Biathlon - Final races of this season - Khanty Mansysk

Men’s 10Km Sprint: Status at present, Martin Fourcade (Fra) has 363 points in the sprint standings, 25 points ahead of Svendsen (Nor) on 338, with Bergman (Swe) in third on 255; Martin also has a fair buffer in the overall (66 clear of EHS, the only man who can take it away from him). Normal weather for biathlon has been restored after the Spring-like conditions in Ruhpolding – it’s minus 11 today and dry cold. Quite a lot of rumpus in the Russian hierarchy apparently about what they seem to consider a disastrous World Championships – missed some of the Eurosport comment but hope I’ve got the gist. Some of the Russian skiers openly blaming the technicians. Anyway, they’re off; 86 starters in this final sprint – no Benjamin Weger (Swi) after his fall in the World Championships. Markus Windisch (Ita) leads off; EHS goes 11, OEB at 18 and Bø at 21. Into shoot 1 and Garanichev misses 2 (not the technicians fault!) but Ustyugov is clear and briefly fastest until Arnd Peiffer (also clear) takes it away from him. Micki Greis (Ger) is also clear but a little slow; Svendsen is relatively slow into the range and took a while to settle but clears all 5 – he’s 26 seconds down on Peiffer’s time. The commentators are starting to talk up Martin F’s chances – hope that doesn’t curse him! Meanwhile at S1 OEB misses his first but clears the next 4; Shipulin (Rus) drops 1 but Bø is clear, if a trifle slow. Ustyugov (Rus) is into his standing shoot – 3 misses! Peiffer (Ger) misses just 1, but the time is fairly competitive at this stage even so; although Greis is 10/10 he’s much slower on the snow. Simon Fourcade (Fra) is at S1; one round ejects unfired and he ends up with 2 misses – doubt he’ll get the win I think he richly deserves today. Carl Bergman has a very mobile prone shoot but goes clear – seems to be off the pace though although there is some discussion about the computer timing? EHS is in to his standing shoot – 1 miss but a better time. Wind seems to be picking up; Sumann (Aut) used to be a cert in the prone but today he missed 3 there and cleared the stand? Jakov Fak goes 5/5 as does Martin F, although at this stage he’s some 12 seconds slower than Peiffer. OEB is through S2, but with 2 more misses – 3 in total. Bø misses 1 in the stand, which means he’ll be about 20 seconds behind Peiffer; meanwhile Andi Birnbacher (Ger) is 5/5 as is Bjorn Ferry (Swe).

The early starters are now finishing; Peiffer is currently leading, with Hallenbarter (Swi) in 2nd – great effort from him; good work at S2 by Bergman who goes 10/10 but needs a very fast last lap to get into contention; can’t do it but might stay in the top 10? (he did – 9th) EHS goes into 2nd but he looks absolutely knackered; it is very soon after the championships! Birnbacher blows his chance by missing 2 at S2; Lindström (Swe) is shooting well, but also needs a fast final lap – needs to make up nearly 10 seconds at the split; Bauer (Slo) misses 1 at S1 and Lapshin has 2 misses in S2 – again it doesn’t look like a good day for the Russians, but this time it’s the shooting as their ski speed is pretty much back up with the best. Martin F goes 10/10 and is 28 seconds faster than Peiffer as he leaves the range – so much for the commentators curse! Bø crosses the finish in third, with the one miss, but then Lindström goes into 2nd by only 1.4 seconds – great last lap from him – and that’s Norway off the podium. We are apparently about to leave this race early for some poxy UEFA football draw – as if there isn’t enough of that sport on all channels already. At the split, Martin F is now only 15 seconds up on the fastest time – he’s lost 13 so far on this last lap; I wonder why? By the next split it’s down to 7.9; he’s also looking very tired but just gets it by about 5 seconds – should be an interesting pursuit tomorrow! At this point we shift to some blasted football pundit to watch people draw balls out of a bag or something; not even the option to watch without commentary on Eurosport so over to the IBU TV with commentary from ZDF ticker. At present the results are as follows – Martin Fourcade (0 misses) leads by 5.3 seconds from Arnd Peiffer (1) and Fred Lindström (0). Then Tim Burke (USA; 1) only 23.4 seconds back on Fourcade – a really excellent result from him – 1 more target down and he’d have been right up there on the podium! Svendsen (1) lies 5th with Bø (1) 6th, so both outskied by Burke! Fak managed his 10/10 but is currently 10th, just ahead of Malyshko (1 miss, best of the Russians at present) and Klemen Bauer, who had 2 misses. Among the Germans Florian Graf had a bad day on the range with a total of 5 misses, although he still beat OEB who had 3. Also a surprise was Simon Fourcade with 3 misses, who is already down in the 60s overall today and thus won’t even be in the pursuit (or mass start?)!

Podium now seems certain and the IBU are showing “positions at the finish” – Martin Fourcade wins, which means he also takes the crystal globe for the Sprint events; Arnd Peiffer is 2nd and Lindström 3rd. Tim Burke gets a well deserved 4th (no, he obviously didn’t know why they played Yankee Doodle at the prize ceremony either), Norway get 5 & 6. Best Russian down in 11th, so more questions for them; after Arnd the best German was 21st, so not a great day for them either? However – very well done to Martin Fourcade, and he has also pulled out an even better lead (86 points) over EHS in the overall with just 2 to go. Women’s race at 1215 (UK time) unless Eurosport decide to show darts, or snooker or more football draws instead! Also, in among the alpine events, my congratulations to Aksel Lund Svindal who has won the Super G globe (Feuz crashed out, which will dent his overall points); Marcel Hirscher who managed a third place in Thursday’s Super G in only his 4th start in the discipline, and Vicki Rebensburg who also won a Super G. Meanwhile the amazing Lindsey Vonn is approaching 2,000 points in the overall, and I’ve lost track of how many globes she’s already wrapped up – truly one of the great all rounder’s!

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: Not sure what they’ve been rabbiting on about that takes so long, but the riveting spectacle of football “suits” drawing balls out of a bowl is over-running! Something about organising social events in breweries springs to mind! Meanwhile, the run up to the women’s sprint is building – sure the sprint crystal globe is already Neuner’s, but today’s points are vital in the overall title race - Magdalena Neuner is 32 points clear of Darya Domracheva as Eurosport report it. Today Neuner goes number 13 (hope she isn't superstitious); other Germans Henkel at 3, Bachmann 23, Hildebrand at 44, Miri Gössner at 46, Julianne Döll at 55 and Maren Hammerschmidt at 59 – the new names coming up from the IBU series I think; Döll won that series if I remember correctly. In all 62 starters, with Kuzmina (Svk) leading off; Darya D is going number 4 with Berger (Nor) at 9. Can the Russian women restore some home nation pride? Due to the time difference it’s quite late in the day in Siberia – floodlights already on. At the first split time of the race Domracheva sets the early target; and we’re already on the third advert break! Back for Shoot 1 and Kuzmina misses her 3rd and 4th – tricky conditions today? Andrea Henkel is clear, as is Darya who is even faster; Brunet (Fra), Sleptsova (Rus) also clear but Berger misses her first. Teja Gregorin (Slo) goes clear; competitive but off the fastest so far – Neuner misses her first but rapid shooting reduces the fallout to about 11 seconds off Darya’s time. Meanwhile Bogaliy misses 1 as well, and her ski speed probably isn’t up to recovering the loss? Susan Dunklee (USA) was a surprise at Ruhpolding, but she’s unlucky with the wind and also misses her first. Romanova (Rus) also misses her first while Henkel is already in S2 – she’s clear, but Domracheva misses her final target! Brunet goes 10/10 but is notably slower than Darya, despite the latter’s penalty loop, and Sleptsova also misses one at S2 – Berger however is fast in the standing shoot, and you can never write her off!. Back at S1 Kaisa Mäkäräinen is clear and much faster than even Domracheva while Lena Neuner misses another 1 at S2 – even then she’s only 7 seconds back on Darya! Bogaliy misses 2 at S2 - Russian gloom deepens!

The early starters are finishing – Darya Domracheva (1 miss) goes 13.2 faster than Henkel (who was clear); the effects of the hard races at Ruhpolding followed by a long flight and the time difference are evident in the state of the athletes at the line. Valj Semerenko (Ukr) has missed only 1, but I’m not sure she’s back to full fitness yet and the speed isn't quite there. Berger goes into third; even her ski speed seems a bit off today? Someone whose ski speed is still spot on is Lena – she takes the lead by over 16 seconds, an incredible last lap! Back at S2 Kaisa Mäkäräinen has missed 2 targets in her standing shoot, same total as Lena so it’s all down to speed; Ekholm is 5/5 after S1 but is her ski speed enough to take the win today? Here’s a name to watch, perhaps – Andreja Mali (Slo) who has just gone 10/10, meanwhile Vita Semerenko (Ukr) has matched that shooting but with very fast skiing too – will she take the lead? She’s about 14 seconds up after her last shoot, but that’s on Darya’s time – it’s about 20 up on Lena’s efforts before her amazing last lap, but at the split she’s down to only just 6. Miri Gössner shoots 9/10 – well done her; much better shooting, but she’s slow on the final loop. The Ukraine coach is winning gold for the level of his encouragement of Vita, but by the 7.1 Km mark she’s 2 seconds behind – surely she can’t miss a podium place? A brilliant final effort gets her into 2nd only 3.2 seconds behind Neuner, ahead of Darya Domracheva (which will please Lena!) – marvellous ski by the Ukraine athlete. Helena Ekholm has, again, shot 10/10, and is currently in 5th – well placed for the pursuit? Not looking good for the French women today (best Brunet, around 11) and Russia even worse (best Glazyrina, 17) – not sure the IBU scheduling has done anyone any favours? Anyway – final result Lena Neuner (2 misses) wins yet another sprint – her 8th this season; Vita Semerenko (0) gets a very well deserved silver/podium place and Darya Domracheva (1) is third, losing some points in the overall to Lena; gap now 44 points? Kaisa Mäkäräinen (2) was 4th, Helena Ekholm (0) 5th, Andrea Henkel (0) 6th – so the German women have outshone the men again, with 2 in the top 10! Tora B (1) was 7th, ahead of Gerekova (1; Svk), Kocher (2; Can) and Dunklee (1; USA).

Very impressive ski from Neuner today, I didn't think she would be able to catch Domracheva but she turned on the turbos for the last loop and was well clear of her come the finish. Semerenko done well the keep it close but she just doesn't have the speed. A great season for Neuner, her 8th victory It will be a very strange womens field next year with no Neuner, Berger, Eckholm and possibly Henkel.

Fourcade was stuggling on that last lap but he just hung on, he has had a great season. Good performance by Pfeiffer after some disappointing performance in the worlds and other Swedish performance. OEB had a disappointing day.

A pretty poor day for the Russians all round. I definitely think there was an issue with their ski's in Rupholding, they were losing so much time on the snow. I was surprised to hear that Shipulin had publicly criticised the skis. I think on the whole they performed well over the season but they didn't deliver last week. I can only imagine the pressure they are under. No finishers in the top 10 not a great performance on home snow.

We know Neuner is retiring but if Henkel goes it will leave a very big gap in the German team. Who will fill the void? I am surprised people are retiring now, it seems a bit odd to go in the middle of an olympic cycle.

Men’s 12.5 Km Pursuit: Lots of questions today – Martin Fourcade looked absolutely exhausted yesterday – can he recover to take the pursuit? He’s only 7 seconds ahead of Peiffer and Lindström. Can Svendsen and Bø get onto the podium? How many targets would Martin F need to miss for that to happen? And, finally, why are Eurosport spending so much time on Ski Jumping, so we miss the first 25+ minutes of this race?? From the IBU TV I can see that conditions aren’t good – it’s snowing, hard at times, and the floodlights are on to improve the vis – another testing day for the wax teams! Still seems to be a good crowd though – they must be dedicated! Right, Martin is away, and so are Peiffer and Fred L; top 16 all within a minute of the leader. At the first split the leading 3 have closed up; chasing pack just over 21 seconds back. Similar at next split – the first chasers are only 4 in number, next (bigger) group about 40 seconds off the leaders. Into the first shoot (prone) – Martin & Arnd both clear; Lindström slow to start and 1 miss; Burke also misses 1 but Bø clear; out Martin F, Peiffer, Hallenbarter (Swi), Bø, Bauer and Bergman (Swe). Back to Eurosport, who are still on the jumping, which seems to be overrunning (as usual)! At S2 (prone) Peiffer leads out of the range from Martin F (both steady but clear); Bø (also 10/10) up to 3rd ahead of Lindström but over 35 seconds back, then Fak and Slesingr. Hallenbarter had a bad one and has dropped back. At the next split Malyshko is up to 5th – some good news for Russia perhaps? We are now over half way – still nothing on Eurosport – and Arnd and Martin are still very close together; Bø doesn’t seem to be closing them down, if anything he’s lost a fraction. Into S3 – Fourcade faster but misses his last target – Arnd doesn’t and leads out about 18 seconds up on the Frenchman! Bø misses his 3rd and 5th; Fred L drops 2 but Svendsen is clear this time; Malyshko up to 3rd, EHS 4th. Loads of misses and an exciting race – buck up Eurosport, it’s almost over!

Arnd is powering through the gloom, but you can see Martin F closing – up 4 seconds already. Now, coming into S4 (at which stage Eurosport eventually join in) can Arnd hold it together – by the split before the shoot Martin has cut the deficit to 9.5 seconds. They come in virtually together; Peiffer drops 1 (again missing a win due to the pressure of the last shoot? Lots to do on this over the Summer training) and Martin goes clear – this looks like he’ll wrap up the overall championship today. Malyshko drops 1, EHS is clear and into 3rd then Malyshko and Bø (very fast 5/5 on his last shoot, much more like his old self). On the final lap, Martin F is well clear and pushing hard; Arnd looks as though he’s eased off to save a bit for the mass start? At the final split Arnd is 25 seconds back; about the same distance again behind them Svendsen realises that Malysko is almost with him and engages turbos – rather cruel, poor Dmitry must have thought he was going to pass him! So, Martin Fourcade (1 miss) wins the event and with it the overall title for this season with one race left – a magnificent performance. Arnd Peiffer (1) gets silver, Svendsen (2) is 3rd, which makes him runner up overall for the second year in succession; Malyshko (2) is 4th, Russia’s best result so far this weekend; Bø (2) is 5th, Slesingr (3) in 6th – best “comeback” of the day Dominik Landertinger (Aut) who shot 20/20 and went from 35th to 7th. Great day for Martin; Germans might be disappointed not to win but did get silver; their next best was Andi Birnbacher in 14th though and Greis was again disappointing. Norway have 2 in the top 5; Russia only 1 in the top 10; disappointing again for the USA with Tim Burke dropping from 4th to 21st with 5 misses – they also seem to have last shoot nerves? Women’s race at 1245 UK time – Lena needs to pull out about 16 points over Darya if she is to follow Fourcade’s example – can’t really see that happening!

Women’s 10 Km Pursuit: Firstly, a couple stabs in the dark about the German squad after Lena retires – Henkel may go too (?), so we have Bachmann (?), Hildebrand and Gössner left of those who have considerable World Cup experience. There are rumours that Evi Sachenbacher (who was a world ranked cross country skier) is being given the “stopping to shoot from time to time” conversion course, and there are the best of the German IBU athletes also in the mix. I have been puzzled about how the IBU levels compare to World Cup – yesterday Julianne Döll, 3rd overall in the IBU series (?), finished in the 40s, but that was with 4 misses and she usually shoots much better – stress of crowds and cameras? I thought she looked very annoyed with herself at the finish, so maybe she’ll be better next time? Maren Hammerschmidt, who won the IBU overall, shot better and was 34th with 2 misses. Some reason to be hopeful about next season, but it’s hard not to predict that Domracheva will be almost unstoppable with Neuner, Berger and Ekholm all gone.

Back to the present; while I was waiting for the biathlon I was watching the men’s GS – alpine’s last weekend too! Marcel Hirscher has won the GS globe; a slight pity that Didier Cuche was technically a DNF in his last race ever (due to doing his run in ancient ski kit - his slowest run ever!) but extremely funny to watch the other competitors trying to copy his helicopter ski trick – some more successful than others – do try to catch it! Another great loss to the sport. Actual race rather awkward in the soft conditions, with ruts forming early in very unpredictable snow. – some high profile names were in the DNF list. Brilliant run from Marcel Hirsher – full of risk but he survived to win the race which also puts him 25 points ahead of Beat Feuz in the overall title race with just a slalom to come; Austria filling all the podium places – terrific stuff! Anyway – over to the biathlon; the IBU list shows a 44 point lead for Neuner in the overall standings. In this discipline Darya leads Lena by 3 points. Seven Germans today, including Maren Hammerschmidt and Julianne Döll (actually, late correction, no Döll today); main threats to Lena surely Darya (only 13 seconds behind), Kaisa Mäkäräinen in 4th and Helena Ekholm in 5th. It’s cold in Siberia and still snowing – more since the men’s race; have Darya’s wax team done a better job today – her head tech was apparently almost in tears after yesterday? They’re off and Lena has pulled out a little on Vita S, while Darya is a bit closer – quite an undulating track here; work all the way! Already coming in for the first of 4 shoots – Lena drops her 5th, Vita clear, so is Darya; Kaisa, Ekholm and Henkel all miss, as does Berger – some surprises there! Out it’s Vita S, Domracheva, Neuner (24.5 back), Mäkäräinen (1:04), Brunet and Henkel – Gössner misses 2 which is a pity!

Next split and both Darya and Lena are closing fast; the lead 3 fairly well clear, with Ricco Gross (spelling?) showing the fall of shot to Lena on the hill – lucky women can multi-task! Time for the next prone shoot – Vita and Lena clear, Darya drops 1 this time, but she’s flying round the loop despite its awkward design; this time it’s her turn to be 25 back. Brunet clear and out 4th, Kaisa Mäkäräinen misses 1, Henkel 5th, Palka (Pol) 6th – Susan Dunklee 10/10 so far and 9th. At what is pretty much the half way split Vita is still holding on to Lena but I think Darya has slipped a little? With such short laps we’re already into S3, first of the standing shoots – Lena misses 1st and 3rd, Vita 4th and Darya her 2nd – at which point my broadband drops out! As it returns Vita is coming out of the range 12 seconds ahead of Lena with Darya 3 seconds back on her – Brunet (15/15) next but almost 48 off the lead. On the track Lena and Darya are up with Vita; Kaisa has passed Brunet and caught up about 9 seconds. Final shoot with daylight fading and the 3 leaders together; Lena misses 2 (aaaaargh - snatched the last), Vita 1 and Darya goes clear; Kaisa Mäkäräinen and Tora Berger are also clear. As they leave the range for the final time Darya is 22 up on Vita, with Kaisa Mäkäräinen 3rd some 14 seconds up on Lena in 4th ahead of Brunet and Berger. With 1.1 Km to go Darya is over 30 ahead of Kaisa in 2nd; Vita holding off Lena – looks like Darya will take the pursuit crystal globe, and pull back crucial points in the overall – she will get 60 today, to Neuner’s 43 if she can’t catch Vita S (my German must be worse than I thought – ZDF seem to think Lena’s won it, but surely that’s wrong?? However - see the next reply, below). End result – Darya Domracheva (2 misses) which gives her the globe for this discipline; Kaisa Mäkäräinen (2) in 2nd, Vita Semerenko (2) has the final podium place with Lena Neuner (5!) 4th; then Berger (1), Brunet (0), Henkel (2), Dorin Habert (2), Dunklee (1) and Palka (2) make up the top 10. As regards the German team next year, the Eurosport team reckon Henkel (2 misses, 7th today) is staying on next year; Tina Bachmann (2) was 14th, Hildebrand (2) 22nd; Gössner (6) 25th; Hammerschmidt (3) 26th. Another bad day for Russia – their best place was 17th (Sleptsova), then Korovina (24th) and a block from 27-30 inclusive.

Stop Press - Marcel Hirscher has apparently won the overall crystal globe too as Beat Feuz is not going to start in tomorrow's slalom!

It seems (from certain web sites) that, unlike last year when ALL races counted for the overall championships, that this year only the best 24 count? (ie you can drop 2 results). In that case Lena Neuner will have won the overall. A full explanation is at http://realbiathlon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/decision-time.html

Hope that is correct - the blogger knows a lot more about biathlon than I do!!

Men’s 15 Km Mass Start: 30 starters today – as I understand it the top 25 from the world cup standings plus the 5 best points scorers from the weekend here in Siberia, although Jakov Fak has opted not to race, letting in Lapshin (?). Favourites probably Martin F, Peiffer, Birnbacher, Bø and of course Svendsen, but also side bet on Lindström; last chance for the Russians to get on a podium on home snow. Quite a slow start and a bit of a scrum; was that OEB falling on the first hill? Pace has picked up; Martin F pulls clear as they come into the range for the first time; probably the windiest conditions for a while – Martin misses his last shot but Shipulin, Birnbacher, Makoveev, Lapshin, EHS and Bø are clear and leave in that order – Russia’s day? Bailey, Soukup and Bauer have, I think, missed 3 on the first shoot – disappointing for them on the last day! On the lap Martin F is trying to close up from 12th, and make up a 22 second deficit; considering how exhausted he looked after day 1 here he’s making up time well! Into the second prone shoot – Andi B misses 2nd & 4th but Shipulin is clear and away; Deryzemlya (Ukr) is now 2nd ahead of Malyshko and OEB; best German at present is Florian Graf in 4th, just ahead of Bergman – Andi B needs to be in the top 20 or so today if he is to win the crystal globe for this discipline; it’s in those circumstances that it’s really easy to miss targets. Svendsen is going at amazing speed in a mobile Norwegian enclave with Bø and OEB; at the split before the third shoot EHS is up to 6th!

On to S3; Shipulin pauses after 2 good hits, rhythm gone and he misses his 3rd; Svendsen takes his time for 5/5; Malyshko, OEB and Bø melt down but Tim Burke also goes clear. Out with EHS in the lead 20 seconds up on Bergman, who is 10 ahead of Martin Fourcade. Arnd Peiffer is up to 5 but Graf has dropped to 10th; Birnbacher is possibly suffering from nerves, missing another 2 – currently in 14th? Svendsen is looking very strong; at the split before the final shoot he’s pulled out to over 37 seconds ahead of Martin F, Peiffer and a strong chasing group – almost doubled his lead and gained 10 seconds on Fourcade. Final standing shoot - EHS misses his 4th but the rest are down and that’s him out in the lead; the next 3 on the range all miss their first – then awful shooting from Fourcade and Burke radically affects the placings, but Shipulin is clear and into 2nd ahead of Peiffer (no snags on the last shoot today?) and Graf – Andi B shows his mental strength by clearing his final 5 and leaping up to 5th! Final lap and EHS is touching hands with his fans en route; still 35 seconds ahead of Shipulin with 3 Germans behind them, and Lukas Hofer in 6th. Shipulin is going to have to fight for silver as Peiffer is closing him down; the crowd is sure to lift him a little but Arnd is very fast? Final results – another very impressive win by Svendsen (2 misses); fantastic technique even in the final stages, with Arnd Peiffer (4) blasting through into silver ahead of Shipulin (2) – some good news at last for Russia. Andi Birnbacher is 4th which seals his win in the mass start discipline, just ahead of Graf (4) and Malyshko (5). So 2 Russians in the top 6, but also 3 Germans which will be good news for their coaches. Rest of the top 10 - Hofer (4); Lapshin (3); Bø (5) and Garanichev (5). The wind has certainly taken its toll today – Martin Fourcade down in 15th (6 misses); OEB 20th, Tim Burke down in 22 after his poor final shoot and poor Simon Fourcade in 27th with 8 misses – great shame after a season when I really felt he deserved a win.

Next on was the men’s slalom – Ivica Kostelic (bib no 1) falls really early (actually surprised to see him even back after all the injuries/surgery) which I think might cost him the slalom title? He did however climb back up the hill and complete the course which might help as Hirscher has also just gone out!! Worth checking the FIS website to see how this turns out!

Women’s 12.5 Km Mass Start: I’m still confused about the overall globe situation – the German sites (ARD and ZDF) both say Lena Neuner has already secured her third large crystal globe; the website I put a link for in my short note last night agrees and explains why, but Eurosport are still saying that it’s all to play for; if the gap was 44 pre pursuit in which Lena "lost" 17 points to Darya, but today it's still 43 that suggests that discards are being taken into account. Can’t find the actual rules etc on the IBU website – hopefully clarification follows! For the small globe in this discipline, I read it as Domracheva leading from Berger by only 3 points; if nothing else all this digging into scores has left me firmly in support of the FIS system rather than the IBU version which seems to be changing too often, and which doesn’t reward a win sufficiently. Meanwhile at Schladming the men’s slalom globe has really gone to the wire; with Hirscher out and Kostelic slow after his fall (ending just out of the points?), it all depended on Andre Myhrer’s final position – he won the race, which also gave him the small crystal globe; very exciting script at the very end of the season.

Anyway, on to the reality of today’s race – the last of Lena’s career; again 30 starters; 4 more Germans included – Henkel, Bachmann, Hildebrand and Gössner. Something of a party atmosphere for everyone except the athletes – who are off, double poling away and into the skate with no apparent problems, although there’s a queue on the first hill! The Eurosport commentators also seem a bit confused about the overall scores, but seem to suggest that there is still some doubt - perhaps they don't know? Anyway, at present Lena is slightly ahead of Darya; lovely slo-mo of them skating down the slight hill, wish I could do that move so well! Less than 20 seconds between the top 25 as they approach the first shoot – lanes as start number; Lena 5/5 as are Berger and Kuzmina but Darya has 1 miss, Kaisa Mäkäräinen has 2; out in order Neuner, Kuzmina (Slo), Berger and Brunet. Behind them are Zina Kocher (Can) and the Semerenkos. On the lap Lena pulls out, but the gap to Darya is pretty steady. Into S2; wind still blowing from the left but maybe calmer in lanes 1-5 – Lena again clear despite Kuzmina settling as she completes the 5. Brunet, Vita S, Berger and Kuzmina are clear too, as is Kaisa Mäkäräinen. Miri is having another bad day; that settles what she’s doing this summer! Domracheva is now up to 6th with a better shoot. Next split shows Kuzmina almost 30 back on Lena, but Darya is up to 4th, ahead of Berger – why is Brunets’ time flashing red? (ah, she’s getting a bonus of 6 seconds for an obstruction on the range). Lovely change of lead leg by Lena on the hill; something else I wish I could do! Meanwhile Darya has almost caught Kuzmina, and she’s 2 places up on Tora Berger – exciting for the small globe. Now for the first standing shoots – Lena misses the first high, next is low; very erratic – 4 misses in all – depression sets in!! Domracheva is clear – really excellent shooting, Kuzmina misses 1; positions now Domracheva, Berger, Kuzmina, Brunet, Mäkäräinen, Habert, Vita S and Neuner! Meanwhile on the tracks Darya has pulled out – Berger was only 8 back after the shoot but now it’s over 22, Neuner up to 6th but not gaining really on Darya. Into the final shoot for this season – Darya misses 2nd and 3rd; can Berger capitalise on that? Just 1 miss for her, so it’s going to be tight. Kuzmina 1 miss, 2 misses for Lena – out Berger, Domracheva (only 2 seconds back), Kuzmina, Brunet (who I think is ahead of Kuzmina after the adjustment), Mäkäräinen, Eckhoff (Nor) and (amazingly) Neuner!

Berger is, as always, giving everything on the final lap to catch Domracheva; positions behind are varying as Brunet's bonus 6/7 seconds are applied. At the final split Berger is within 5.5 seconds of Darya; Kaisa Mäkäräinen is third, clear now of Kuzmina who has gained enough to be clear of Brunet. Into the finish – Darya Domracheva (3 misses) wins – also taking the mass start crystal globe; Berger (1) gets 2nd then Kaisa Mäkäräinen (4) gets the last podium place. Kuzmina (3) is 4th – Lena (6) has crossed the line ahead of Brunet (1) but not by enough to negate the time adjustment, so the Frenchwoman is 5th and Lena 6th. Tiril Eckhoff (Nor, 1) is 7th, with Dorin Habert (4), Kocher (4) and Henkel (3) making up the top 10 – best Russian was Bogaliy in 13th, and my favourite Miri was way down in 29th with 9 misses; both she and Lena seem to have lost their shooting form recently. That’s, er, that’s all folks (well, almost); details of the final points later – still no wiser about how they worked it all out, but in the end it made no difference and Lena is definitely the overall world champion for the third time! Who will dominate next year; can Darya do what we all expect or will someone else come through to challenge? Going to be a dull summer but there's always roller ski?

From the IBU website, these are the final points standings - they can be checked on the site, appearing under the "data centre" tab.

Overall - Men: Martin Fourcade 1100; Emil Hegle Svendsen 1035; Andreas Birnbacher 837
Women: Magdalena Neuner 1216; Darya Domracheva 1188; Tora Berger 1054

The "small" crystal globes were awarded as follows (women/men) - Sprint Neuner/Martin Fourcade; Pursuit Domracheva/Martin Fourcade; Individual Ekholm/Simon Fourcade; Mass Start Domracheva/Birnbacher.

Relays: Women France; Norway; Russia - Men France, Norway, Russia

Nations - Women Russia, Germany, France - Men Russia, France, Germany

Exciting end to the season. Neuners old demons returned on the standing shoot, not the way she would have wanted to sign of. Domracheva has had a great end to the season, her ski speed seems to be on another level this season.

I'm not so sure Berger and Henkel are retiring now afterwards in Khanty there was a ceremony where a presenation was done for Neuner and Eckholm as they were leaving the biathlon world.

Good end to the season for EHS but Martin Fourcade was a deserving winner of the world cup this season. Have been impressed with Pfeiffer for the last part of the season (final standing shot aside) but he has looked really strong these last few weeks. Could be factor in next years world cup. Eurosport were wondering if there is a place on the Norwegian team for OEB, they eventually said yes, he has probably had his poorest season ever but he is still a secure no. 3 on their team.

I think it was Simon F who won the individual. I hope the Russians have a better world champs next year, apparently there is a lot of anger in the russian media over their worst ever world champs performance.

Bleausardv2 do you follow cross country? Do you know where Northug has dissapeared to? I think he has raced once since the TDS, maybe he is injured.

Irishrunner - my apologies; you are quite right about Simon Fourcade - he did indeed win the individual; got so used to typing Martin's name that it must have just slipped out!
I do follow cross country to some extent (although classic races don't have the same appeal, possibly because I can't do that style) but haven't seen much since the TDS; my understanding was that Petter Northug was opting out of some of the post TDS races to concentrate on the Vasaloppet, but it seems that he wasn't well enough to compete - combination of not enough specific training and continuing stomach problems? - see http://blog.norway.com/2012/02/29/northug-will-not-ski-the-swedish-vasaloppet/. Incidentally Pippa Middleton and her brother did do the Vasaloppet - the full 90 Km; she finished in about 7.25 hours and was 412th of 1734 women!

The FIS site also suggests that the stomach trouble was serious enough to stop him competing in the final races of the season; see
http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/news/world-cup-season-over-for-petter-northug,3062.html. Hope he's sorted for next year (and stays on the tracks every race this time; he's fast enough already!!) - nice to see some competition for Dario Cologna!

Thanks Bleausardv2. Thats unfortunate for Northug, I was kinda disappointed with his performance in the TDS as Cologna really had his measure there. Cologna won the world cup easily this year with Northug 3rd overall with barely half a season of racing.

The realbiathlon blog is quite interesting, OEB has 93 world cup wins with Poiree a distant second on 44, I wonder will he make 100? Could be difficult. Forsberg lead the way for the ladies with 42 wins and 6 world cups, the swedes have produced a few top class ladies but beyond that not much depth