Biathlon World Championships - Ruhpolding: 1 - 11 March

Thursday 1st March: Mixed Team relay – 2 x 6 Km + 2 x 7.5 Km: Conditions today are “interesting”; rain in the recent past, and now bright sun on the tracks and Spring-like – so today will be a real test for the ski technicians! Twenty seven teams in all, including GB – away at 14:30 UK time; 2 shoots per round (1 prone, 1 standing) with 8 rounds (last 3 hand fed) to hit each set of 5 targets today, but if the spare rounds don’t do it, then the penalty loop comes into play. Even on this first round the tracks look quite cut up; early speed from Tora Berger (Nor) who is in the lead despite a second row start (strong team for them today, but with OEB in instead of Bø; must have been interesting for the coaches). Into the first shoot – Brunet (Fra) out first ahead of Berger then Romania, Slovakia and Russia (Vilukhina); Henkel (Ger) struggled a little needing spare rounds and she’s 12th at the next split.

Into the standing shoot – Berger shoots really fast (she’s well on form today) and goes out ahead of Brunet who needed a spare; the Czech Republic are third, then Slovakia, Romania and Russia with Germany up to 7th. At the split before the first exchange Berger is 16 seconds up on Brunet, with Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen up into 5th but about 40 seconds back. Berger hands over to Solemdal and Brunet to Dorin Habert; Finland are 4th and Germany 6th – time for Lena Neuner to see if she can get a gold at a World Championships on home snow, but she’s got 46 seconds to make up. The French look strong with the Fourcade brothers to come, but Norway have Björndalen (OEB) and Svendsen – looks interesting!

Looks as though Solemdal is opening up further; she’s holding Neuner and Domracheva! Now for S3; Solemdal needs a spare, but Dorin Habert is clear as is Zaitseva – out Nor/Fra/Ger/Rus, but Finland are on the penalty loop, shame after Mäkäräinen’s efforts on the first leg. Back on the track and Solemdal is still going well; Neuner is closing on Dorin but Domracheva doesn’t seem as fast as normal at this stage? Crucial S4; Solemdal needs at least 2 spares, and narrowly avoids a loop – this lets Dorin, shooting brilliantly, through and Neuner is only 20 seconds behind despite a couple spares. Behind those 3 it’s Svk/Rus/Cze – on the final leg for the women Dorin goes through the split only 8 seconds up on Lena with Solemdal another 4 back, but at present Zaitseva doesn’t seem to be catching Kuzmina (Svk); they hand over with Simon Fourcade slightly ahead (7 secs) of Andi Birnbacher with OEB just 17 seconds back – others in contention though and the tension is mounting so things could change; meanwhile the slower teams are already being lapped! First shoot for the men – Andi B has closed down on Simon F; his shooting is also awesome and he’s out before Simon has really settled and the Frenchman is struggling – no loop though; OEB now up to 2nd, with Novikov of Belarus into 3rd – exciting stuff! Meanwhile the Russians are shooting really well but don’t quite seem to have the ski speed? Final shoot for this leg – Andi B is amazingly fast and accurate – all 5 down. OEB isn’t so good and is on the loop (however .. see later), so Bauer (Slo) goes 2nd but OEB is still 3rd after his loop and Malyshko (Rus) 4th. Poor Simon F will be one of the least popular men in France today!

Final handover and the last 2 laps – Arnd Peiffer going for Germany against Emil Hegle Svendsen, but Jakob Fak for Slovenia is between them (about 11 secs up on Norway) with Russia also close. So, S7 and Arnd is almost a minute clear – his shots start low and he needs one spare; Fak is very good and he and Svendsen go clear; Fak now 40 seconds back on Peiffer, with Shipulin (Rus) 4th. Martin Fourcade also isn’t shooting well – very unusual for the French. On the lap Svendsen is closing down on both Fak and Peiffer, but Lindstrom (Swe) had taken the Russians. It’s sport psychology time – Arnd is in for the last time, just metres in front of the hordes of vocal spectators for his last shoot – he needs spares and eventually goes into the loop (most unpopular man in Germany?!); Fak totally confounds the commentators by shooting clear which his record suggests is very odd in standing shoots, he’s out 7 seconds ahead of Peiffer with Svendsen only 15.8 down – massive final lap in prospect. At this stage the atmosphere is spoilt, in my opinion, by the jury deciding to award extra time to Norway for OEB’s penalty loop which might not have been required? Fak crosses the line first, Svendsen 2nd with Germany third – however it seems that Norway will get the gold as a result of their protest? It seems clear that the target stuck on OEB's final shoot, triggering an unnecessary penalty loop, so it's quite right that they get time credited but this is not the ideal way to start a prestigious event, and very tough luck for Slovenia – could Fak have gone faster if he’d known and still taken gold?

Very exciting race, never though I would see a race where Slovenia crossed the line first. Great atmoshphere, looked like a summers day, stadium packed to the rafters, loads of fans round the tracks. Delighted for OEB, another gold medal how many has he at this stage? Not sure what happened the Fourcade brothers, I though after the first two legs the French were going to be hard bet but the pressure really got to Simon and Martin made no impression at all.

It must be even worse for Arnd Peiffer, home and dry prior to the last shoot, ends up on the penalty loop and come home in 3rd. Birnbachers performance on the 3rd leg was superb, fast skiing, even faster shooting. Delighted to see Slovenia on the podium, both the guys brought their A game today.

Dissapointing for the Russians, shooting very well but the skis weren't working, not sure if it was a waxing problem or they just didn't have the speed. I though Domraceva had lost some of her speed but a good performance by her Belarus team.

Roll on the rest of the championships

Men’s 10 Km Sprint – Sat 3 March: Ye gods – 139 starters; the late starters (and the women this afternoon) will be wading through slush – it’s already 10 degrees here and “T shirt weather”! Great for the massive number of spectators though, and they really are here in force. Svendsen (EHS, Norway) is away first, with Fak (Cro), both Fourcades (Fra) and Makoveev (Rus) also in the early 10; Peiffer (Ger) is 13th away, let’s hope that isn’t unlucky! At the first split EHS is fast – making use of the firmer tracks – but Simon Fourcade is even faster – too much early speed? First shoot and EHS drops a shot – onto the penalty loop, and I think this time it is deserved! Ustyugov (Rus) shoots clear as does Windisch (Ita); Simon F drops 2 – wind has picked up a bit but even so that seems unusual. Makoveev also misses one, and his speed doesn’t seem too competitive at this stage; Russians did seem a bit slow in the mixed relay too. Martin F drops just 1, so better than his brother. Andi Birnbacher (Ger) goes clear, but meanwhile at the next split time EHS has already caught up with Ustyugov! Peiffer drops one but Fredrick Lindström (Swe) is clear and also fast; Austria’s Sumann clear too and competitive (but he faded later despite great shooting).

EHS comes in for his standing shoot but misses the final target – another loop; Ustyugov misses 2 and as he seems to be slower on the skis as well, surely that’s him out of contention – what is wrong with the Russians, they seem to be sadly lacking speed? Simon Fourcade goes clear standing – much better work, and he has great speed too – with a fairly early start he may be in the running; tracks already seem to be getting slower. Back at S1 Tarjei Bø (Nor) shoots clear and is fast too – maybe he’s back on form after a disappointing season by his standards? However OEB (Nor) drops one in his prone shoot; Tim Burke (USA) is 9/10 – Peiffer drops another 2 on his 2nd shoot, Lindström 1 (at S2) and controversial inclusion Micki Greis (Ger) drops 2 in the prone. EHS is through the finish but with 2 misses in total; so far only Windisch has shot 10/10 but as I write Daniel Mesotitch (Aus) makes that statement incorrect! Simon Fourcade finishes, currently in 2nd, looks as though he couldn’t match Svendsen’s speed over the final leg. His brother however is steadier and goes first, some 15 seconds ahead of EHS, but back at S2 Bø has slipped, dropping 3 targets and OEB misses his last 2 targets as well – not Norway’s day. Not Germany’s either as Peiffer is well down with 3 misses and won’t get a good position for the pursuit; Schempp and Birnbacher are better but have 2 misses each and are 1 min 12 secs or so back from the leader – not a single German in the top 15.

At this stage it’s Martin F leading from EHS, with Mesotitch taking 3rd as I write; if the tracks are getting slower then they may be hard to dislodge, but the 2 leaders do have a couple misses each. Klemen Bauer (Slo) has a bad day after a perfect prone, missing 4 of his final 5 – pulling the trigger like a barmaid pulling pints, as the Eurosport team so quaintly put it! Carl Bergmann (Swe) joins the 10/10 group, so it’s all down to his speed on the final leg; at the 8.5 Km split he’s giving it “vollgas” but is 3.7 seconds back on the fastest time – despite all his efforts he ends up 3rd (at present). Despite a perfect 10 he’s nearly 18 seconds back on Fourcade and Svendsen who have both done two 21 second penalty loops each – amazing speed! The temperature is now about 14 degrees and the snow looks awful; Novikov (Blr) shot 10/10 but he’s nearly 1 min 20 down on the leaders – also a good number of spectacular falls at certain parts of the track, where there seems to be ice in the slush. It seems that no one can challenge the podium places even if they do shoot perfectly; at present 3 French in the top 10 (Fourcades & Boeuf), 3 Swedes (Bergmann, Lindström & Ferry), only 1 each from Norway (EHS), Austria (Mesotitch), Italy (Windisch) and USA (Burke) – no Russians (best Garanichev in 12th) or Germans (best Schempp, 15th). Eurosport also feel nothing is likely to change, so swap to cross country early where highlights show my little favourite Therese Johaug leading as they swap from classic to skating, and going on to get a well deserved win! Looks like Martin Fourcade, Svendsen and Bergmann; updates later if required, and the women's race is on at 1430. No changes to the interim results from the men’s sprint Martin F; Svendsen; Bergman, Mesotitch; Simon Fourcade and Fredrik Lindström.

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: Soft conditions but maybe not so critical to start early as it’s cooling slightly; marginally smaller field with 118 starters. Today Olga Zaitseva (Rus) is away number 11, just ahead of Tora Berger (Nor); Darya Domracheva (Blr) is 17, and Neuner (Ger) at 29. Lots of other contenders though – Ekholm (Swe), Kaisa Mäkäräinen (Fin and quite light which might suit the conditions), Brunet, Habert (both Fra), both Semerenkos (Ukr) and Kuzmina (Svk). Early starters are now at S1 – nice shooting by Teja Gregorin (Slo), all 5 down, and same for Gasparin (Swi) and Ekholm, who is currently fastest at that point. Brunet is also clear and fast; Valj Semerenko drops one, but she hasn’t been well this week, so might be a bit off; Berger goes clear, slightly faster than Ekholm, and Domracheva is 5/5 despite a slight glitch, which cost her maybe 7/8 seconds. Meanwhile Gregorin is 10/10, nice shooting; same perfection from Ekholm who is faster. Back at S1 Dorin Habert is clear and second fastest, but Kaisa Mäkäräinen drops 3. At S2 Berger shoots amazingly fast, but she drops a target – always a risk but she’s saved time with fast shooting. Meanwhile Neuner clears all her prone targets at speed, and she’s the fastest at that stage – a happy crowd at last!

Darya Domracheva is in for her standing shoot - great shooting and 10/10 for her. Most of the athletes are seeking out the shadowed sections of track; at the finish Ekholm is in, all 10 targets down and a good time – we haven’t seen Vita Semerenko but I understand she’s also 10/10 and quite fast – the women certainly shooting better than the men! Berger is in, currently 3rd despite her one miss – looks promising for the pursuit if nothing else. At S2 Lena is on fire – another 10/10 and she’s 20 seconds inside Domracheva’s time – the volume of appreciation from the crowd does nothing for Miri Gössner’s prone shooting though; speaking of Darya she’s through the finish line after a great last lap – into the lead with Vita Semerenko going into 2nd. Hang on, huge noise from the crowed – I wonder what that could be? Lena is over the finish line, just over 15 seconds faster than Domracheva; the German team are going to miss her next year! Top 5 places at present (Neuner, Domracheva, Vita Semerenko, Ekholm and Brunet) have all shot the perfect 10 – are you watching, chaps?! It looks as though the track might be getting a bit faster, but most of the real contenders seem to be finished? Much more of a mix in the top 10 than for the men’s race at present – only Russia (Sleptsova & Vilukhina) and France (Brunet & Habert) have 2 athletes there, with 1 each for Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway and Slovakia. Bit of a worry for Germany – great result from Lena, but their next best is Tina Bachmann in 22nd – not such strength in depth; my early bets for the women’s relay are France, Russia and possibly Norway; maybe Ukraine? However, the forecast suggest there may be rain tomorrow, then colder conditions, so who knows. Conditions quite testing today with the downhills being quite awkward as the surface cuts up – some more nasty looking falls. Amanda Lightfoot (GBR) has also shot 10/10, and is (at present) in 36th position, only 2 places below Andrea Henkel – great effort and hopefully a respectable result in the pursuit too?

So, unless there’s a major upset, Lena Neuner takes her 11th World Championship title – Domracheva gets silver (so the overall title race remains really close) and Vita Semerenko bronze. Tomorrow’s pursuit races should be interesting, with Lena only 15 seconds clear of Darya!

Outstanding performance by Neuner, I though she might have missed in the standing but no chance. Domracheva did pull back some time on the ski-in, was happy to see her on the podium with Semerenko. Nice to see the smaller countries win some medals. Hard to believe that Neuner has now 11 world championship golds. A great performance by Amanda Lightfoot, shooting clean and comfortably qualifying for the pursuit.

Fourcade bounced back well from his sub par performance in the mixed relay. I wonder have the Swedes a shot in the mens relay? They packed very well yesterday. Disappointing from the Russian and German teams, all their athletes outside the top 10. The conditions did favour the early starters in the race though.

Roll on the pursuit. It's been a great season of biathlon, so many exciting races so far this year. The field for both races was quite big, it's a bit odd that all countries can enter 4 athletes. Is it like that for the Olympics?

Men’s 12.5 Km Pursuit – Sun 4 March: Very soft snow today, but less/no sun which might well improve the visibility on the range – I understand that yesterday several of the men found that without blinders the sun was just shining in the right eye; difficult! However, that is perhaps slight consolation for the slush, and it’s not only warm but very humid. Not huge climbs but steep with testing descents; a fall yesterday has removed Ustyugov from today’s start list. Four shoot stops today – 2 prone and 2 standing – and a 150 metre penalty loop for any misses. Away goes Martin Fourcade (Fra) and 15 seconds later Svendsen (EHS, Norway) is in pursuit; quickly following are Bergman (Swe), Mesotitch (Aut), Simon Fourcade (Fra) and Fred Lindström (Swe). Already you can see the way the snow is sliding away from the driving ski as the athletes apply pressure – a draining experience for all and today will certainly reward those who can “tread lightly”! Anyway, they’re all away with no time adjustments for incorrect starts.

Into S1; Martin F is shown as 1 penalty but watching the shots that looked a bit dubious (I must have blinked at the wrong time and missed a miss, as no one else said anything!) – didn’t see him on the loop, but he’s lost time so presumably did one? EHS is definitely on the loop, so Bergman and Mesotitch are in 2/3, EHS in 4; Birnbacher is clear, to the delight of the crowd. Bø and OEB both seemed to have problems on that shoot and have slipped back. Already it’s S2 – Bergman and Fourcade (M) are neck and neck – they both miss one; Mesotitch clears but EHS also misses one. Fak (Slo) is 10/10 and up to 4th, with Lowell Bailey (USA) in 7th from 20th at the start – exciting stuff! Back on the track Martin F is just ahead of Bergman and Mesotitch; EHS now seems to have upped his tempo in 4th, in a group with Fak and Boeuf (Fra) – Birnbacher is in 10th (9/10 so far). The wind seems to be picking up as the leading 3 come into the first standing shoot – Martin F goes clear, Mesotitch and Bergman both drop 1: EHS is very slow but sure – 5/5 for him but OEB has missed 5 so far. Fak also dropped 1 but Boeuf has had worse luck – 3 missed? At the next split Martin is about 27 seconds clear of the chasing 3 – Bergman, Mesotitch and EHS. Bailey is now 10th, a couple places behind Bø while Birnbacher’s misses have left him about 15 seconds back on his start position.

Into the final shoot – Martin F misses 2; door open for chasers! Bergman goes 5/5; Mesotitch drops 1 but EHS takes 2 more penalty loops – out of the range it’s Bergman, fractionally ahead of Martin F; then a fair gap to Shipulin (Rus) who has passed Mesotitch by the next split. Martin F puts on the turbo to overtake Bergman, but this isn’t over and the composition of the rest of the podium remains open. Martin Fourcade (4 misses) takes the win, Carl Johan Bergman (2) is second and Anton Shipulin (1) gets the bronze ahead of Daniel Mesotitch (2). Svendsen ends up 5th (4 misses) with Simon Fourcade (3) in 6th. Bø (3), Fak (3), Schempp (2 – best of the Germans after a poor 1st shoot) and Lindström (4) make up the rest of the top 10. Great effort by Martin and excellent work by the French technicians.

I agree with Irish Runner (really nice to see another biathlon fan here; were you on the original 606?) - massive field yesterday in both sprints; the Eurosport commentators are suggesting that while it's great to see the smaller / less obvious nations represented, numbers really need to be limited and 4 athletes from every country is far too many. Great racing at these championships so far though, with the Women's pursuit to come later this afternoon.

Women’s 10 Km Pursuit: Slushy stuff again, and of course the men have already raced over it; 10 degrees now and conditions arguably worse than earlier today. As this is a slightly shorter course than the men’s race arguably a miss, resulting in a 150 metre penalty loop, gets a harsher penalty (extra 1.5% or race distance not 1.2%) – will this change the tactics? However the race is on – Neuner (Ger) is away 15 seconds ahead of Domracheva (Blr), then Vita Semerenko (Ukr), Ekholm (Swe), Brunet (Fra) and Tora Berger (Nor). Interesting that Amanda Lightfoot, starting number 36, is one place ahead of Miri Gössner – I doubt she’ll match the German for speed but might keep her position with better shooting? Early stages but Darya Domracheva has closed down a little at the first split and Berger has gained a place. Into S1 and Lena is settling as Darya comes in – 5/5 and very fast; Darya slower but also 5/5; Semerenko & Berger miss 1 each as does Ekholm but Brunet is clear and into third. The Russians, Vilukhina and Sleptsova, are also clear and up to 4/5. At the next split Darya has closed down on Lena again, and shortly they are back for S2: Lena misses 1; Darya hits 4, pauses and then misses her final shot – opportunity missed? Brunet is clear, as are Vilukhina, Vita S, Berger and Ekholm but Sleptsova is on the penalty loop. The Eurosport team (doom merchants at times?) are speculating on the effects of tension on the leaders, especially as Henkel and Zaitseva are shooting well, among others. Into the first standing shoot and the leaders are pretty much neck & neck – Lena goes 5/5 but Darya drops one; her rhythm seems to be a bit off today? Brunet misses one, as do Vilukhina and Berger and then Vita, Ekholm and Olga Zaitseva do the same. We have yet another commercial break, one per shoot so far, so we aren’t seeing much of the actual skiing! At the next split Darya has pulled back a tiny bit of time on Lena, but these fast laps must be draining some energy. Final shoot – captions say 1 miss for Lena, but there are 2 targets still up – close ups suggest two misses is correct (far off to the low right?), no target problems – hope that’s right; Darya goes clear and leaves about 13 seconds ahead of the German who has done 2 penalty laps. Vilukhina is out third ahead of Brunet, Ekholm and Berger. At the next split Lena isn’t closing, in fact she’s lost about 4 more and is 17 seconds back. Behind them Vilukhina is nicely clear but Ekholm, Brunet and Berger are close. Darya Domracheva (2 misses) takes the gold medal (her first World Championship gold?), ahead of Lena Neuner (3) (so a full set of medal colours for her with 3 races done), and young Olga Vilukhina (1) takes bronze - good bet for the winter Olympics? Berger (3) gets in just ahead of Ekholm (2), then Brunet (2), Zaitseva (1), Vita S (3), Habert (1) and Nilsson (0) make up the top 10; amazing that Nilsson is the only one of the top 10 who shot 20/20. Amanda Lightfoot shot 18/20 and, I think, ended up 43rd (confirmed!); Miri Gössner had only 2 misses, so she was up in 22nd – Andrea Henkel had an even better day on the range, starting 34th but ending up 11th – better news for the Germans. Another day off (at least, which they’ll all need, I suspect) and back on Tuesday/Wednesday for the individual events.

Two more exciting races yesterday. Martin Fourcade is really on top of his game for the last two days. Bergman had nothing to offer in the final stretch, still for a man who has just arrived before the champs began he is performing well. Nice to see Shipulin on the podium he put in a great performance to climb all the way to 3rd, dissapointed for Mesotitch with a second 4th place, it's a tough place to finish. Was hoping for more from OEB but he was misfiring at the range.

On the ladies side, Neuner looked so impressived till the last shoot and then Domracheva grabbed her chance and had a comfortable run in for the gold. Delighted for her, she is a biathlete who deserves to be a world champion. Really liked Vilukhina, she is very good under pressure, debut season and a worlds medalist, looks to be heading in the right direction towards Sochi. Ekholm was always in contact without ever convincing that she would medal. My favourite Zaitseva had a good run but was a bit to far back from the sprint on Saturday.

Really enjoyed the pursuit races, anything can happen, missing targets doesn't rule you out. With the conditions, the role of the technicans is critical, Fourcade was very quick to thank his support team.

Yes Bleausardv I used to post on original 606, dissapointed that the Beeb decided to shut it down. Thanks for all you updates during the season, I think the German team has tested your faith at times. There seems to be a bit of gap in their womens team at the moment, who will step up after Neuner retires? Or will she really retire? She will be a big loss to the sport.

Must admit I was surprised by Neuner's last shoot in the pursuit - looking at the shots in the replay they were miles off (bit low and off to the right I think); most unusual, looked as though she must have really snatched at the trigger? Like Irishrunner I admire Olga Zaitseva, who is also capable of very accurate shooting and fast ski speed, and was a little disappointed that she couldn't have got a higher placing - still, plenty of chances left. Some very promising "new"athletes too, especially from the eastern bloc countries. On the men's side, I do wonder what has happened to Bø this year - miles off last year's form, so perhaps he really did do too much then? OEB possibly past the longer races (watch him win the individual now!!) but still looks very good in relays though.

I was rather sorry that the old BBC 606 site closed down (can it really have saved them that much with all the money they waste?) - although I'm delighted that this site has been set up - mainly because there were some very knowledgable people contributing and I learned a lot about biathlon! For me the contrast between the need for ski speed and steady shooting is gripping stuff! I know what the commentators are driving at when they say "well, if it hadn't been for the 4 misses, he'd have been on the podium" but at the same time it's annoying because surely that's the whole point?

I do wonder about the German teams (especially after Peiffer's mixed relay performance!!), especially after Lena goes - I doubt very much that she'll stay on, if all the media reports are even half true she's rather fed up with the massive effort and the media pressure, but it would be great to see her at the next Winter Olympics as a competitor not a pundit. Love to see Miri Gössner become a bit steadier, but again she's relatively young and I seem to recall Lena wasn't a brilliant shot when she started? Should be an exciting end to the season!

Men’s 20 Km Individual – Tuesday 6 March: This is the oldest biathlon discipline, and since it pre-dates a lot of technology they kept it simple – miss a target and it adds a minute to your overall time – no penalty loops and/or spare rounds this time! Apparently conditions were still awkward with soft snow forcing a late change of course, eliminating a big hill. Missed the race live but got the repeat from about S1, where Simon Fourcade (Fra) was the man to beat when I joined it – just in time to see brother Martin shoot clear and set a new best time. Arnd Peiffer (Ger) was also clear but a little slower, and countryman Andi Birnbacher was very similar. Meanwhile Simon F was in for his second shoot – in this discipline it’s prone/stand/prone/stand – amazingly fast and 5/5 again. However Martin misses 2 here; advantage Simon! Arnd Peiffer though is also clear here and faster even than the French leader. Bø was good in the stand but had already missed 2 in the first prone – much faster in S2 and very accurate this time. Birnbacher also clear at S2, but about 18.5 back on Peiffer – just as it seems the German men are looking better this time, Schempp almost immediately drops 3!

On to S3 and Simon F adjusts for the dropping wind – good but the third goes wide; 1 miss this time but Martin has the same; still advantage older brother. The USA athletes seem to be shakier on the range this time and look unlikely to feature – meanwhile Svendsen (Nor) has missed one on each of his first two shoots, and OEB does the same – skiing well though. Klemen Bauer (Slo) is going really well – 15/15 so far; could be some real upsets today as Jakov Fak is also well up. However, Peiffer is now 15/15 and faster than Bauer – given his nerves in the mixed relay, how will he cope? We haven’t seen much of Fak (Eurosport agree with the IBU and say Slovenian, ZDF have him down as Croatian on the ticker – careless mistake by someone, and I wouldn't be surprised if I haven't done the same at some time, as I tend to check details from the ZDF site!), but he’s also 15/15, as is Andi Birnbacher but he’s now about 28 seconds down. Looking at Svendsen’s S3 he was really lucky with a couple of those! At S4 Martin Fourcade has overtaken his brother (on the ground, in real time, but that’s without the added time for the misses) but he misses another 2 – Simon however is much steadier on the range and is now 19/20. Still at S4, Klemen Bauer (Slo) is 19/20 – great shooting from him but he’s still a bit slower than Simon F – Peiffer misses 2, so he’s 18/20; going to need some work by the sport psychologist to steady him down, because I think this is only mind problems, not helped by the media, particularly the German ones!

Slesingr (Cze) is 19/20; amazing given the way the muzzle was weaving around (!); and we get to see Fak this time – also 19/20. Meanwhile Micki Greis (a controversial choice) is 15/15 after S3 but probably too slow; German hopes shift to Andi Birnbacher on S4 who is 19/19 – he misses the last target; collective groan! At the finish Simon Fourcade is in the winner’s enclosure, sure of beating brother Martin, but there are some threats to come – especially Jakov Fak who is on a charge if he can hold it on the last downhill; he can and goes into the gold medal place (what a way to get his consolation for the mixed relay that might be!!). Andi Birnbacher is briefly in third place, but is displaced by Jaroslav Soukup (Cze) – a real mix today but again not a great showing by Norway and Russia. Strong result for Slovenia and Czech Republic though - might need to revise my thoughts on the relay!!

That’s the way it stays – Fak wins the gold – great effort from him and very well deserved, especially as frostbite nearly cost him his trigger finger last year. Simon Fourcade got another 2nd place, but at least it wasn’t his brother beating him today! A surprise in third, with Soukup getting the bronze just ahead of Birnbacher. Klemen Bauer was 5th and Michal Slesingr 6th. Arnd Peiffer ended up 7th which was possibly some consolation? Greis was 11th, which probably justifies his selection – 3rd of the Germans today. Some of the other names that we might have expected to do better – Svendsen was 8th (18/20), Tarjei Bø was 18th (16/20), Martin Fourcade was the fastest man over the snow today but poor shooting left him in 25th (15/20) and Björndalen was 47th (also 15/20). Of the Brits Marcel Laponder was the best on the day, good on the range (19/20) but way off the pace; Pete Beyer was similar (18/20) while Lee Jackson had 8 misses but was much faster; great to see them in the mix though. Note: Just to sort out any confusion (in my mind if nowhere else) Wikipedia (not the most reliable source sometimes, I admit) says that Fak is a Croatian-Slovenian athlete; won a bronze for Croatia in 2009 at the world championships, and another at the Olympics in 2010 - which I have to confess I'd forgotten. In 2010 though he announced a move and since the 2010/11 season he has skied for Slovenia! Anyway - women's race tomorrow, which I hope to catch live.

Congratulation to Jakov Fak, the Slovenians are on form this champs, I wonder could Gregorin sneak a medal tomorrow? At one stage I thought the Germans were going to sweep the podium, but they cracked at the end, Pfeiffer I expected but was surprised with Birnbarcher. Feel sorry for Arnd that is the second time he has had a last shoot collapse. I can only imagine the pressure he is under. Didn't realise that Micky Greiss is retiring at the end of the season.

I really would have liked to see Simon Fourcade win, he is long over due a victory, still it's good to get a medal and according to Eurosport has won the indivdual race for the season pipping younger brother by a few points. Not sure where Soukoup came from but well done to him. I thought today was one of Bo's better performances this season, shooting not the best but he was fast across the snow, disappointed for OEB. Very strange selection by the Russians, why on earth would they leave out Makoveev? He is second in the individual rankings for crying out loud. A best placing of twelve is not what they would expect.

Out of a field of 139 only 2 guys shot clean, Novikov from Belarus in 9th and Isa from Japan in 30th. Not a great standard. Roll on the ladies.

Women’s 15 Km Individual – Wed 7 March: Another day, another individual race – so again 4 shoots, alternate prone/standing, with one minute added for every miss – amazing to see so few 20/20 scores yesterday by the men, in relatively benign conditions – possibly the extra effort required for the soft snow caused problems on the range? However, the women shot better in the pursuits, so let’s see if the same applies today. Among the likely stars today, Darya Domracheva (Blr) is away at number 4, just ahead of Kuzmina (Svk), with Habert (Fra), Henkel (Ger) and Gregorin (Slo) also in the first 10. Ekholm (Swe) goes 12th, her countrywoman Anne Maria Nilsson is 16th, Vita Semerenko (Ukr) 17th and Lena Neuner (Ger) 19th; Tora Berger (Nor) 21st, Zaitseva (Rus) 24th, Vilukhina (Rus) 27th and Kaisa Mäkäräinen (Fin) 31st. However, if this goes the way of the men’s race there may well be some real surprises? Personally I’d quite like to see Pidrushna (Ukr) and Gössner (Ger) do well – stand by for the “kiss of death” effect! Good discussion on Eurosport pre-race about the main players and the zeroing process; the sun is out today which again might cause problems with light getting into the “aiming eye” in certain lanes – light winds though. The Eurosport team are suggesting Mäkäräinen or Zaitseva for today’s win, although they were cut off in mid chat by an advert break! The sun won’t affect only the range, of course, as the snow is quite soft again (although maybe in the best condition of the championship thus far?) – so some of the corners and downhills might be a tricky?

Another really good crowd; this can’t be doing the German economy any good! Anyway, Susan Dunklee (USA) is away, the first of 116 starters. Apparently there are rumours that Norway might be replacing their coaches, although yesterday the Norwegian men were certainly fast enough; just the shooting that’s off. Lena is getting ready, while Darya is just settling for her first shoot – first shot missed, and the second – then the 4th and 5th- 4 minutes added already; there’s today’s first real surprise! Wind certainly a bit variable, but the shots were quite well spread. Habert however goes clear, but still slower than Dunklee, who must have started well – meanwhile Henkel has also missed a couple; favourites not having a good day so far. Gregorin goes clear – Slovenia going well again – Ekholm drops 1; Solemdal (Nor) 2 – the lane choice seems a bit critical today. Nilsson, who I think is currently 30/30 in these championships, goes clear while Vita S drops 1. Lena is in and misses 2 – it’s going to be a very open race today. Berger misses only 1, which today seems quite reasonable – so much for the women shooting better than the men! Let’s see if Zaitseva can do better – clear so far and she’s the fastest at this stage too.

At S2 Habert is 9/10, but Darya drops another and Andrea Henkel another 2 – looks as though they’re out of it today; Teja Gregorin is 9/10, and Helena Ekholm looks steadier here – all 5 down. Back at S1 Kaisa Mäkäräinen has missed 3 and Bachmann (Ger) 2, while after S2 the fastest is Kuzmina. Lena is also in for her second shoot – great recovery and all 5 down, and Berger goes really fast through all 5 targets too; into the lead. At the front of the field Susan Dunklee is 14/15 and fast enough to do some damage; Kuzmina drops one at her S3. Zaitseva misses her 10th, while Miri Gössner is 4/5. Another swap of focus and Habert is some 38 seconds faster than Berger at the half way stage – Ekholm goes clear at her S3, lovely shooting. Lena into S3, missed the first but gets the next 4 – about 1 minute off the pace. Here’s a real performance – Susan Dunklee goes 19/20, so this should be her best result, but Berger is 14/15 and hot on her tail; Kuzmina drops one more – 17/20 for her, meanwhile Zaitseva is 13/15 and she isn’t perhaps at her fastest on the skis at present, especially as Habert is now 19/20 and only 8 seconds back on the American; Brunet though is an amazing 15/15 which is quite something today. Teja Gregorin is 18/20, missing one just as the announcer mentions her name on the Tannoy – not popular! Ekholm keeps a really steady rhythm on her last shoot and joins the 19/20 team, something that Lena won’t be doing as she’s dropped another 3 (6 in total); so no gold today and this is the one she’s never one!

Bad news for Dunklee, Berger is also 19/20, shooting very fast and she’s nearly a minute up on the American’s time – very impressive skiing and great mental strength on the range. That should give her the edge on Habert, who made up about 13 seconds on Dunklee on the final lap. Brunet is another contender BUT she misses her final target – 19/20; the conscious brain getting in the way? At the finish Ekholm has taken the lead but Berger is flying around the final lap – what does she have for breakfast? She’s over the line and currently over 1 minute 11 seconds faster than Ekholm; perhaps the coaches aren’t that bad! Rumour has it that she might also retire at the end of the season; if so next year really won’t be the same. Lena is in 9th at present but dropping back – goodbye to the aim of 6 medals at these championships, real shame; now, where is Darya, and what will this do to the overall standings (think Darya is 2 places down on Lena; 23 and 25?). Back on the range Suzuki (Jap) is still 15/15 while Miri Gössner is 15/20 – amazingly she’s shooting better than Neuner today! Brunet, after missing her final shot, is in about 56 seconds behind Berger – I know I moan about this, but “if only she hadn’t missed that one shot … “.

Back on the track we see Suzuki miss her first target today, but go to another break and miss the rest; very poor (in the end she missed 2 and ended in the top 20)! Some respectable performances still being recorded, but surely no one can come close to Berger; at present it’s Tora in a very convincing first place ahead of Brunet (Silver), Ekholm (Bronze), Habert, Dunklee and Zaitseva, and that's the way it stays. France with 2 in the top 10, and 3 Russians (other 2 being Sleptsova and Vilukhina). Not a good day for Germany, especially on the range – loads of misses; 4 for Henkel, 5 for Gössner, 6 for Neuner and 7 for Bachmann, with Andrea getting the highest place! Very few perfect scores – Ponza (Ita) in 9th is the only one I can see at present. Elena Khrustaleva (Kaz) is 15/15 and we see her getting ready for her final shoot when we again cut away to a break; what use is that? In fact she stayed clear and ended in the top 20; possibly one to watch.

So, massive congratulations to Berger for a truly amazing win; also BZ to Susan Dunklee, and to Brunet, Habert and Ekholm who were pretty much on form too. Helena has a consolation prize, as today’s result earns her the overall individual title for this season – well done her! Lanny Barnes (USA) shot well, but didn’t ski as fast as Susan D while Amanda Lightfoot seems to be the best of the GB skiers in the 50s with 4 misses, just one place back from Sweden’s Jenny Jonsson and ahead of Ringen (Nor), among others. Of my 2 hopes – Pidrushna ended up 14th (2 misses) and Miri was 36th – all placings subject to any late finishers nipping in! Now, another day off tomorrow, but what about the relays??

Just an update on the current medal standings for the top 6, with the relays (Fri/Sat) and the mass start races (Sun) still to come:

France: 2 gold; 2 silver; 0 Bronze = 4 total
Norway: 2; 1; 0 = 3
Germany: 1; 1; 1 = 3 (all involving Magdalena Neuner)
Belarus: 1; 1; 0 = 2 (all from Darya Domracheva)
Slovenia: 1; 1; 0 = 2
Sweden: 0; 1; 2 = 3

Men’s 4 x 7.5 Km Relay event: WARNING –excessive punctuation follows! Well, the first of the relay races; lots of fresh snow overnight, so hard work for the preparation team, but more bright sun in the eyes on the range today? Stand absolutely full- 28,000 spectators and I gather the place is sold out for the weekend. Who’s racing today, with a real chance - Russia have Shipulin, Makoveev (should please Irishrunner!), Garanichev and Malyshko – looks a good team; French of course have Beatrix, Simon (leg 2) and Martin Fourcade (4) plus Boeuf; Norway also looking strong with OEB, Brattsveen, Bø and Svendsen and Germany have Schempp, Birnbacher, Greis and Peiffer (odd choice for the final leg given his reaction to pressure?? German coaches are apparently saying this is the “get back on the horse” approach, but … ). Sweden and the Czechs might also be in the mix? I understand there’s no Jakov Fak today – not sure why, but maybe we’ll find out later? We’re underway – the leading skiers are off fast (about 30 Km/h!) leading 29 teams away; tracks look fairly awful, to be honest. Heading into the stadium for the first shoot – Slovenia (Bauer) leading; wind quite light, but rather variable. Norway goes clear as do Germany; France and Russia needing reloads, but not too serious a setback. Sweden almost certainly off the probable podium list after an awful first shoot – 2 penalty loops! Why put the most inexperienced (Armgren?) first I wonder? So far Norway, Finland and Germany leading, but very close at the front – Russia and USA (Bailey) also well up. On to S2; OEB misses 4 and ends up doing a penalty loop (real shame), but Ukraine are very slick and lead out; Finns on penalty loop; out after the first shoot it's Semenov (Ukr), Shipulin and Schempp, followed by Fra and Cze. OEB is however only 55 seconds back; Schempp seems to be fading a bit on the final lap – Slesingr (Cze) and Beatrix are past him, and Björndalen has caught up 6/7 seconds.

So, on to the first exchange – out in the order Russia, Ukraine (Sednev), France, Czechs (Vitek), Slovenia (Maric) and Germany – still very close though and lots of shooting to go; less than 14 seconds separate the top 7. Into S3 and that wind is shifting around a bit, but still light – Sednev amazingly fast and out first, rest of leading group needing spare rounds; out Ukr, Cze, Rus, Fra, Ger, Aut – Brattsveen was, I think, clear so Norway still in contention about 44 seconds back; same can’t be said of Sweden who are over 3 minutes adrift already. Meanwhile Vitek is among the fallers, which will lose him a little time; might also shake him before the next shoot? At the next split Simon Fourcade is flying, and is into the lead, until Birnbacher takes him, but is Simon just easing up – S4 should be interesting! Andi B drops a couple (3 spares?), Fra & Rus also missing – Simon F leads away, from Makoveev and Birnbacher, then Aut, Ukr (also a poor shoot) and Swi – Norway up to 8th. Heading to the next exchange Simon F is really pushing, but can’t shake Makoveev; Andi B 13.5 back at the split with Brattsveen up into 4th now inside 40 seconds back – brilliant effort from him to get Norway back into it. Exchange – Boeuf is away fractionally ahead of Garanichev with Greis about 11 seconds back; Swi, Nor and Ita make up the top 6.

Third session – at the first split Greis is losing time while Bø has made up a little, but hard to tell who is pacing it carefully? Into S5; Fra (1 spare) and Rus (2) need spares, as do Ger (3) and Nor (1) – out Boeuf, Garanichev, Greis, Bø, but Mesotitch is clear and into 5th. On the lap Bø is up with Greis, and passes him at the split – nothing wrong with his pace! So to S6; Boeuf into lane 1 which has caused problems for some; he’s clear but Russia need spares and so do Norway – Garanichev is off to the penalty loop but Greis goes clear. Boeuf leads, Greis 25 seconds back ahead of Bø (31 off lead) with Rus 4th; great shooting by Micki! Towards the exchange and Bø has closed down on Greis, and then burns past him, looking effortless – at the split he’s only 22 back on Boeuf with Micki another 5 behind him; now Aut in 4th. Final exchange – Martin Fourcade goes with an advantage of about 19 seconds over Svendsen, Peiffer is 26 seconds off the lead in 3rd. Then Aut, Rus, Ita – should be a great competition between France and Norway (up from 12/13th place after OEB’s leg). My palms are sweating and I’m just watching, but this is exciting stuff. Next split – EHS has closed by just over 1 second, but it’s gone again at the next – again hard to assess who is going full gas, and who’s being tactical. On to S7; wind picking up a little? Martin drops his first, but EHS is clear and very fast – after 2 spares Martin is only 0.9 ahead of EHS; Peiffer also needs spares and is almost 20 seconds back in 3rd. Austria (Landertinger) is still 4th but Malyshko is having a bad day on the range (3 spares) – he lets Ita and Swi through. Heading to the final shoot Martin F and Svendsen are bouncing up the hills; Peiffer losing a little on them. All of them must be tired, especially those who did the individual – now for the final shoot, with the pressure really ramping up. Martin F is quick at first but then needs 3 spares – Svendsen is clear and away – what a recovery!! Arnd Peiffer needs 2 spares but, for me, he’s redeemed himself by hitting the rest under pressure and keeping off the loop – out third. Italy lead Austria and Russia out – another good scrap in prospect here? Final leg and Svendsen is pulling out time on Martin F; Peiffer about 51 seconds back but with the same number of spares used as France; Norway have done a penalty loop but have clawed their way back to lead – amazing, and great shooting by the final 3 athletes; a rather undeserved gold for Björndalen! However, as the commentators pointed out – OEB has saved Norway so many times in the past, and now it’s his turn to benefit. My “man of the day” was probably Brattsveen who started that recovery, but very impressed by Beatrix too. So, Gold to Norway, France get Silver and Germany Bronze – at last a medal for the men on their own! Italy take 4th ahead of Austria (only 3 spare rounds in total used – brilliant shooting by their team) and Russia (disappointing for them). Truly great race; surprise of the day probably Sweden back in 16th almost 5 minutes back. Amazingly Norway used only 7 spares, despite OEB missing 4 (so 3 spares used) in one session – better shooting overall than France. Women’s relay tomorrow, and more tension!

It just goes to show anything can happen in biathlon. I though after OEBs penalty loop, Norway were out of it but really impressive skiing from the rest of his teamates and they pull up from 13th (I think) to first. Brattsveen done well but I was very impressed with Boe, it was his best performance in a while, looks good for the mass start.

Did not expect EHS to catch up and pass Martin Fourcade but Martin was poor today. On the basis of his indivdual performances here I thought he handed it to EHS. When I checked the startlists this morning, I could not believe that the Germans had Pfeiffer down for the final leg but as Bleausardv2 said he redeemed himself today, it probably helped that the was isolated a bit in 3rd place but he still had to get the targets down. I think the Germans fans were happy.

Come the end of leg 2, I though it was Russias to lose but Garanchiev had a poor performance, penalty loop and very slow across the snow and then with Malyshko having troulbe on the prone it was over for them. I think Makoveev is ideal for the indivdual good shot not the fastest skier but he performed very well today. Decent performance by the Italians to come in 4th with the Austrians in 5th just ahead of the Russians.

After last weeks sprint I was thinking Sweden for a podium place but after shoot 1 they were out of it, very poor team selection to put their least experienced biathlete out first. Intersting to see that the Belgian team is very much a family affair, 3 guys called Langer, I am guessing a young guy with his father and uncle.

Roll on the ladies tomorrow.

Women’s 4 x 6 Km Relay event: Currently 15 minutes to go, so for a laugh – my tips for the top 4 places (in no order) going by my reading of the form book - Russia, Norway France and Germany, wild card Ukraine! Let’s see how I do! German team, in order, Tina Bachmann, Lena Neuner, Miri Gössner and Andrea Henkel. Immediate worry is Miri, although I still think she can be a great biathlete in due course – why is Lena not on leg 4? France are running Brunet (their best on current form, so perhaps also an odd position in the team?), Boilly, Bescond and Dorin-Habert; Norway have Horn, Ringen (who had a bad day earlier in the championship) Solemdal and Berger; Russia – Sleptsova, Zaitseva, Bogaliy-Titovets and Vilukhina. Finally the Ukraine team – Burdyga (also a good one to watch?), Valj Semerenko; Vita S & Pidrushna. Meanwhile it’s now start time, and Eurosport are still with the slalom in Are; no option but to put up with it, but glad to see Maria H-R won it! Anyway – 26 teams for the biathlon relay today, including GBR. All tickets sold out today – stand is €280 as I understand it!

From the ZDF ticker it seems Sleptsova and Brunet led away; they reckon Poland might produce a surprise today. At the first split it was Rus/Ukr tied in first, then Slo/Fra/Pol/Blr – Germany back in 9th. Heading into the first shoot – I think Slo/Swe/Ukr/Fra/Blr and Cze were clear, Germany 1 spare only? Out in order Slo/Fra/Cze, Ger, Rus, Blr. We eventually join the biathlon just before shoot 2– about time! France, Svk and Ger are all clear in the stand and away – out Brunet, Gerekova (Svk), Bachmann, Sleptsova, Vitkova (Cze) & Jonsson (Swe) – Amanda Lightfoot in 12th at this stage. Settling down as we head to the first exchange – Sleptsova looks a little slow? Bachmann hands over to Lena, fractionally down on Boilly with Kuzmina (Svk) some 6 seconds back. Czechs are 4th (21 seconds back) ahead of Russia and Canada; Sleptsova looks absolutely shattered even by biathlon standards. I seem to have cursed Ukraine, who were 16th at the change, just behind GB! Rocket ship Lena has pulled out a good lead on Boilly coming in to S3; Kuzmina clears, Lena needs 3 spares, Boilly only 1 – so out Svk/Ger/Fra; Zaitseva needs only 1 spare – out 34 seconds back. Not sure putting Neuner in 2nd is a good idea, despite Henkel’s experience, but we’ll see. Zaitseva also seems to be losing time – beginning to wonder if the Russian tech team have got it wrong, as Sleptsova also seemed a bit off? Anyway into S4; wind possibly a bit freaky in lanes 1 and 2; Lena is on the penalty loop (aaaargh), Kuzmina had a struggle but Boilly is clear and out in the lead, just ahead of Kuzmina; Lena is now 20 seconds down in third – very fast penalty loop!! Russia 4th. So, heading for the next exchange, Lena is going flat out and by the split has made up about 7 seconds. However, the German plan was surely to have a reasonable cushion for Miri and Andrea after Lena’s leg – hasn’t happened. Half way through and Kuzmina hands over to Chrapanova (careful!) just up on Bescond – Miri is now just 10 seconds back as she leaves the stadium – good recovery by Lena, but … . Russia now 53 seconds behind in 4th, Ringen has brought Norway into 5th with Ukraine 6th. Prize for the worst exchange of the day surely goes to Canada – were they out of the box too?

So, leg 3 and heading for S5 – Bescond v Gössner v Chrapanova – slow work; Bescond is away (1 spare?), then Slovakia (clear) – Miri needed a couple spares but she’s still in touch. Russia 4th, Ukraine 5th and Solemdal (Nor) 6th. Just at the split, Miri stumbles and loses a couple seconds – other side of the course might be better? Let’s hope that doesn’t get her twitchy. Belarus lose a pole – luckily the Italians give her a spare but not a help! Into the standing shoots again – Bescond falters needing reloads, but Miri needs only 1 spare – lovely girl, and that’s the seconds time she’s out-shot Lena in these championships! She’s out in the lead with Bescond 10 seconds down; Chrapanova is 21 back in 3rd with Vita S 4th. Rus/Nor don’t shoot well and are over a minute off the pace at present. The run to the changeover is on and Gössner has pulled out another 6 seconds on Bescond, but Vita S is now on fire in third too. Final exchange – Henkel goes 17 seconds up on Dorin Habert, but Vita has closed to only 33 back. Slovakia 4th, Berger out for Norway in 5th just over minute back, but Russia are 7th – surely they must have kit issues? Domracheva takes the last leg for Belarus, but surely over 1.5 minutes deficit is too much even for her? At the next split Berger hasn’t closed on the leaders but she’s up to 4th, while Darya is closing! Rumour has it one of the GB team started without the rifle? Hope that’s a mistake and someone misheard?

So, into S7 – Henkel drops the first target, pauses and then shoots fast to go 5/5 – she’s away. Habert needs one reload; Pidrushna needs spares but so does Berger – however Norway are up to 3rd just ahead of Ukr/Svk; Russia still having problems. On the lap Domracheva overtakes Berger (amazing) to get into third. Last shoot – the German team can’t watch! Henkel shoots another 5/5 – brilliant work and very steady shooting by Andrea – my apologies to the German coaches for ever doubting their decisions! Habert is out 2nd but Berger and Domracheva are together on the range – both clear with Berger shooting marginally faster, Ekholm up to 5th and also in the mix – I’d expect Nor/Blr to pull away from Sweden, but who knows? Elegant and smooth versus brutal and effective as Darya fights with Tora; they are 0.7 seconds apart, Tora in front, at the final split with one climb to go. Meanwhile Henkel grabs a German flag and cruises to the gold - "Oh, wie ist das schön!"; Habert gets the Silver but, to my surprise Berger outskies Darya for Bronze – didn’t expect that! Sweden in 5th, Ukraine 6th – apparently Valj still isn’t well. Russia 1:34 back in 7th; work to do there. Well done Miri and Andrea!

Medal Placings - as I understand them, with just the mass start events to go:

Norway: 3 Gold; 1 Silver; 1 Bronze = 5 total
France: 2; 4; 0 = 6 total
Germany: 2; 1; 2 = 5
Belarus: 1; 1; 0 = 2 (both from Darya Domracheva)
Slovenia: 1; 1; 0 = 2
Sweden: 0; 1; 2 = 3

Well done to the German Ladies, once I heard the line up I was not so confident for them and when Neuner had a penalty lap I though it was over for them but Henkel and especially Gossner really delivered today. I don't think Miriam has performed that well in a long time. Nice for Henkel to bring the team home.

I am really impressed with the French these championships, they are on the top of their game, 6 medals so far, wouldn't rule them out for more tomorrow. You have got to hand it to Tora Berger, she never gives up, did not expect her to hold of Domracheva. A decent performance from the Swedes Echkolm looked good on the final leg.

Very disappointing for the Russians. What was going on? I really think the skis were not working properly today. Sleptsova was exhausted after the first leg, Zaitseva lost time, Bogaliy fell away on the final loop and Vilukhina had a decent ski but her shooting was a little of. On the basis of their performance in the individual I was expecting good thing but it wasn't to be.

The Slovakians are developing a fairly decent team, still involved at the final handover where unfortunately their final skier fell away. They said on Eurosport today that all teams that are lapped are allowed do their final shoot but not ski the final loop, is that true? Sounds a bit silly if its true.

Men’s 15 Km Mass Start event: My guess for this one is a battle between Svendsen (Nor) and Martin Fourcade (Fra), but an intriguing thought might be Bø (Nor), if back on form both on the track and range, versus Simon Fourcade (Fra)? Heart would like to see OEB (Nor) do well but I wonder if he still has the speed for the final race to the finish? Side bets on Bauer (if he can keep up the improvement in his shooting) and Birnbacher. Thirty starters today – basically the top 30 in the rankings but with all medal winners in this championships included, as I understand it – however, I don’t see Fak on the list – apparently quite ill. Conditions fairly awful – it’s been raining at Ruhpolding this morning, still is, with wall to wall grey skies and the snow is slushy – more trials for the technicians, and hard going for the athletes. The race is on – surface is heavily salted which might help, especially early on; the Eurosport team were out at 0830 when it was good but they reckon that by about an hour later it was notably slower and mushier. At the first split it’s Makoveev leading – Fourcades both well up but EHS a bit further back, taking it gently at the early stages? French seem to have their skis running well – their tech team seem to have been well on form all championships. Into the first shoot, with EHS up to 2nd – wind almost calm; Martin F (lucky on 1 of them!), OEB and Birnbacher are clear, among many others, but Ustyugov and EHS have both missed 2; out in order MF, Birnbacher and OEB, with Lindström (Swe) 4th ahead of countryman Bergman and Italy’s Markus Windisch – all very close though. Never seen a broken ski before, but it’s happened to Weger (Swi) – very bad luck, and now he’s fallen and lost a pole too – not his day. In for the second prone – Andi Birnbacher clear and out first ahead of Bergman and Deryzemlya (Ukr); OEB having rifle troubles ejecting a live round early on but still in it; EHS clear this time although down the list but Bø well in touch. Shipulin (Rus) is 10/10 but well down for speed – again his skis don’t seem to be as well prepared; if that was the case previously, which it might well have been, then they are also going to be more tired than other nations due to the extra work rate. At this stage it looks as though I should have tipped Hofer rather than Bauer! Meanwhile Bø has fallen too – about 20 seconds lost, but Martin Fourcade has hauled himself back up to the top 4, making up about 20 seconds after a poor second shoot.

Into the first standing shoot – Andi B again clear; OEB misses as does Bergman; Greis with 2 misses and Bø also missing (thought 2, but his stats at the finish say 1?) – perhaps unsettled by the fall? Soukup (Cze) is shooting well now and up to third, behind Birnbacher and Ferry (Swe). OEB still 4th ahead of Garanichev (Rus) and Martin F. Chasing group are pushing hard to make up ground on the leading 3 on the next lap; Martin F has a few words with OEB about stepping on his skies – thought he was going to whack him with the pole! EHS is gaining ground and time but even for him this is a major challenge. Final shoot – the pack are quite close to the leaders now, but how much has it cost them? Still very calm as Andi settles; he misses just 1 – OEB and Soukup also miss but Martin F and Bjorn Ferry (20/20; the only one I can see!) are clear – out Ferry, Martin F, Bergman and Birnbacher – then Lindström, all within 5 seconds or so. Simon F is 6th about 13 seconds ahead of OEB and Garanichev. Martin F is pulling out well but Ferry is still with him – rest dropping back and Andi B seems to have lost a podium place; given his one miss and Martin's efforts to get back, I thought it might have been closer? Onto the hill and Martin repeats his tactics – this is where he lost Bergman the other day, and it's working on Ferry too. Simon F is up to third, ahead of Lindström, although that is reversed by the next split. Martin Fourcade (2 misses) has done it – a sensational win to take another gold in a championships that he’s dominated; Ferry (0) and Lindström (2) get Silver and Bronze respectively with Andi B 4th (1; sorry for him, but I would have thought he could have taken the Swedes?) ahead of Simon F (2), Bergman (1), Arnd Peiffer (2), OEB (2) and then Garanichev (1) and Ustyugov (2). Slightly better day for the Russians, much better for Sweden and France; Czechs doing quite well to take 11th thru 13th inclusive. Germany 4th and 7th, but Greis and Schempp had too many misses and were well down; Bauer (Slo) also missed 4. Not a good day for the Norwegians either – OEB the best in 8th, Bø (1?) in 17th and EHS 18th with 5 misses (2,0,1,2); Weger was a DNF, which I don’t blame him for!

So, brilliant effort by Martin Fourcade – the “King of Ruhpolding” as ZDF have dubbed him! A few bits of background – Lena Neuner was asked in an interview if she would consider coming back for the 2014 winter Olympics – a very definite “no”; and it looks as though both Tora Berger and Helena Ekholm are also going to retire. Rumours that Norway’s men’s team might be saved by a new prodigy, who is Bø’s younger brother and that the Germans are teaching their cross country star, Evi Sachenbacher (not sure of the spelling) to shoot, possibly as a replacement for Lena? Let’s see. Meanwhile – the women’s race is on at 1500 UK time.

Women’s 12.5 Km Mass Start: My predictions of the results aren’t doing so well, but surely this one should be a Neuner/Domracheva/Berger fight – side bets on Brunet, Ekholm or Kuzmina? I think I’m going to pass on the Russians – still not convinced they have the skis well set up (that should help them!). Bit worried about Neuner as her shooting seems off recently; Berger’s performance in the individual was amazing, so possibly that’s where the money should go? Germany have Neuner, Henkel and Bachmann – no Miri Gössner as she didn’t get enough points in the last 3 races to qualify. Only see Vita Semerenko (Ukr) on the list; I know Valj was unwell recently, so perhaps she hasn’t qualified either? Eurosport seem to be hanging on with the ski jumping, presumably delayed as it always seems to be – perhaps we should give the biathlon higher priority? (Wind delays again - perhaps the FIS could try to avoid this sort of clash by more careful scheduling; probably unfair to whine at Eurosport?) Yes, predictably we’ve missed the start again! On the ticker it seems Neuner is away as they head out of the stadium; Eurosport still waffling about points at the ski jumps while at the first split Darya D leads Neuner and Berger with Zaitseva, Solemdal and Selina Gasparin (Swi) close behind. We join coming into the first shoot – Lena misses her first and Darya her last but Berger, Brunet and Habert are clear as is Zaitseva. With the stadium behind them it’s Berger from Dorin Habert and Brunet, then Vitkova, Solemdal and Kaisa Mäkäräinen – despite Olga Zaitseva’s good shooting she’s in 13th ahead of Lena (17) and Darya (18). Solemdal falls, and takes out Bachman – the resulting struggle to avoid the fallers wipes out another 5 or so contenders including Ekholm, Kuzmina and Habert. Into S2, Berger 5/5 again while Neuner, who was far enough back to avoid the crash, misses another – Brunet who I think did fall too is clear and up well – good recovery, but Ekholm seems to have suffered; amazed all the rifles survived. Berger still leading from Vitkova (Cze), Domracheva, Brunet, Novakowska (Pol) and Ringen (Nor). At the next split Darya is first, ahead of Kaisa Mäkäräinen! Into S3, with Darya looking very smooth today; Darya drops 2, Tora 1, Neuner 1; Zaitseva clear; out this time with Brunet ahead of Mäkäräinen, then Vitkova, Zaitseva, Gerekova (Svk) and Berger. Bachmann is 15/15 and 7th – at the split the top 10 are separated by only 40 seconds.

Into the last shoot - Kaisa Mäkäräinen is heading for lane 1, with Brunet close behind – good gap to the pack; one miss per leader; Berger goes clear so she’s still a real threat – Neuner drops 3, Domracheva is also out of it; out for the last time with Berger clear of Brunet by only 2 seconds with Kaisa Mäkäräinen also very close – exciting last lap in prospect! At the split Kaisa takes the lead from Berger but it’s still very close – Berger ups the tempo to get the lead back – one climb to go; Bachmann the best of the Germans but in 4th and over 30 seconds back. Berger is away – what do they feed this woman on? She seems to be having a great last championships, unlike Lena (1, 1, 1, 3 - the worst shooting of the day). Brunet is holding off Kaisa; into the finish and Tora Berger (1 miss) makes it a double – the Individual and the Mass Start gold in two events – her third this championship, which gives Norway top place in the medal table. Brunet (1) takes the silver and Kaisa Mäkäräinen (1) the bronze. Bachmann (2) in 4th, Domracheva (despite 5 misses) 5th then Zaitseva (1), Habert (1), Vita Semerenko (1), Kuzmina (3) and Novakowska (2). Lena Neuner (6) was 11th, although only 15 seconds back on Darya despite one extra loop – a disappointing way to end her final World Championships; what will that do to the overall points? Pity about the German results today – two 4th places and no medals. All the athletes now get about 1 day off before the marathon trip to Siberia, for the final events of the year in Khanty Mansysk.

An exciting end to the championship, it's a pity the weather was miserable. The mass start has has been a great addition to the biathlon calendar. At the start of the day I was hoping for an OEB and Zaitseva victory but it didn't happen.

In the mens race it was no surprise to see Martin F lead the field home he has had a great championship. Very impressed with the Swedes again, 3 in the top 6 and 2 on the podium, they really should have done much better in the relay. Disappointed for Birnbacher, his shooting has been superb this championship but the one miss cost him, he looked stong on the ski in but Lindstrom was just that bit stronger.

EHS (5) and Boe (3) had a poor day, Boe was slow across the snow again but I guess the fall done him no favours.

The atmosphere for the womens was electric. A very expectant German crowd was waiting for Neuner to deliver her 5th medal in her final world championship race. She didn't have a great day, she really fell apart on the last shoot. Berger once again showed herself to be a great competitor, I am disappointed she is retiring. Very impressed with Brunet to hold of Makarainen for the silver, the Finn really pushed for gold but I am glad she got something out of the championships. Dissapointing again for the Russians, made worse by the fact that Zaitseva was disqualified for lying on the wrong mat, being told to move by her coach and then not putting her rifle on properly.

The French have had a great championship, 8 medals in total. If i was to have one complaint it would be Martins Fourcades performance in both relays. Their technichans have played a blinder this week, they definitely the best prepared team this week.

On the whole a great championship, the Germans do love their Biathlon. The Germans have a bit of a gap in their womens team now if Neuner gone and Henkel considering retirement. The Russians have a bit of work ahead of them, but I would lay the blame at their skis, they have a habit of getting things wrong in the past.

Not sure if the IBU have updated the points yet to reflect today, I'll check again later but at present they are showing the following for the women, with just one more set of events to go:

Overall: Neuner 1093; Domracheva 1061 & Berger 953.
Sprint - I think this might be Lena's already? MN 511, DD 423, KM 358
Individual - Won by Helena Ekholm (138), KM and DD both on 116?
Mass Start: Darya 190, Tora 187 - VERY close!
Pursuit: Darya 332; Lena 329; Tora 321 - also VERY close - roll on next weekend!

Didn't realise Zaitseva had been DQ'd - very bad luck.