friends with her so are we. Norwegian? Absolutely. Swedish? Okay maybe the Swedish fans don’t like her every minute, especially when she’s taking so many wins, but there you’ll be hard pressed to find one who truly doesn’t like her.
So what is it? What is it that makes Lou Jeanmonnot so immensely likable? Because it’s been this way nearly since she first arrived on the biathlon circuit. Check social media when she’s racing and you’ll be treated to numerous messages that look something like this: “LLLLOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU!” Go back and look at messages from 2-3 years ago and it’s the same.
It’s not uncommon for the newbie to be beloved. But here she is several seasons into being a superstar and everybody still loves her. So why? What is it about Lou Jeanmonnot that just turns everybody into a fan?
Continue Reading Our Beloved Champion
Over the last few weeks I’ve talked on social media and on the podcast about how the peak form that Sturla Holm Lægreid showed over the last month was the best biathlon we saw from any individual athlete this season. But….at the end of the day he’s not defending his title is he? Why is that?
Because the Overall Globe doesn’t go to who had the best peak, it goes to who was the best week in and week out. The Overall Globe goes to the man or woman who simply put was the best athletes all season long. Not for 1 month. But all season.
In some seasons the man with this highest peak is the the man who also was the best all season long. That’s how Johannes Thingnes Bø and Martin Fourcade won the bulk of their combined 12 Overall Globes. Just think back to JT Bø in 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 when his peak form was untouchable. Or Martin Fourcade in 2016-2017 when he won 14 races.
Continue Reading How To Win The Overall
It was late in the 4th lap of the Men’s Pursuit in Holmenkollen. Sturla Holm Lægred and Eric Perrot were locked in a tense battle. Although the Overall Globe competition had already been decided there was still a battle for pride. Eric Perrot and his 2025-2026 Overall Globe vs Sturla Holm Lægred, the defending Overall champion, and the hottest man on the World Cup.
Standing there alongside Tiril Eckhoff I couldn’t resist asking her for her expert opinion…how was the race going to turn out? Without hesitation she said, “Eric is going to come in and shoot fast because that’s the only way he can win. Sturla will go slower but hit all 5. Even if Eric hits all 5 Sturla will win in the final sprint. He’s just stronger.”
I remember it clear as day because that’s exactly how it played out. Perrot went 5/5 in just 18.1 seconds. Lægred a slightly slower 5/5 in 23.8 seconds. Lægred made up the resulting gap in the uphill straight in the climb out of the stadium. Before they turned out of view they were side by side. It did ultimately come down to a final sprint and Lægred did ultimately stay away for the win…although it was a little closer in the end than anybody (including Eckhoff!) expected.
Continue Reading Sterling Sturla
4) You Won Suvi
At the conclusion of the final race of the women’s World Cup season there are a lot of emotions. Joy for another good race. Exuberance for a season of accomplishments. Tears of both joy and sadness with retirements of beloved athletes and coaches. And in one case, tears of plain old sadness.
Suvi Minkkinen quietly finished her season with a 16th place finish. Ironically it was 1 position behind the woman she trailed in the Overall for much of the season, Lou Jeanmonnot. But while Lou Jeanmonnot was finishing with smiles, as she was about to lift the biggest trophy she won this season the Overall Crystal Globe, Suvi Minkkinen crossed with her head down. The emotions from the two women who held positions 1 & 2 in the Overall could not have been more different.
Minkkinen, after her stop in the athletes corral, made her regular and expected stop with Finnish media. Then she stepped into a corner of the Mixed Zone and just stayed there. At times others stopped to talk to her, most prominantly and for the longest were Polish head coach Tobias Torgersen, who is very close with Finnish leader Erik Kulstad, and then of course Kulstad himself. Throughout it all media coordinator Matilda Suhonen stayed right there.
Continue reading You Won Suvi
One of my favorite parts of a biathlon season is watching the improvements that occur. There is also something really exciting about an athlete reaching their potential or finding a level that you didn’t know was even possible for them. This pieces is dedicated to those athletes who achieved that this season!
Breakthroughs come in all shapes and sizes so here are just a few examples:
– Rising from being very good to a true great of the sport.
– Coming up from occasional top 10 to consistent top 10 contender.
– Moving from middle of the pack to make a name for themselves as a top 25 biathlete.
We’re going to try to break these up into categories just because that’s more fun.
In order we’ll discuss:
– The Top of the Top
– Pushing for the Overall
– Big Time Breakthroughs
– Moderate Steps Forward
– A Career Best is a Career Best No Matter the Size
Continue Reading Career Best Seasons
Camille Bened (FRA) – IBU World Cup Biathlon, pursuit women, Ruhpolding (GER). http://www.biathlonworld.com © Deubert/IBU.
It was another great year for young biathletes! We saw a large number of them pop up in the piece on Career Best Seasons. However, there are even more that didn’t qualify for that because they are true rookies! It’s time to give these young men and women their due!
I am basically defining rookies as biathletes who have not previously run a full trimester of consistent racing on the World Cup before this season.
With that, let’s see the Rookies of the Year!
Continue reading Rookies of the Year
This season I want to try something a little bit different. I wanted to look at who had improved the most this season. In biathlon there are three primary statistics that athletes, coaches and fans look at: Ski Speed, Shooting Accuracy, and Shooting Speed. Now that’s not to say there aren’t other things. Range speed is just as important, and in some respects even more important, than shooting speed. However, when people talk biathlon these are the three things they look at.
This year I wanted to look at who made the biggest improvements this season over their previous career bests in these statistics. I’ll be honest this project ended up a lot bigger than I anticipated it being. I was pretty thorough but I’m sure there are a few athletes in each category that slipped through my reach.
In general though we will look at the top 5 most improved men and women in each category.
Important Note: Athletes who were on the Rookies of the Year post for the most part are not included here. That’s because when this project started several weeks ago I just weaned them out immediately to try to make my job a little bit easier. Also because I talked about them at length in that post. However, I’m going to add them back to the very bottom of the post in their own category of “Rookie Improvement.” There you will find athletes like Estere Volfa and Marlene Fichtner.
Continue Reading 2025-2026 Most Improved
Old Commentaries:
2025-2026 Season:
1.2025 Summer Biathlon Season
2. 2025-2025 Season Preview
3. 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics
2024-2025 Season:
1. 2024 Summer Biathlon Season
2. 2024-2025 Season Preview
3. 2024-2025 Season Review
2023-2024 Season:
1. 2023-2024 Season Preview
2. 2023-2024 First Trimester Review
3. 2023-2024 Season Review
2022-2023 Season:
1. 2022-2023 Season Preview
2. 2022-2023 First Trimester Review
3. 2022-2023 Pre Worlds Thoughts
4. 2022-2023 Season Recap
2021-2022 Season:
1. 2021-2022 First Trimester Recap
2. 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Preview
3. 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Coverage and Wrap Up
4. 2021-2022 Season Wrap Up
2020-2021 Season:
Team USA’s Historic Relay
Is JT Bø Biathlon’s Peter Sagan?
Closing Strong