Biathlon - Oslo (Holmenkollen)

Final series of races this year, and the venue this time is Holmenkollen which has just hosted a major Nordic ski event; now the biathletes get their turn!

First event was the women's 7.5 Km sprint. Early starter Andrea Henkel set a good pace, but was soon overhauled by Sleptsova; however with 2 misses each they looked unlikely to be on the final podium, although the conditions on the range were perhaps not ideal. Vita Semerenko was skiing fast and looked as though she might cause an upset but Tora Berger was just behind her and took the lead despite 1 miss in the standing shoot. Kuzmina also looked to be a threat but missing 2 in the prone shoot spoilt her day and she was unable to make up the time. Darya Domracheva did it the other way round, skiing fast but then missing two of her last 5 targets which also dropped her out of contention for the win. Two other Norwegians, Flatland and Horn, shot 10/10 but couldn't match Berger's raw speed and dropped back on her times. At that stage Berger was perhaps the favourite but Lena Neuner is on superb form - if her shooting held up she would be the main threat; in the event she skied the first lap quite sedately (18 seconds slower than Miri Gössner, who despite awesome speed had another meltdown on the range with 6 misses out of 10), shot clear on the prone, missed only 1 standing (same as Berger) and then turned up the speed. Lena left shoot 2 about 12 seconds up on Lokalmatadorin Tora Berger's time, but came in to the finish 31 seconds ahead - a useful buffer for the pursuit. Final positions - Neuner (Ger); Berger (Nor); Domracheva (Blr). What was a huge surprise was that the two main contenders for the overall championship, Kaisa Mäkäräinen and Helena Ekholm, had bad days (pressure, tiredness?) finishing 19th and 38th respectively, letting Neuner and Berger close them down. This leaves Mäkäräinen still just in the lead (936) but with Neuner now in second (914), ahead of Eckholm (910) and Berger (904). The next event is the pursuit, and obviously Neuner and Berger will have a healthy lead over Mäkäräinen and Eckholm - another series going to the wire!

The men's 10Km sprint also saw some surprises; Martin Fourcade has been one of the fastest on the circuit but seemd a bit off form and was unable to cope with 3 misses, finishing down in 35th. Even more surprising was overall leader Tarjei Bø's day - he seemed slower too, but only missed one in the prone to Fourcade's 2. At the standing shoot however he "did a Miri" and missed 4 out of 5 to finish way down in 44th - at one stage the commentators were actually wondering if he would even qualify for the pursuit! Luckily for him as Svendsen didn't win, Bø still wins the sprint series for this year. Up at the front however early leader Andi Birnbacher was doing his best to ensure a double win for Germany - his time was good and with no misses he looked a strong contender for the win. There were a few worries for him, but in the end 2 of the main rivals, Sumann and Bergman, missed a target and the clean shooting Bjorn Ferry couldn't quite match his pace on the final lap. Final result: Birnbacher (Ger); Ferry (Swe); Wolf (Ger). Great race by Wolf who really gave it his all to get the final place on the podium quite late on. Good day for the DSV with 2 golds.

Women's 10 Km Pursuit: The first thing you noticed was that the woman in bib number 1 wasn't there! Apparently Lena Neuner was already unwell at the time of the sprint (not so you'd notice the effect on her speed) but is now worse and also suffering from her efforts at the World Championships, so she was a late DNS. That left us with an odd 31 second gap from the official start until Tora Berger was the first actually away. Quite an odd race - Tora Berger missed 3 of her first prone shoot; Domracheva missed 2 while Kaisa Mäkäräinen, Andrea Henkel and Miri Gössner went clear. A number of clear shooting but normally slower skiers were also in the mix. By the end of shoot 2 Henkel was still clear, 33 seconds up on the pursuing pack. Anastasiya Kuzmina, going fast, missed 2 here but stayed in the race and Domracheva was also pulling back from her poor first shoot. Miri again went clear and was up to 8th.

At shoot 3 Henkel missed 1, as did Domracheva and Kuzmina - they left the range in that order with gaps of 22 and 32 seconds respectively with the clear shooting Yurlova neck and neck with Kuzmina. Amazingly Miri Gössner got to 14/14 before any wobbles and even after 1 miss was still in touch - when the German team sort out her problems she's going to be awesome! Into shoot 4 and while Kuzmina shot clear Henkel missed 2 and emerged from the penalty loops 23 seconds adrift with Domracheva, even after 5 misses in all, only about 13 seconds behind her. Mäkäräinen had also recovered from a poor start position and another miss (3 in all) to lie in 4th with Yurlova 5th. Kuzmina, with great shooting and good ski speed held on to take the win, but Domracheva powered past Henkel to take the silver with Henkel hanging on for third. Mäkäräinen was 4th, whcih will help her lead in the overall standings as Helena Eckholm ended up 16th and Lena Neuner didn't get any points. Yurlova was 5th and despite Miri resuming normal service with 3 misses in shoot 4 she still came in 6th. Amazing race!

Men's 12.5 Km Pursuit: Another quite astonishing race! Andi Birnbacher and Ole EB both opted not to start so Bjorn Ferry was first away; at the first shoot Alex Wolf seemed well up and both shot clear with Ferry leaving the range 37 seconds up on Wolf. Emil Hegle Svendsen was in third 42 seconds back with Lindstrom (1 miss), Slesingr and Sumann well up in the pack - meanwhile Tarjei Bø who had started 44th was already up to 29th. Wolf already seemed to be slowing - perhaps the effort of his podium was catching up with him, but Svendsen took him relatively easily on the next lap, also taking 5 seconds out of Ferry.

Shoot 2 went well for Ferry with all 5 down, but Svendsen was shooting fast (wanting the win to close the gap on Bø overall?) and missed 2. Lars Berger went clear too but left the range in 6th behind the impressive Fredrik Lindström, Florian Graf and Sumann (I know one's missing - lost track as they were all so close!). Bø clear again and flying as was Martin Fourcade, from his start in 35th place. Shoot 3 was going to be crucial and Ferry showed he was human by missing one, eating into what had been a comfortable lead. Lindström went clear leaving the range only 13.7 seconds back; Svendsen missed another 1, Slesingr 2 and Berger 3; Ustyugov was coming back, with 15/15 at this point and Martin Fourcade had got himself up to 6th; at the next split time Bø, after 1 miss at shoot 3, was 10th and Ferry looked as though he was tiring!

In to shoot 4 with the wind fading nicely, but so did Ferry missing two targets. Lindström showed his Swedish team solidarity by also missing 2, and Ustyugov followed their lead - another 3/5. Fourcade shot clear as did Svendsen while Bø did a passable impression of Tora Berger with 5 fast, clean shots - out of the range Fourcade was 3.5 seconds clear of Svendsen, with Ferry 16.9 back just ahead of Bø. At the 10.8 Km check Bø had taken the lead from Svendsen, Fourcade and Ferry, who was being dropped - the top 3 swept into the approach to the stadium with Fourcade getting back in front. As the sprints began Svendsen, with more penalties but a better start position, streaked past Fourcade with Bø on his tail - it stayed that way to the line with Emil Hegle Svendsen first 0.6 seconds up on Tarjei Bø (apparently no one has ever come back from so far down at the start?) and Fourcade 7.3 seconds back in third. Björn ferry was 4th, Lindstrom 5th and Lars Berger 6th; Alexander Wolf did a sort of Øb (reverse Bø) going from 3rd to 39th. Good race and an amazing performance from both Martin Fourcade and Tarjei Bø.