Biathlon - Nove Mesto (Cze)

Women's 15 km Individual: Five loops today with 4 shoots, alternating prone/standing - no spare rounds or penalty loops - today each miss earns a one minute penalty added to the elapsed time! Quite hard to keep up sometimes, the coverage will naturally tend to flip between shoots and as athletes drop out of contention they tend to get ignored in favour of the emerging contenders! Most of the real favourites are in the early groups today, and the very first away was Sweden's Helena Eckholm; Tora Berger was bib 10, with Lena Neuener 25, Darya Domracheva 27 and Kaisa Mäkäräinen 33. Other contenders possibly the Semerenkos, several Russians and the French?

Serious differences in shooting performance today, two athletes clear with 20/20 and the worst seemed to be 9 misses. Eckholm has always seemed to be a nice shooter (with the occasional bad day) but her speed hasn't been quite there this season so far. She shot 5/5 on her first visit, but so did Kuzmina who was notably faster (but she faded out later missing 5 targets on the next 3 visits). Nilsson (Swe) was good on the range, but her ski speed pushed her down the rankings, and the same could be said of Jenny Jonsson (Eckholm's sister), who shot a perfect 20/20, but skied too slowly to capitalise on such accuracy! Tora Berger missed one on her first visit but her first standing shoot was amazing - blindingly fast and all 5 down; however Olga Zaitseva only missed one, on her second prone shoot, which gave her an advantage over Berger who dropped another target in her last standing shoot - major contender today! Behind them Lena Neuner shot 5/5 fast, then 4/5; 5/5 and 4/5 in her final visit, when the wind had got up - Domracheva was even faster at S1, which she also cleared, but she then dropped 1, 1 & 2 on her next shoots. Sleptsova looked good early but then missed 3 later, while even later starter Franziska Hildebrand dropped just her final target to tie with Eckholm on the range.

As the rankings at the finish became clearer Helena Eckholm was the woman to beat (speed good today!), coming in with a time of 45:25.3 and just one miss. Neuner's 4/5 on the last standing shoot gave her too much to do and despite good speed she finished 10.9 seconds back on the Swede, but ahead of Berger and Domracheva - good news for her overall points. However Kaisa Mäkäräinen, despite 2 misses, was flying (she's another athlete who started as a cross country star and moved into biathlon) and a great final 2 laps meant she was 22 seconds faster than Eckholm - amazing speed! Late excitement centred on Ekaterina Glazyrina (Rus) and Marie Dorin-Habert (Fra) who both looked good. Glazyrina eventually became only the 2nd athlete to shoot 20/20, but couldn't match Domracheva's speed on the last lap - into 6th at that stage ahead of Berger. D-H managed 19/20 but was just a fraction slower than Berger. When it all settled down, Mäkäräinen had taken the win from Eckholm; Neuner; Olga Zaitseva; Domracheva (despite 4 misses!!); Glazyrina (first season?); Berger; Dorin-Habert; Solemdal and Hildebrand. GB's Amanda Lightfoot was 63rd of 91 starters with 2 misses. Sprint next for the women, on Friday.

Men's 20 Km Individual: Men's turn today on a slightly wet course - the first group seemed to be the popular choice given the weather forecast! In all 103 starters from 33 nations including Britain, Australia and Belgium! Today most of the big names are back - Bø, Martin Fourcade and Björndalen (OEB) included. Bø was an early starter and predictably set a good pace but missed his first shot of the day - even so you wouldn't want to bet against him at this early stage. With so many starters it was sometimes hard to keep up with what was happening elsewhere on the loops and in the various shoots, but again the shooting was somewhat variable - Klemen Bauer got 5/5 in his first visit, as did Andi Birnbacher, Martin Fourcade (better start than Simon with 4/5), Boeuf, Schempp and Makoveev among others - Svendsen, Peiffer and Bergman dropped 1 each; OEB and Shipulin 2 each and Lowell Bailey 3 (unusual).

As the race progressed some early stars faltered on the range - Bauer again had trouble with his standing shoot and dropped 6 ex 20 in all, Bergman missed 3 of his last 5 and OEB had a bad day on 5 misses total; others recovered - Shipulin cleared all the rest and Simon Fourcade made up ground (4, 4, 5, 5) whilst brother Martin had a bad day (for him) - usually so reliable on the range he scored 5, 4, 3, 5 which gave him a lot to make up. Tarjei Bø had a mini disaster on S4, dropping 2 more targets which dropped him down in the final rankings to 13th - a few overall points lost! Back on the tracks Mesotitsch (Aut) and countryman Simon Eder were going well, as was Bjorn Ferry (Swe), but the real star was Andrei Makoveev (Rus) who was fast and very accurate too. As the early starters came though the finish Simon Fourcade was the one to beat (2 misses), as time passed he was replaced by Ferry (1) and then by a fast skiing Emile Hegle Svendsen (2). However, Makoveev was still running and was the most accurate shooter of the day; after his 4th shoot he was still clear and 1:27 minutes clear of Svendsen's time with just 4 Km to go. Predictably he made it into the lead with plenty to spare - 59.7 seconds up on EH-S; could the later starters do anything to upset the podium?

Both Florian Graf and Simon Eder looked as though they might feature, but Eder missed one on his second prone shoot, and Graf did exactly the same - both 19/20 and unable to catch Makoveev. Late on Pinter (Aut) was 15/15 and looking for at least a top 10 place, but he looked shakier than early on in shoot 4 (yes, I know, statement of the blinding obvious for most humans) and dropped 3; great effort though! In the end Andrei Makoveev was a very worthy winner in a time of 47 minutes 19 seconds (for 20 Km and 4 shoots!! I'd be lucky to get 10 Km done in that time, without the rifle!) with no penalty time, ahead of Svendsen (2 misses), Ferry (1) Simon Fourcade (2), Mesotitsch (1), Eder (1), Graf (1, and no doubt happy to be top German today), Birnbacher (2), Peiffer (3) and Martin Fourcade (3). Russians very happy to win; Germans probably taking consolation from 3 in the top 10. Lee Jackson from GB finished 50th (3), only a couple places down from one Ole Einer Björndalen and ahead of Klemen Bauer, so in the top half of the field. Women's sprint tomorrow

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: One prone and one standing shoot with a 150m penalty loop for any missed targets. An important race in this weekend’s programme as it also determines the start places and intervals for Sunday’s Pursuit. Conditions pretty good at the start with the temperature just under freezing, so better than the rain that affected the men’s individual yesterday. Alas, almost as soon as the race got underway the snow started and the wind got up – not very helpful for the 93 starters! The forecast seems to suggest that conditions might worsen (although the wind is so variable that it’s hard to say what might happen!), so most of the favourites are going early. By the time the early starters reach the range, the wind is quite different from the conditions in which they zeroed the rifles – furious adjusting of sights! Not sure what the TV team were doing today, but throughout the race they seemed to cut away from the shooting to something less important – a prime example being half way through Domracheva’s crucial second shoot, when we cut away to see someone crossing the finish line in 20th – very frustrating; don’t think I saw Berger shoot at all! We also seemed to have some trouble with the graphics – as Pidrushina came in for shoot 2, the graphic was already showing 2 & 3 misses in the two shoots, before she’d even started the second!

Anyway – back at what we saw of the shooting, Ekholm (sorry, Helena, added a “c” to your surname a few times earlier on!) started very well with 5/5 although she did wait a very long time to see if the gusty wind might settle. Faster were Neuner and Zaitseva who, with Vilukhina (Rus) and Burdyga (Ukr), also went clear early. By contrast Kaisa Mäkäräinen and Tora Berger both missed 1 at S1, and Darya Domracheva missed 2 – however she’s also arguably the fastest on the track? Of the later starters Ekaterina Glazyrina (Rus), who did well in the individual, beat the worsening conditions to also go clear, as did Brunet (Fra). However as the race continued the snow got thicker – towards the end the commentator reckoned the track had about 2.5 cm of fresh snow and was quite noticeably slower.

It seemed as though the standing shoot would be crucial – Ekholm was very unlucky with yet more really gusty conditions for her S2; did well to only miss 2. Kaisa Mäkäräinen had an even worse time and missed all 5 – there was a suggestion that she might have been on the wrong target but I’ve heard no more about that. Neuner missed 3, so had an extra 450m to ski after that shoot but Berger managed to get 4 from 5, which helped her position. The outstanding effort though was Zaitseva, who hit all 10 today – possibly the only athlete to do so (Piton from Poland is shown as 0 fehler on the ZDF ticker but I’m not sure if that’s correct as she is also last). Vilukhina missed 2 at S2, but Burdyga was cleaner with only 1 miss, as were Brunet and Glazyrina; the question was whether they could build on their accuracy and get onto the podium along the slower tracks. In the end Olga Zaitseva’s combination of speed and great shooting was unbeatable – a well deserved win and a 25.5 second start in the Pursuit from second placed Tora Berger (2 misses). Lena Neuner managed to hang on to third (3 misses, +34.5 on Olga), ahead of Marie Laure Brunet (1), Olga Vilukhina (2) and Ekaterina Glazyrina (1). Great day for the Russians with 3 in the top 10, all shooting well; also congratulations to anyone who got 5 in the standing shoot and to Nastassia Dubarezava (Blr) whose 1 miss got her into 8th ahead of Darya Domracheva, who admittedly had 5 misses (and was still only 1: 27.6 back on Zaitseva, in 10th). Should be a very close pursuit!!

Men’s 10 Km Sprint: Again one prone and one standing shoot with a 150m penalty loop for any missed targets. As in the women’s race, this is doubly important in this weekend’s programme as it also determines the start places and intervals for Sunday’s Pursuit. Conditions again very variable with a real wind lottery, especially on the standing shoot. Alas, I believed the Eurosport online programme list which said British Eurosport 2 at 13:30 for this event, so I watched some of the bobsleigh (exciting) and then found that the biathlon was actually on British Eurosport (presumably as the ski jumping was weather affected?) and I’d missed a lot of it! Very annoying, but probably good for my blood pressure as the TV director did the same as yesterday, cutting away from crucial shoots to finishers with no chance of a top 10 - idiot!

As I joined Martin Fourcade (Fra) was leading with only 2 misses - very creditable in the conditions – from Carl Johan Bergman (Swe) also with 2 misses. However, Svendsen (Nor) was going well (0, 1 misses on his 2 shoots) and took the lead from Fourcade by 9.6 seconds. Back on the track Simon Fourcade had missed 1, 2 – 450 metres of penalty loops but very fast skiing kept him in contention. Unfortunately he couldn’t raise a real sprint at the end after all the effort that far, and ended up just 2.7 seconds adrift from Svendsen, but ahead of his brother! Back just after S1 Dmitry Malyshko (Rus) went clear and was 6 seconds faster than anyone – a crucial second shoot for him, and he wasn’t at all lucky with the wind – 3 misses cost him a probable podium, but he was still fast enough to get into the top 10. That really wrapped up the coverage, with no one clear at that stage – just as we left Russell Currier (USA) with bib number 103 was coming up to his second shoot – we did see this one and he produced a super effort to become the only athlete to go clear today! Alas we didn’t see him finish, but his shooting got him into 6th – best American today and a good result for him. So, today the winner was Emil Hegle Svendsen – great result in very testing conditions – with Simon and Martin Fourcade filing the rest of the podium; think this is a first, having 2 brothers both on the podium? Behind them Shipulin; Makoveev; Currier; Lindstrom; Bergman; Malyshko and Birnbacher made up the top 10 – Bø in 20th, OEB in 25th and Lee Jackson 78th of 104. In the top 10 – 3 Russians, 2 Swedes and 2 French, one each from Norway, USA and Germany

Women’s 10 Km Pursuit. Five laps of 2 Km with 4 shoots, so fast moving! Missed the early bits, and joined at S2 with Zaitseva and Berger on the mats and Lena Neuner just in – think the first two may have just pushed too hard, and lost time – Neuner out before them both and pulling away on lap 3; with Brunet shooting well and in 4th with the fast closing Domracheva just behind. Into S3 (standing) and a real disaster for Lena; looked as though she shot at the wrong target – whatever happened the result was 4 penalty loops and goodbye podium. Berger had 2 misses (I think – captions very fast and not so detailed today), Domracheva missed 1 and both Ekholm and Brunet were clear – out in the order Brunet, Ekholm, Zaitseva, Berger, Domracheva and, amazingly, Lena Neuner after 600 extra metres? Neuner somehow managed to drag herself back into contention before S4, but it probably took too much out of her as she missed another 3 (?) – Ekholm and Brunet cleared another 5 – both now 20/20 – but the performance of this stage was Tora Berger’s – all 5 down and VERY fast! That really decided the winner – Berger (3 misses) sprinted for the line with Helena Ekholm (0) passing Marie Laure Brunet (0) for second. Brunet held off the fast closing Domracheva (2), with Zaitseva (4) in 5th, Natalya Burdyga (Ukr, 1) having a good weekend with a 6th place. Neuner came in 7th despite 8 misses, just ahead of Henkel (2). To my amazement (and delight) Miri Gössner shot 19/20 and came in 11th, while gain of the day belongs (I think) to Valj Semerenko (Ukr) who went from about 50 into 19th.

Men’s 12.5 Km pursuit: Delayed by 30 minutes, which gave me the chance to catch a little of the luge team relay event from Oberhof – unusual, if not odd, but quite interesting? Svendsen led away from the Fourcades, with Shipulin, Makoveev and Russell Currier close behind. At the first shoot the leading 3 athletes all missed one target each and headed for the 150 metre penalty loop; Anton Shipulin however cleared all 5 and was first back out on the track, ahead of Svendsen, Simon & Martin, then Carl Bergman and Makoveev - Currier couldn't match his form in the sprint, shooting very slowly and losing touch with the leaders, coming out of S1 in 11th; as the race unfolded he missed more targets and eventually dropped to 35th from 6th at the start - pity. On the next lap the Fourcades and Bergman closed up on Shipulin, who looked to be pacing himself nicely. If that was so it worked; at the second prone shoot, Shipulin settled early and had all 5 targets successfully down before 2nd man Svendsen had even got one shot away! The Fourcades both went clear, but Svendsen missed 2 which let Bergman, Lindstrom and Malyshko get ahead of him. Arnd Peiffer was also closing, with only 1 miss from 10 and Björndalen was coming up from 25th at the start with an impressive 10/10. Tarjei Bø however doesn't seem to like Nove Mesto, or perhaps the wind wasn't too kind, but he missed 3 on S1, which spoiled his day - he ended in 21st!

The race stayed very close at the front, with Shipulin missing his first target on S3; Martin F also missed one which allowed his brother, who went clear, to take the lead with Shipulin between the two Frenchmen as they left the stadium. Might this be Simon's day - I think he's had 7 podiums this season but no win?! I got the impression he was tiring a little, after his efforts in the sprint - into the crucial final shoot and Simon missed 2; Martin 1 and Anton went clear - great shooting! That really sealed the win for the Russian (1 miss), and he crossed the line comfortably ahead of Martin Fourcade(3) and Simon Fourcade (3). Fourth was Dmitry Malyshko (3), then Arnd Peiffer (3??) and Frederik Lindstrom (3). Svendsen managed to grab 9th despite 5 misses and Makoveev was 10th - 4 Russians in the top 10!! HOWEVER - don't stop reading yet When I went back to the ticker to check some spellings, it showed Peiffer in 2nd place - as I understand it (and my German isn't good) due to a mistake scoring his third shoot, he was credited with 20 seconds for a hit which was shown as a miss, which moved him up to 2nd ahead of Martin F. So Simon drops to 4th, Malyshko to 5th and the remainder stay as was! Slightly tacky end to a good race, although I'm delighted for Arnd.

UPDATE: The IBU website is now saying that Peiffer and Martin F are in a tie for 2nd - both with 3 penalties, although further down the same story (this time in English) it says Arnd got a 21 second credit, which would in fact put him ahead of Martin - tie sounds more likely if only to avoid any protests??

Final Update (I hope): The IBU website now explains the Peiffer situation rather better. As I understand it, Arnd hit ALL the targets on the first standing shoot, but one did not register due to a mechanical malfunction. The German coach alerted the jury, who after checking the video agreed - they awarded Peiffer a time credit of 21 seconds for an unnecessary penalty loop, which would have moved him ahead of Martin F. However, they also took the view that Fourcade's team would have informed him if Arnd had been that close in reality, or more likely he would have seen it, and he might have gone faster!? So, for the sake of fair play - a tie for 2nd, and both are shown with 3 misses - although that ignores the fact that while Martin might have gone faster, Arnd almost certainly would have without an extra 150 metres to ski, and actually missed only 2 targets! Bit wet, but possibly the best decision in an awkward situation?