Biathlon - Hochfilzen (Austria)

Men’s 10 Km sprint: (Friday) Hochfilzen is the venue for this weekend’s biathlon events – a technical course on an asphalt base. For the men, three loops with 2 shooting stops in pretty much ideal conditions; although several of the favourites have opted for later starts in the field of 106, in the hope that the snow will get faster – the Russian team are apparently going where they are told to start by the coach! Shooting should be precise today in the conditions, but remember the range is 50 metres and the prone target is only about the size of a golf ball; standing target a bit bigger at 115 mm. Early pace setters after the prone shoot were Jakob Fak (Slo) and Alex Boeuf (Fra); with the snow possibly getting a little faster Andrei Makoveev (Rus) was well up – the Russians looking a lot more competitive than they were last week – as was Carl Johan Bergman (Swe), the winner of the last sprint. Lokalmatador Landertinger missed one on the prone shoot – groans from the crowd, although vocal support seemed to be even greater for the German team.
As the early starters came to the standing shoot the coverage shifted between starters, prone shoot and standing; Fak’s good start was wrecked by 3 misses in S2, but Bergman and Makoveev went clear with the Swede only 0.8 seconds ahead as they set off on the final round. Meanwhile the on form (until now) Martin Fourcade seemed a little slow at S1, and then missed 2 at S2 – a rare lapse. His compatriot, Boeuf was doing better – clear at S1 but having slight problems at S2 when he had to resettle the rifle twice; worth it as he went clear there. Ben Weger (Swi) was also clear after S2, but Tim Burke (USA) after a good start missed 2 and dropped out of contention. Christophe Sumann, another local, had a bad day with rifle problems losing him time at S1, compounded by 2 misses at S2. Some discussion at this stage about whether the tracks were in fact getting slower, not faster – the final conclusion seemed to be that what was in full sun was slower than at the start while the shady bits were faster – swings and roundabouts?
With the early starters home Bergman had caught Makoveev and was 9.2 seconds clear at the finish; Weger, also clear, was 19.6 seconds back on the leader – the question now was whether the later starters could upset this. Evgeny Ustyugov and Dmitry Malyshko (Rus) were going well, as were Bø and Svendsen, and Bjorn Ferry (Swe); best German looked likely to be Florian Graf, also clear on the range. Maybe conditions were a bit slower, as the top 3 remained; Bergman took his second sprint win this year, Makoveev (who praised his new trainer for the improvement; last week the Russians were perhaps just a bit race rusty, but now the summer training is cutting in?) took second – the best of his career, with Weger third. Emil Hegle Svendsen, with 1 miss, was fourth, Ustyugov 5th (also 1 miss), and both still beat Bø who went clear. Graf was the best German, taking seventh from Ferry, Boeuf and Malyshko – 3 Russians in the top 10!

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: (Friday) Missed this live unfortunately, but as with the men the winner of the last sprint took this one too! Magdalena Neuner (Ger) has announced that she is going to retire at the end of the season (terrible shame, especially with the Olympics coming up in 2014) and now that she has confirmed this she seems to be more relaxed – certainly her shooting was good today – no misses! Allied to her ski speed that gave her a fairly straightforward victory from Kaisa Mäkäräinen (Fin), who had 1 miss in the prone and seemed anxious not to make it worse in the stand – even she could only take 1 second out of Lena’s ski time on the final loop. Third place went to Russian Olga Zaitseva; a massive improvement in the Russians this week after a poor start – again she credits the new coaches. Helena Ekholm (Swe) shot clear but was 23.4 seconds back on Neuner in fourth, ahead of Domracheva (Belarus) and Kuzmina (Slovakia). Should be an interesting pursuit!

Men’s 12.5 Km Pursuit: (Saturday) Carl Johan Bergman, the sprint winner, was thus first away and led the first loop, but a miss at S1 allowed Makoveev to take the lead; however he picked up a staggering 4 penalties in the second prone – his coaches won’t be happy today! That left Bø in the lead, but he missed one in the first standing shoot; Ben Weger went clear there and so it was his turn for the lead. At the final standing shoot Weger, Bø and Svendsen (with 2 misses so far) left within 9 seconds of each other – with 900 metres to go they were within one second – predictably the Norwegians pilled slightly clear with 500 metres left and a furious sprint for the line ensued. Svendsen won it by just 1 tenth – the second time in 2 days that he’s beaten Bø despite incurring one more penalty! Weger was third and Bergman finished 4th. I was delighted to see Björndalen fifth (1 penalty) with local Daniel Mesotitch sixth despite a clean sweep in the shooting.

Missed these live, but there is a lot of info and full reports on the International Biathlon Union website http://www5.biathlonworld.com/en/

In summary - Women's 10Km pursuit: Lena Neuner (Ger), the sprint winner, led for the first three stages from Zaitseva, Vilukhina (both Russia) and Domracheva (Belarus); in the final shoot Lena missed 2, Zaitseva 1 and Domracheva went clear - the German and Domracheva left the stadium together for the final loop, with Zaitseva catching them during the final 2 Km. As they came into the stadium Domracheva went ahead and Zaitseva just pipped Neuner for second place - very tight finish, although not as close as Svendsen v Bø earlier! Massive improvement by the Russians, who finished 2nd, 5th and 6th in this event.
Men's Team Race: Given the form shown in the earlier races it's probably no surprise that Norway won this! At the first exchange there were three teams neck and neck; Germany, Russia & Sweden. Good shooting by Simon Fourcade got France back into the mix on leg 2, although Makoveev and Ferry passed him en route to the changeover. Big names on that leg, with Ustyugov holding on to a very slim lead from Svendsen and Alexis Boeuf. The final leg was a duel between Bø, Martin Fourcade, Malyshko and Bergman - in the end Bø looked every bit as sharp as he did last year clearing the targets fast to ensure a Norwegian victory; Fourcade couldn't quite hold off Malyshko (another massive improvement in the Russian athletes) so Russia were 2nd about 14 seconds back from Bø, France 3rd then Sweden, Austria and Germany.
Women's team race: Well, guess who won this? By the first exchange Marie Laure Brunet had put France in the lead from Poland and Slovakia, thanks to a good leg by Kuzmina. By the second exchange Ukraine were leading (Vita Semerenko), Slovakia second anf France third after a few shooting snags - Italy in 4th with Norway slowly moving up. Solendals' third leg put Norway ahead from France & Russia, as she handed over a 17.8 second lead to Tora Berger (that must have depressed the other teams!). After the final shoot, where Berger needed spare rounds, Dorin Habert closed the gap by shooting clean and they left the stadium together with Zaitseva about 20 seconds back; not surprisingly Berger then pulled clear to take another win for Norway with France second and Russia third. Poland were 4th, Belarus 5th and Neuner managed to get the German team up to 6th.

More races from Hochfilzen today (15 Dec) as they have relocated the events scheduled for Le Grand Bonard (which I think now has snow!)