Biathlon 2014/15 season

Almost time for the World Cup series - mixed relay tomorrow!

The IBU cup has already started - Andrejs Rastorgujevs of Latvia claimed victory in the first competition, the men’s 10K sprint, despite 2 penalties. Later in the afternoon, Weronika Nowakowska-Ziemniak of Poland claimed the first women’s sprint title with one penalty. Rastorgujevs finished two seconds ahead of Norway’s Lars Berger, also with two penalties. Third went to Germany’s Michael Willeitner, who shot clean. Berger’s teammate Erland Bjoentegaard, with one penalty, was fourth, while France’s Florent Claude, shot clean was fifth. In the women's sprint, second went to Norway's Bente Landheim, who shot clean but finished 10.1 seconds back. Third place went to Japan's Fuyuko Suzuki, with a single penalty, 25.7 seconds back - a new name for me! More details at IBU report

Interesting - Kaisa Mäkäräinen is doing some reporting for Eurosport! So - first race; 3 x 2km for the women, 3 x 2.5 km for the men; both shoot twice. No Soukalova for the Czech Republic, but both the Fourcade brothers are in the French team, although Martin has been ill. 23 teams in all today, including GB.

Kaisa Mäkäräinen leads them in for the first shoot - and misses the first 2 shots; not a good start by Hildebrand either and they aren't alone! Out of the range Canada lead from France with Susan Dunklee also well up. In to S2 (standing), Vitkova has made up ground for the Czechs, just behind Bescond (Fra); looks a bit windier too. Lot of misses again but Crawford is the first out for Canada ahead of Oberhofer (Italy) and Vitkova. Good skiing by Susan D to close them back down by the next checkpoint, but the fast skier is still Kaisa Mäkäräinen (Mäkäräinen gibt Gas, as 2DF had it), who hands over at the end of leg 1 in the lead from the Czech Republic, Italy, USA and Canada. A few changes to the order on the next round (the Italian suit looks very Norwegian - have to get used to that) and into S3; good shooting by Gontier (Ita) gets her out in the lead, but even better work on the range gets Franziska Preuss (Ger) into second; Valj Semerenko (Ukr) also well in touch. Final shoot for the women - very close at the front; Preuss not so good this time but Romanova of Russia goes clear (in both her shoots?); Italy also relatively fast despite needing spare rounds - at the next split time it's Gontier just ahead of Romanova with someone called Domracheva in third - slight gap then to Preuss. At the handover to the first of the men Dacha has taken the lead so it's Belarus (Chepelin) from Italy (D Windisch), Russia (Garanichev), Germany (Pieffer) & Poland.

Into the range for S5 the top 4 from the handover have pulled away a bit with a bunch building behind them, about 30 seconds back. Czech (Slesingr) shoots well and out of the range it's Italy, Russia and the Czechs, then Belarus & France (Simon Fourcade). By S6 there is a group of 4 at the front - Blr/Ita/Cze/Rus; Chepelin in trouble with the shooting here as are Italy and Russia; now here's a surprise Klemen Bauer (Slo) shoots 5/5 really fast and leads out from Cze/Ger and a resurgent Norway (Christiansen)!! Final handover coming up - Moravec (Cze), Jakob Fak (Slo), Simon Schempp (Ger) away with Blr/USA/Nor chasing. The final shooting will be interesting; Fak is arguably not the most reliable on the range, but then ... into the final prone and Martin Fourcade is going very quickly!  Fak is good on the range but Schempp is even better with 5/5 and into 2nd; Moravec slow to get the spares in so it's Birkeland (Nor) just ahead of Lowell Bailey as they exit; Fourcade still threatening. Final 5 targets, with 4 teams very close and a chasing pack ready to exploit any errors - Norway and Germany fast and accurate so away in that order with Fourcade 7.6 back but closing it down fast; Fak in all sorts of trouble and eventually out 6th,  44.7 back. Birkeland takes a bad line on the final climb; Schempp goes for the line but Fourcade is too fast and wins for France with Norway just pipping Germany for silver; so France win, Norway second, Germany third then Ukraine/Italy/Slovenia; what a finish!!

Sadly I missed the two individual races (family trip) on Wednesday & Thursday - Men's 20Km (IBU report) and Women's 15 Km (IBU report) respectively. The men's race, in warm but windy conditions was dominated by Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen (EHS) who shot clean despite the wind! In second was Serhiy Semenov (Ukraine, 1 penalty) and third was Michal Slesingr (Czech Republic, 1 penalty). I was pleased to see Erik Lesser in 4th, while the amazing career of Björndalen (OEB) still seems to be going well - 6th place despite 3 penalties!
Conditions were rather better for the women, where Darya Domracheva took an early lead which she never gave up, winning with 2 penalties from Kaisa Mäkäräinen, who also had 2 penalties. Third was Valj Semerenko with Dasha's compatriot Nadezhda Skardino in 4th; best German was Fran Hildebrand in 6th. Today is a rest day, and the action kicks off again on Saturday.

Saturday - Men's 10 Km sprint: Well, Johannes Bø away early and fast - apparently one of the favourites today; nice to see Andrejs Rastorgujevs racing today after he missed the individual. Seemed that we were at S1 quite quickly for the prone targets - JoBø missed 2 which might be costly and local favourite Freddie Lindstrøm did the same. Martin Fourcade, after a bad Individual, left the start at a rush and cleaned the prone targets - are we back to normal today? Some competition however from Michal Slesingr early on, later joined by Moravec, Fak and Garanichev all shooting well and going fast; Lesser, Schempp and Böhm shooting well for Germany but not looking as fast. By the end of S2 Martin Fourcade was clean, and still going fast - Svendsen ruined his chances of being a threat by missing one target in the standing shoot. At the end Fourcade (Fra; 0,0) was too strong today and took a decisive win, nearly half a minute up on Ondrej Moravec (Cze; 0,0) with Jakob Fak (Slo; 0,0) taking the final podium place away from Slesingr (Cze; 0,0). Garanichev and Shipulin (who both shot 10/10) took places 5 & 6 respectively for Russia with Svendsen (Nor; 0,1) in 7th and Bjørndalen (Nor; 1,1) 8th.

Women's 7.5 Km sprint: A couple questions today - would the course get faster or slower as it got colder; would there be many falls on that really nasty looking left hand corner on the downhill, and would Dasha's skis be OK given that she damaged one in her fall during the individual??? Anyway, Darya Domracheva was away early on and cleaned the prone targets, which the later starting Kaisa Mäkäräinen couldn't match - however she looked faster over the ground. The main threats to Dasha looked, at that stage, to be Tiril Eckhoff who also cleared the prone targets and was only fractionally slower, and Vitkova, Wierer and Valj Semerenko who were also quick and accurate. At about this stage I wonder what happened to Skardino at S1; she seemed to be there for ages before getting a round away? Going to S2 Dasha missed one target, and looked somewhat slower than usual on her final lap too - still enough for the lead but with some good athletes still to come and going well. Kaisa Mäkäräinen missed again in the standing shoot but was flying over the snow, while Eckhoff missed one target but was also very close to a winning time; Vitkova and Wierer went clear which also kept them in the mix! All down to the last lap and Tiril Eckhoff (Nor; 0,1) flew round to get a well deserved win from Veronika Vitkova (Cze; 0,0), by just 4.6 seconds! Kaisa Mäkäräinen (Fin; 1,1) got third due to blinding ski speed ahead of Dorothea Wierer (Ita; 0,0) who took 4th from Darya Domracheva (Blr; 0,1) by 0.1 of a second! Semerenko was 6th, with Franziska Hildebrand the top German in 9th. I was delighted to see Miri Gössner back in the race after so many problems last year, although her shooting remains quite flakey!! Pursuits tomorrow - are Dasha's skis OK or was she just tiring?

Sunday Pursuits: Men's 12.5Km - have to say the conditions didn't look too good with a fair amount of green close to the tracks in a couple places! Made a mistake with the timing on this one and missed most of what must have been a good race! In the end Martin Fourcade took his second win of the weekend despite his shooting record (2,1,0,1), nicely in control of second finisher Anton Shipulin (0,0,1,0). Emil Hegle Svendsen (0,1,0,1) held on to third although I thought he might just lose it to the fast finishing Jakov Fak (0,0,1,2) and Dominik Landertinger (0,0,0,1, and who came from 30th to narrowly missing the podium!) who both ended within half a second of him. Nice to see Simon Schempp in 6th just ahead of Andi Birnbacher (0,0,0,1) who climbed from 22 to 7th. Going the other way were Slesingr (4 to 19) and Moravec (2 to 20), both of whom had 5 penalties.

Women's 10Km - could have been rather dull, as the first 6 away are arguably also the fastest at present, but the wind was much more awkward than during the men's race and was a definite factor. At the first shoot all the leading 6 missed a target except Tiril Eckhoff who missed 2; lot of misses here although a few athletes did manage to clear all 5 including Bolliet, Bescond, Soukalova and Miri Gössner!! Shooting seemed better for the leaders at S2 although both Kaisa Mäkäräinen and Dorothea Wierer missed one - out in order Dasha (whose shooting speed seemed to vary a lot today as she swapped various tactics), Vitkova, Eckhoff, Valj S, Kaisa & Wierer. The wind was back with a vengeance at S3 where Dasha missed 3; Kaisa Mäkäräinen coming in a little later assessed the conditions really well and went clear, as did Dorothea W - out in order KM/DW/TE/VS/Glazyrina/DD. Good shooting was bringing in some of the later starters including Glazyrina, Gregorin, Bolliet and Soukalova. At the final shoot Kaisa missed only 1 target, as did Valj S; DW missed 2, unusually for her, which allowed Valj to close the gap between them. Dasha looked as though she might just get a podium place but missed her last target, so that left Kaisa Mäkäräinen as the leader out of the range by a mighty 45 seconds, with a good battle between Valj and Dorothea in prospect. In the end the Ukranian was too strong for the Italian, who I understand is still recovering from illness - Kaisa Mäkäräinen (Fin; 1,1,0,1) took a well deserved win from Semerenko (Ukr; 1,0,2,1) and Wierer (Ita; 1,1,0,2). Domracheva (1,0,3,1) was 4th ahead of Teja Gregorin (Slo; 1,0,1,0) and Eckhoff (Nor; 2,0,2,3). Among the place gainers were Ekaterina Glazyrina (Rus; 0,1,0,1) going from 20 to 9; Preuss (Ger; 1,0,1,1) from 22 to 13 and Susan Dunklee (USA; 0,2,1,0) from 41 to 19. I thought Soukalova might have done better but 3 misses on her final shoot spoilt her climb back up the placings. Dasha had the fastest course time today, just ahead of Kaisa Mäkäräinen - nice to see Miri G was 11th fastest; once again shooting is her Achilles heel, but hopefully she is back from her problems.

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: A large field, and a good turnout of supporters too. Apparently a somewhat easy course now at Hochfilzen (although I always felt that for any cross country event, easy is a relative term!). Possibly good to start early in the women’s race; maybe the reverse for the men’s race later today, as Fourcade and OEB are both in the later groups? I do hate it when the commentators say something about a scandal (something to do with the Italian team?), and then add that they’ll talk about it later – bet I miss that bit! To make up for the course, the range is supposed to be a bit tricky with some odd wind patterns and it’s a little foggy too; Usanova is the first to go clear in the prone, and then there’s a lull in the wind and several go clear. Nice to see Rosanna Crawford join them; at this early stage Oberhofer is fastest at S1; meanwhile Gregorin is clear at S2, Wierer misses 1 and Horn is also clear and fast out of S2. Kaisa misses 1 at S1, but so does Dasha! Oberhofer goes clear at S2, and is going well – bookies might regret offering such long odds on her? Tiril Eckhoff might have closed down Oberhofer but she’s missed 1 at S2; here’s Kaisa at S2 and she’s clear – close to Oberhofer’s time too! Dasha misses 1 in the stand too which must surely spoil her chance of a podium? Kaisa has flown round the final lap to take the lead away from Oberhofer; the bookies can breath again! Dasha is over the finish line but only 6th at present and maybe looking a bit flat, although she beat the clean shooting Bescond? Disappointing run from Soukalova; 2 misses but also much slower than Kaisa. For the Germans, nice to see Franziska Hildebrand in 5th at present with just 1 miss – ahead of both Dasha and Horn, and Vanessa Hinz is clear after S2 – in just behind Hildebrand; Preuss with 2 misses has beaten Wierer who had only 1 miss. Among the late starters, Solemdal was going well and clear at S1, but missed 2 in the stand – arguably a bit unlucky with the gusts! So, Kaisa takes the win from Karin Oberhofer (Ita) and Tiril Eckhoff (Nor). Olga Podchufarova (Rus) gets 4th from Hildebrand and Hinz. Looking at just the skiing time, Kaisa was fastest from Dasha, Eckhoff and Preuss. Strangely Miri Gössner was 9th fastest but 4 penalties seem to have left her in 93rd position (bit odd; seems she might have done one strafrunde too few and got an additional time penalty?), so no Pursuit. I think the German team might have protested??

Later reports suggest Miri only did one penalty loop after the prone shoot; she seemed sure that she had done 2 but the TV coverage shows that she missed one, so she received an additional 2 minute penalty - had she done the 4 penalty loops she would have probably have qualified for the pursuit, but with the e tra 2 minutes, no chance!

Men's 10Km sprint: Missed the live coverage on video so had to make do with the IBU live result feed. Svendsen and Tarjei Bø both clear at the first shoot among the early starters, but slower than Johannes Bø who seems on brilliant form. Nice to see Andi Birnbacher and Simon Schempp also clear here! The big question seemed to be whether the late start that Martin Fourcade and Bjørndalen favoured would play out to their advantage. Of the early starters JoBø was the fastest, shooting clear and 26.7 seconds faster than his brother (also clear) who was only just ahead of Svendsen with the latter's one miss in the stand shoot! Andi Birnbacher went into second, only to be dislodged by compatriot Simon Schempp, both of whom had also shot 10/10. Dominik Landertinger (0,0) moved into 4th ahead of Jakov Fak (1,0) with Tarjei Bø in 6th. However, there were still big names to come; OEB spoilt his day by missing 2 in the prone and a further 1 in the stand but Martin Fourcade cleared all 10 - not sure what happened then but the speed obviously wasn't there and he didn't change the top 6 order, coming in 7th. Brother Simon, the last starter, also shot clear but ended 30th! Great win for JoBø and nice to see 2 Germans on the podium!

Women’s relay: Snags logging in, so joined at S1 – all very close with several teams clear and needing no spare rounds; poor Finland used all 3 spares and ended up with a penalty loop! Bit tighter on S2 (Finland on the penalty loop again!) and at the first exchange Dorothea Wierer (Ita) hands over in the lead from Belarus, Slovenia, Sweden and Ukraine – favourites France & Germany in 10/11 but arguably they have the stronger team members later; good effort by Kummer though. At S3 Sweden lead out from Italy and the Czech Republic (Soukalova); Estonia have a disaster and do multiple loops! Soukalova fast on the leg to S4 but needs spares – Russia best and Podchufarova leads out – Italy had a bad shoot (loop) and Hildebrand needed 3 spares too, so out of the range, France 2nd from Sweden, Czechs and Germany; Solemdal (Nor) ends up on the penalty loop! Into the next change Soukalova is making up ground but the Russians have over 20 seconds in hand. On to leg 3, Russia (Shumilova) 25 seconds ahead of the chase group – Fra/Cze/Ger (Braisaz/Landova/Hinz). Next prone (S5) and Russia clear but so is Hinz – out Rus/Ger/Cze/Can/Swe – poor Braisaz (Fra) on the penalty loop. Gaps vary slightly on the next lap and into S6 – Shumilova needs a spare, but Hinz uses 2 as do the Czechs; Canada in trouble but avoid the loop – Italy gaining with a clean shoot – out Rus/Ger/Cze/Slo/Pol. At the final change Glazyrina (Rus) has 19 seconds lead over Preuss (Ger) with Poland (Hojnisz) up to 3rd then Cze (Vitkova)/Slo (Poje)/Blr and Belarus have Dasha on the last leg! Last prone – Russia in trouble as Preuss clears despite a fast round and leads out; Russia on the penalty loop! Vitkova 2nd, Dasha 3rd under 40 seconds back – exciting stuff! Last 5 targets to go and Dasha is closing – Preuss needs 1 spare; but so do Dasha and Vitkova – Preuss out nearly half a minute up on the chasers; Ger/Cze/Blr/Pol/Ita – what can Dasha do on the final lap? Preuss takes the win for Germany with Dasha winning the sprint for 2nd from Vitkova. Italy 4th from Norway and Poland – brilliant stuff from the German team!

Men’s Relay: Looking back at the statistics from the women’s race, seems Eckhoff was fastest skier on 2 of her 3 laps! Wonderful effort, to salvage some national pride. Snags with the men’s relay though as Eurosport is showing the cross country! Over to the IBU video stream (until Eurosport join the action), which sadly doesn’t have commentary. All very close at the first split, with Simon Fourcade just ahead of JoBø – first shoot and Swe/Rus/Ita & Fra are among those clear – Erik Lesser doesn’t have the best start for Germany needing 3 spares - out Swe (Arwidson)/Ita (Hofer)/Fra with JoBø pulling back the time he lost using 1 spare and Russia also well up. Into the first standing shoot with Bø and Fourcade pulling away from the pack a little – Fourcade faster and clear on the range giving him a very slight edge on Bø who is also clear; Ukraine up into third at this stage; Slovakia, Belarus and Romania already on the penalty loop. Coming to the first change Bø seems to have engaged the afterburners, giving Svendsen an 11 second lead over Ukraine (Pryma), France (Beatrix) and Russia (Lapshin). Predictably I suppose the Eurosport coverage of the XC has over-run a bit!! Andi Birnbacher is making up ground but will that affect his shooting? EHS is in to S3; Beatrix goes clear but the rest of the lead pack need spares out - Rus/Fra/Nor/Aut (Eder), Andi B 5th despite needing 2 spare rounds; Eurosport are back ready for S4 – leading 4 all close. EHS and Lapshin clear and away; Eder needing 2 spares (both misses high left) lets Beatrix into third, Andi B 5th with Green up in 6th for Canada. Next changeover – OEB has pulled out with a possible cold so Birkeland takes leg 3 for Norway; he’s away almost dead level with Desthieux; then Russia (Malyshko), Aut (Eberhard) and Ger (Böhm). Fra and Rus clear at S5, with Ger & Aut but Norway need 2 spares, although Birkeland stays 3rd. Sweden seem to be having a bad day on the range, joining those who have done a penalty loop. S6 now and Malyshko clear; Birkeland needs 3 spares, doing well to avoid the penalty – now 19 seconds back from Russia with France & Germany much closer to him. Good position for Shipulin to take over, but of course Russia have been here before today!! Maybe a bit odd to put Tarjei Bø on the final leg for Norway – he doesn’t seem to be on best form? Austria and Germany having a real scrap as they go to the last exchange, with Landertinger and Schempp waiting; out Rus/Fra (Martin Fourcade)/Nor/Aut/Ger! Martin F flying, and he and Bø are closing on Shipulin; Ger/Aut are about half a minute back from the leaders; into S7 Rus/Nor clear, MF needs 1 spare, Aut/Ger both clear but Landertinger faster on the range – Shipulin’s rounds looked very much on the target; great shooting! One shoot remaining – Fourcade not closing on the next lap and I can’t really see Ger/Aut getting a podium here unless someone melts down. Great shooting again from Shipulin, but Bø’s efforts on the tracks haven’t helped his shooting – 3 spares and lucky not to get a penalty loop; Fourcade goes clear and leapfrogs him with Aut/Ger still neck and neck as both need one spare. Will they really fight hard for 4th given the pursuit tomorrow, when they are both well placed? Russia take the win, some consolation for them, ahead of France with Norway 3rd. Landertinger outsprints Schempp for 4th – good race. Long wait for 6th, which goes to Canada – good result for them. Looks as though Russia only needed one spare all race – superb shooting! Germany look to have been the fastest on the tracks but needed 9 spares.

Very exciting relay, with a very strong performance from the German team. Great to see Belarus on the podium. Fantastic last leg from Echoff, to make the Norwegian performance look somewhat respectable but not what they would have expected.

At the last change over I fancied the Russians for victory as Glazyrina is a good shot but not the fastest over the snow but she had a disaster on the range. That might be the last time she does the last leg.

In the early stages it was good to see many teams in the mix. I am very impressed with the Italians this season they have definitely stepped things up.

Interesting to note that in the first IBU cup race there was an Irish competitor, Colum O'Farrell, don't know anything about him but good to see us being represented

Women’s 10Km Pursuit:  Bit icy today! Kaisa will be away 10 seconds ahead of Oberhofer and 30 ahead of the very much in form Eckhoff! Except that the IBU are saying Tiril is a DNS, commentators don’t seem to have noticed? Braisaz also DNS – wonder if there’s a cold going round? Right – into S1; 1 miss for Oberhofer but Kaisa is clear, as is a very rapid Dasha, up to 4th as they leave the range – poor Kummer has 3 misses. Next shoot; Kaisa clear again, Dasha second in but misses 2, as does Franziska Hildebrand; back onto the snow and Kaisa has a 38.7 second lead over Preuss with Bescond about 20 seconds further back; Oberhofer in 4th despite a second miss.  On the lap Wierer is coming up; first standing shoot and Kaisa misses one (just as the commentator says “yet to miss”)! Preuss misses 2, lots of misses in the chasing pack although Ekaterina Glazyrina does clear! She leaves the range second, ahead of Bescond and Valj Semerenko; seems almost no time until they are in for the final shoot – Kaisa clear again (0,0,1,0). Glazyrina holds it together today (1,0,0,0) and Anais Bescond’s great shooting (0,0,1,0) gets her into third just ahead of Crawford (1,0,0,0) who has climbed up from 34th! First & second look certain but the final podium slot is the subject of a serious fight! Bescond manages to hold off Podchufarova with Crawford a very creditable 5th – must be the best “gain of the day” today surely? Preuss and Hildebrand get 7/8 respectively but Dasha will be disappointed with 13th after 5 penalties (0,2,1,2). Juliya Dzhyma shot 20/20 which got her into 9th after starting 18th; looks like she’s the only one to go completely clear. Looking at the stats, Dasha was the fastest on the snow ahead of Vitkova and Laukkanen; Kaisa obviously took it easy as she was only 16th!! Kaisa nicely placed at the top of the points scores after 3 wins here.

Men’s 12.5 Km Pursuit: Top 10 separated by only 34 seconds, so this should be a bit more of a race? OEB and Slesingr are both marked as DNS; I gather there is some bug going around. Quite a narrow track in places, but that’s not worrying JoBø who is off like a rocket; clean first shoot too! He must have eased off coming in to the range as he was only 8th fastest on that lap; fastest was Martin Fourcade who was clean too - very fast on track, shooting slowly though; JoBø about 20 seconds clear; his brother has missed one – top 5 still forming the top 5. The younger Bø is clear at S2 as well, but Andi Birnbacher misses 2; Fak & Schempp both clear, as is Martin Fourcade, but the lead is nearly 30 seconds now. Martin F is eating into that on the next lap – just behind Svendsen who has got into 2nd with his 10/10. Standing shoot now, and JoBø misses 2 as does Svendsen; out Fak, Fourcade, Schempp – all 15/15. Good run from Vladimir Iliev (Bul) so far – he’s also clear at this stage. Landertinger and Shipulin closing on JoBø – hard doing 3 races in such a short time! Last shoot – Fourcade clear again, Schempp clear too but Fak misses 1; Landertinger 2 and JoBø clears the last 5 to get out third! Away from the range in order MF/Schempp/Bø/Fak/Shipulin/T Bø. Last lap now; will Johannes be able to close the gap, while holding off Fak and Shipulin? So, a relatively easy win for Martin Fourcade (7th to 1st); very impressed by Simon Schempp getting 2nd; Jakov Fak only 6 seconds back from him, and that with a miss, gets the final podium place; JoBø is 4th ahead of Shipulin (11 to 5) and his brother Tarjei. Iliev ended 11th from 19 and what looks the biggest gain is from Quentin Fillon Maillet going from 45 to 15!

Women’s 7.5Km Sprint:  Clouding over after initial sun! Joined this a bit late – Preuss already with 3 misses (2,1) which is a pity! Kaisa has missed 2 in the prone, although her speed got her back into contention, but then she compounded her problems by missing 2 more in the standing shoot; lots of later starters clear in the prone so this is wide open. Tiril Eckhoff has missed 1 in prone, as has Dasha; could Vitkova or Wierer nick this one? Eckhoff misses a second in the stand, while Wierer misses her final target; Vitkova with 2 misses in the stand. Hauser is clear as is Podchufarova, shooting fast too! Dasha misses one in the stand too; can Valj Semerenko join the 10/10 team? Yes, she can but it looked a bit slow on the range – 8 seconds up as she leaves the range. At this stage Canada’s Rosanna Crawford (1,0) is leading but then Wierer (0,1) takes over, 18.4 faster than Crawford. Hauser in but despite her clean shoot she’s over 40 seconds back. Now Soukalová is in for her second shoot – clear again and she’s fast too – better than Semerenko as she leaves the range; speaking of Valj, she has lost time to Wierer on her final loop, and goes into 2nd. However, Gabriela Soukalová is flying round the last lap – given her shooting too, no surprise that she takes over the lead; Soukalová, Wierer and Valj Semerenko at present. Nice to see Laura Dahlmeier back but sadly she misses her 8th shot – Germans not having the best of days today; Hinz was clear but nearly 50 seconds slower than Soukalová; Hildebrand faster but 2 misses in the stand dropped her back – maybe Laura D will be the best of them today – not a bad comeback!!
Still on track Aita Gasparin (Swi), Justine Braisaz (Fra), and Hannah Dreissigacker (USA) are among those shooting 10/10, but don’t have the ski speed yet, although Justine might be the best of the French? Miri Gössner skiing a bit faster again on lap 1, but 3 misses in prone aren’t going to help her recovery; although her stand was better (3,1) she’s out of the pursuit again - wonder if she should move to the IBU races for a while? Conditions seem to be getting softer and slower, so I suspect Soukalová is looking safe?
That’s it – Soukalová is back with a comfortable win ahead of Wierer (very close if you “adjust” for Dorothea’s penalty lap) and Semerenko. Crawford just off the podium, but that’s another good result for Canada. Dasha 5th which gets a few points back from Kaisa in 15th. Looking at the statistics, Kaisa was fastest on track, almost half a minute up on Dasha with Soukalová third; Wierer, Kummer and Tomesova had the joint fastest shooting time, with Kummer just leading the “total range time” stakes. In the end Podchufarova (5th) was best Russian, Laura D was best German, in 9th, while Braisaz (14) pipped Latuilliere (20) for best of the French; good run from Suzuki (Jpn; 0,0) in 12th.

Men’s 10Km Sprint: What a surprise – the ski jumping was on so we missed the first shoot live! Eurosport eventually start coverage and they are going to cover the race from the start, so we haven’t missed anything - wish I hadn’t looked at the IBU site, but too late now! So, to detail - Rastorgujevs and Lapshin both missed 2 at S1, as did Weger and Klemen Bauer – probably too much to recover in the sprint? After S1 Shipulin is fast, as is Beatrix; Svendsen close to their times; JoBø also clear and now fastest after S1, with Fourcade (M) also in touch. Early starters are at S2 where Nathan Smith is the early pace setter despite 1 miss in prone; Shipulin takes that away – clean and fast. Svendsen also clear at S2; behind Shipulin but ahead of Schempp (0,0), but JoBø misses 2 and so does Beatrix. Landertinger (0,0) faster than Svendsen here too but Shipulin still looking very good! Fillon Maillet also 10/10, but not quite so fast as the leaders. Russians might be having a good day as Garanichev (0,0) is also well up; however the snow is a bit soft and the later starters might lose out a little? Very little wind though.

As athletes begin to finish Anton Shipulin (0,0) is the early leader; Martin Fourcade (0,1) in 2nd but the Frenchman is dislodged in short order by Svendsen (0,0) and then the clean shooting Dominik Landertinger goes 2nd – looks like Shipulin is almost as fast overall as Fourcade, and given they both shot 10/10 it’s perhaps odd that Shipulin is also 24.1 faster than Svendsen, although I believe the Norwegian is notoriously slow in early season – or is there more to it (lot of colds and bugs around)? Fourcade already off the podium here, and Landertinger will be happy to have gone faster than EHS! Interesting that Tarjei Bø shot 10/10 and he’s beaten younger brother again! Doesn’t look like any of the later starters are going to affect things. And in fact they don’t – Shipulin, Landertinger, Svendsen on the podium with Martin Fourcade 4th, just ahead of Garanichev and Simon Schempp (36 seconds behind Shipulin – both clear!). Should be an interesting pursuit!!

Women’s 10Km Pursuit:  Tricky descent on this course, so there may be falls; quite difficult for the wax technicians too. Add in the fact that this course isn’t exactly at sea level and it’s going to be a tough weekend – 3 races! No Tiril Eckhoff today as she isn’t getting any better and has gone – pity. OK – Soukalová is away; 18 seconds ahead of Wierer with Semerenko (Valj, as sister Vita is laid up with a back injury) and Crawford just behind. Four shoots today – conditions looking good? Grief, that downhill section and hard right turn looks nasty! Both Domracheva and Mäkäräinen are making up ground – into S1 and Soukalová misses her first 3 shots – Wierer and Semerenko shoot all 5 and fast too, Crawford misses 2 but Podchufarova, Dasha and Kaisa Mäkäräinen are clear – out of range DW/VS/Dasha! On the next loop Dasha takes the lead and Kaisa is up to 4th; commentator is saying that shooting well is important in biathlon; what we used to call a glimpse of the ,er, blindingly obvious! Into S2; Dasha clear again, as is Valj S but unusually Wierer misses 2 – too fast a pace? Out Dasha, Valj, Oberhofer, Hinz (all those 10/10), and Kaisa after 1 miss. Horn and Solemdal having a bad day on the range. Into S3 and Dasha is clear again and out before Valj starts; Valj misses 1, Oberhofer 2 – Kaisa clear here so it’s Dasha, Valj & Kaisa as they leave the range; Wierer still just about in touch and Suzuki still going well. Final shoot – Dasha misses the last shot! Kaisa clear, so is Valj and then Dot W – going to be a closer last lap! Dasha still has 23 seconds in hand, and I can’t see Valj worrying Kaisa but could Dot catch Valj? Kaisa pulls back 9 seconds by the first split, and Dot is only 3 back on Valj. Next split – Kaisa still closing, Wierer just ahead of Semerenko. Not enough space for a massive upset though – Domracheva (0,0,0,1) wins from Mäkäräinen (0,1,0,0; up from 15th); Valj (0,0,1,0) sprints back to get third from a tired Dorothea Wierer (0,2,0,0) – great effort from her after those 2 misses. Laura Dahlmeier (1,0,0,0) takes 5th from Skardino (20/20!!) who climbed up from 22. Great improvements too from Daria Virolaynen (Rus; 0,0,1,0) going from 35 to 9 and Megan Heinicke (Can; 20/20) from 41 to 14. Glazyrina was making up places but then missed 2 in each standing shoot; obvious loser was Soukalová (3,1,0,1) from 1st to 20th although Podchufarova probably won’t be too happy in 21st after starting 5th. Mäkäräinen faster than Dasha on the tracks today, with Vitkova third; Wierer just marginally slower than Tomesova for total range time but a bit more accurate! Good race!

Men’s 12.5 Km Pursuit: Early gain by Martin Fourcade on Svendsen (including a clash of poles!), and JoBø also going fast. At S1 Shipulin, Landertinger, Fourcade, and EHS go clear, as does JT Bø. On to S2 – Shipulin drops his 10th shot as does JoBø; out Shipulin, Landertinger. EHS, Fourcade, JoBø and Danni Böhm. Fourcade gaining time on the tracks but shooting relatively slowly. Beatrix looks like he’s gaining places well at this stage; coming in to S3 with the lead 3 quite close, about 10 seconds clear of Fourcade – EHS clear, Shipulin drops his last shot again, Fourcade also drops one – EHS leads away as JoBø misses 3; that seems to unsettle Böhm and Beatrix and the misses seem to ripple down the line! Tarjei also drops 3 and so does Maillet – looks like only Svendsen among the early starters has cleared all 15, which has given him a 20 seconds margin over Shipulin and over 40 on Fourcade, who seems to be losing time on the tracks. Svendsen in for his last shoot, and he’s fast and clear again – 20/20 and Shipulin hasn’t started yet; he goes clear as does Fourcade. Can’t see those places changing given the gaps, especially as they have a Mass Start tomorrow. Moravec, and Hofer lead the next group. So, Emil Hegle Svendsen wins (0,0,0,0) from Anton Shipulin (0,1,1,0) and Martin Fourcade (0,0,1,0); think that might have got EHS back in yellow? Then Landertinger, Moravec (up from 18) and the great improver – Timofey Lapshin (0,0,1,0) in 6 from 45! Weger fastest on the tracks today, with Fourcade only 35th – I wonder if 9 races in 21 days have wiped off some of his normal speed? Simon Eder fastest on the range, but with a total of 6 misses! France, Norway and Russia both with 2 in the top 10; best German Johannes Kühn (0,0,0,0) in 13 after starting 37th!

Women’s 12.5 Km Mass Start:  Just the 30 top ranked start, nice to see that includes Fuyuko Suzuki and Laura Dahlmeier! New format for the grid start, seems to be OK – final race before Christmas is away; quite an intense series so far, so they must be tired by now! As we might expect Kaisa Mäkäräinen and Darya Domracheva are leading the pack; Vitkova staying with them – quite crowded on those trails a little further back – wonder how many broken poles we’ll have? Into S1; Wierer looks fast on the range, and clear too, Mäkäräinen also clear but shooting more slowly but Dasha has missed one – out Wierer, Valj S and Vitkova, Kaisa 4th. Very odd entry to the penalty loop where it crosses with the range exit and there’s been a crash here this time – looks like it might have resulted in Dasha falling quite heavily? Not only might that damage her, but there could be rifle snags too; she’s 13th about 30 seconds back. Mäkäräinen is flying round lap 2, she’s closed and overtaken what were the leading 3 – some sections of the loop look tricky; on to S2 and Mäkäräinen is clear again, so is Valj but Wierer has missed 1; Soukalová 10/10; Dasha having problems getting her shots away (snow in the sights and a missing magazine?) and misses 4.  That looks like her day ruined, and sadly she’s retired from today’s race. Kaisa in the lead from Valj and Vanessa Hinz, all having shot 10/10; where is Soukalová? Kaisa pulling away again, Valj, Skardino and Hinz in touch – Bescond and Soukalová well up. Now S3 – Kaisa misses 2, Valj 1 – Hinz clear, as are Skardino, Bescond and Soukalová!!  Out Bescond, Soukalová, Hinz, Skardino; one shoot to go. Kaisa again making up time on the loop – all the athletes must be really hurting now, and I wonder how many misses we will see next?  Final shoot – Bescond clear, Hinz drops 2 (what a pity, great race so far), Skardino clear as is Kaisa; out Bescond, Soukalová, Skardino, Kaisa – only 18 seconds from the Frenchwoman! Bescond, Skardino and Soukalová have all shot 20/20 and it looks like they are the only ones – poor Gregorin has missed 6! Last lap – Kaisa is going even faster and is back into the lead – awesome! At the finish, Kaisa Mäkäräinen (0,0,2,0) wins from Anais Bescond (Fra) and Nadezhda Skardino (some good news for Belarus), Soukalová in 4th ahead of Valj S and Dorothea Wierer. Good grouping from the Germans taking 7, 8, 9 and 11 (in order Hildebrand, Preuss, Dahlmeier and Hinz). Good race, but very bad luck for Dasha. No real surprise that Kaisa was fastest on the tracks, but Wierer, Skardino and Oberhofer all going well, and Wierer also very fast in shooting - surely can't be too long before she wins a race?

Men’s 15 Km Mass Start: Slightly slow start (relatively speaking – much faster than I’ve ever managed on skating skis I expect) so the pack are still quite bunched; nice to see Nathan Smith here today; who was that on only 1 ski, looks like a broken binding?? (Timofey Lapshin, I think) OK – in to S1; Fourcade, Shipulin and Landertinger plus Schempp all clear among others, EHS has missed 1, and JoBø 2 although his brother is clear. Erik Lesser has missed 4 – did he have a fall like Dasha? S2 – Fourcade a bit slower and out Landertinger, Shipulin Eder, Fourcade – Beatrix and Lindström also well up; EHS has missed 2 and JoBø, having skied the lap flat out to make up time, has missed 2 more – Schempp has missed 3 which is unusual. Seems Lesser did have a fall, with Lapshin (?), and might have damaged his rifle as he’s missed another 3 at S2; won’t be surprised if he retires (he didn't, but ended up with 9 misses!). First standing shoot – Fourcade clear (slow final shot), Shipulin and Beatrix also clear, Eder misses 1 and Landertinger 2. Out Fourcade, Beatrix, Shipulin with Lindström up to 4th about 18 seconds back. Anev also looking good as he too has shot 15/15. French seem to be drinking a lot today; both Shipulin and Fourcade seem to be taking this lap quite gently as they head in to the final shoot; Fourcade misses his first! Shipulin and Beatrix also miss 1 but Eder and Lindström clear – out for the final lap; Eder, MF, Lindström, Beatrix and Shipulin – only 8 seconds from first to last of that group! This is a better finish – 5 athletes all in a bunch – Beatrix breaks, Fourcade with him and so is Shipulin – great cornering on that nasty turn – Beatrix falls and breaks a pole, Fourcade avoids him somehow – Shipulin sprints through inside to win from Martin Fourcade and Simon Eder. Fredrik Lindström is 4th after shooting 20/20 with poor Beatrix recovering to get 5th. Good to see Nathan Smith in 9th despite 2 misses; EHS down in 17 after 4 misses, JoBø in 23 after 7 misses (2,2,0,3), although he did record the fastest course time! Simon Eder fastest on the range and accurate too with only 1 miss. Best Norwegian was Tarjei Bø in 6th, and best German Andi Birnbacher in 10 with 2 misses. So, that’s it for a while – I think the next biathlon event on Eurosport is the International Team Challenge on 27 December!

International Team Challenge: What a surprise – the ski jumping has over-run and coverage of the biathlon is delayed! When we do join it’s a repeat of the final lap of the Mass Start? Interesting though, as that was Shipulin’s controversial win! Don’t seem to have missed anything; the first sprint event (10 laps) starts with a tiny dash to the range followed by 5 prone – Chevalier and Dahlmeier are leading as they start the outside loop, Hildebrand having snags getting her rifle back on. Back inside and another prone shoot for the women; Dahlmeier goes clear and hands over to Florian Graf in the lead. Soukalová is second as she hands over to Moravec. Graf in for his first shoot – misses his 5th, but Moravec and Semenov seem to have missed 2 each – another change and the two German teams lead (Dahlmeier/Graf & Hildebrand/Lesser) from Chevalier/Fourcade; on to the first standing shoot for the women – brilliant shooting by Chevalier to get clear; Italy (Wierer/Hofer) up to 2nd as they swap again. First stand for the men – Martin Fourcade starting to pull away; he clears all 5 before Hofer has started! The Czechs are back to 2nd and Ukraine 3rd. Chevalier comes in for her 3rd prone (women do one extra at the start); she misses her first and then 2 more – costs them 35 seconds (it's a rather short penalty loop - about 10 seconds a go)! Semerenko takes the lead with Hildebrand/Lesser up to 2nd – men heading for their next prone; I’ve lost track of the number of laps!! Semenov and Lesser are in – Erik L is fast and clear, great shooting; the Germans are 1 & 2 again with Italy 3rd – final standing shoot for the women and right on cue my browser crashes. When I get something back the Italians are 2nd splitting the 2 German teams; FH/EL are the lead team. Final stand for the men and Erik misses 3! Lukas Hofer clears while Fourcade also has 3 penalties; Italy (Wierer/Hofer) win this stage with the “other” German team of Dahlmeier/Graf in 2nd and Lesser/Hildebrand just ahead of the Czechs in 3rd. Now for the pursuit!

OK – here we go, part two where, as I understand, the teams run a cross between the format of the first part and a pursuit , starting at half the intervals at the end of part 1?; already Wierer is coming in for her prone – her 2nd is wide (they looked generally low); Hildebrand, Dahlmeier and Soukalová clear. Men take over; in for their first prone; good from Lesser but Graf drops 2, which drops them to 8 at the next change. Lead is changing a lot and there are 7 laps to go! Surface seems to be a bit poor, and it’s all almost flat, so although there are no real hills, there’s also no chance to recover! Oh dear – Horn has forgotten her rifle at the changeover; her partner (Birkeland) doesn’t look amused! Close stuff – I’ll leave detail until the final laps! Romanova’s shooting gets Russia back in it; Erik Lesser also shooting well here but Garanichev is wasting his partners’ good work on the range despite his fast loop. Poor Laura Dahlmeier lets the pressure get to her (4 misses); Soukalová has a minor fall – mistakes creeping in as the event progresses; almost over now with Ukraine leading. Last standing shoot – Semenov clear, but others all miss at least one; can Erik catch Semenov on the last lap while holding off Moravec? Valj Semerenko seems to think so; looks very happy! Garanichev is closing in on the podium too after better shooting; great win for Ukraine (Semerenko/Semenov); Hildebrand/Lesser get 2nd and the Russians do get third.

Oberhof - Women’s 4 x 6 Km relay:  Well, who to pick for the win – maybe the Czechs, Belarus, Ukraine (albeit without Vita S) or the very young German team – Luise Kummer, Vanessa Hinz, Karolin Horchler, Franziska Preuss? French have Dorin-Habert back in the team; Norwegians were a bit erratic last time, but Eckhoff is back. Italy might surprise us all? This is a tough course though with some nasty corners and a bit of altitude thrown in; some nice new snow though, which will be a change. OK, here we go – early stages Belarus (Skardino) from Italy (Wierer; wonder if she should have gone 4th?); Laukkan (Fin) also looking good. Shoot 1 – Kummer missing and on the penalty loop, not the start this new team wanted! Out – Italy (Wierer),  Canada (Megan Heinike) and Belarus (Skardino). Some good shooting there; on to the first standing shoot – a steady pace in to the range; Wierer and Skardino clear; out Italy, Canada and Glazyrina (Rus); Kummer clears all 5 in a fast time; way to come back! First change and Russia are making ground on the way to the handover Olsbu (Nor) has taken a fall here. Italy (Vittozzi), Russia (Nechkasova) and Finland (Markannen) lead out on leg 2. Soukalová is taking this leg for the Czech Republic! In to S3 and Belarus (Dubarezava) and Soukalová have made ground on this lap – Belarus, Ukraine (Valj Semerenko) and Canada (Ransom) all clear without spares; some impressive snow plough action on that nasty right turn on the next lap! As they come into S4 there’s a group of 5 leading the race; Belarus having a nightmare here; Poland, Ukraine and France clear – out Semerenko, Soukalová (with a broken pole), Dorin-Habert. Next leg; Ukraine (Abramova) lead out and Justine Braisaz is going for France almost level with them; good individually but how will she do in this relay – last time was a bit of an epic? Landova (Cze) currently in 3rd; really nice turn on that nasty corner by Braisaz. Germany are not having a good day – over 2 minutes behind at present; leaders have just lapped Korea; in to S5 – both Ukraine and France need spares; 1 for Justine (slow to settle), but Abramova needs 3. Even with the spares, out Ukr/Cze/Fra; Poland and Italy missing a lot but Russia and Belarus still in it. That snow is starting to look deep and a bit soft, maybe a bit wetter and just to add to the fun it’s getting misty. S6 now – more spares and Russia (Virolaynen) losing all that they made up  - 2 penalty loops; out Abramova, Landova Braisaz; Solemdal up to 4th and Mäkäräinen in 5th. Poor Belarus also have a penalty loop; shame after a good effort; didn’t see what happened to Canada a while ago  but again their promising start came to nothing after 2 penalty loops. Mäkäräinen has passed Solemdal, but as Norway have Tiril Eckhoff on the last leg I can’t see Finland holding that place. Last leg – Vitkova (Cze) versus Varvynets (Ukr) and Bescond (Fra) at the front; how much can Eckhoff pull back (?) – she’s passed the Finn already as the latter falls. Final prone shoot – out Cze/Fra/Ukr; Eckhoff has closed a little despite needing a spare, with Italy (Oberhofer) in 5th. Tiril is flying on this lap – up to third coming in to S8; poor Germany are over 3 minutes back now! Both the leaders needing spares; Vitkova leads out fractionally ahead of Bescond; Tiril needs beaucoup spares and ends up on the penalty loop; Ukraine get back into 3rd. Good fight for the line, but looks as though Vitkova might have the edge; Bescond starting to tire? At the finish Vitkova wins for the Czech Republic (7 spares), from France (8 spares) and, amazingly (except Dasha had the last leg) Belarus (8 spares and a penalty loop!!). Brilliant stuff from Domracheva to get Belarus onto the podium! Norway 4, Italy 5 and Ukraine 6. Germany will need to analyse today’s results – 1 penalty loop and 9 spares to end 10th; contrast Belarus with only 1 spare less needed, but nearly 2.5 minutes faster. Great work by the Czechs.

Oberhof - Men’s 4 x 7.5 Km relay: Thought I’d barely made it home in time, rushed to turn everything on, to find that Eurosport seemed to have stayed with the Tour de Ski, and then discovered that it didn’t matter because the biathlon start time seemed to have changed! Several “stars” missing today as they are ill or resting, including Martin Fourcade and EHS – going to be hard to call today, although Russia look strong! Interesting to get a head-cam view of the course – gives a better feel for how steep some of the climbs are! Misty today and maybe a bit windy? Nasty falls for the Czechs (Michal Krcmar), Slovakians and Kevin Kane on lap 1; S1 underway and the wind is causing snags; out from the range in order Lesser (Ger), Christiansen (Nor) and Pidruchnyi (? spelling, Ukr); at least 4 countries on the penalty loop including Krcmar who seems to have rifle problems after his fall. In for S2 – more misses, but Garanichev (Rus) is clear after only 1 spare and out in the lead ahead of Rastorgujevs (Lat) and Simon Fourcade; Erik Lesser on the penalty loop! First change coming up and the mist is thickening! Some of those corners look awful – no wonder there have been a number of falls. Russia (Lapshin) leads off on leg 2 just ahead of France (Beatrix) and Latvia (Lusa); I think some teams may have retired? Great recovery from Lapshin – that must be as close as you can get to falling without actually going over!! You can hardly see the athletes through the clag at some points, but hopefully the wind will keep it at bay in the range so the race can continue. S3 – 2 spares for Lapshin, 1 for Beatrix, but Os (Nor) needs none; good shooting! Out Rus/Fra/Nor, then Italy (Bormolini) and Germany (Böhm). Time for the next stand – Beatrix & Lapshin both miss the 5th and Norway also needs 1 spare; out Rus/Fra, small gap to Norway and Böhm gets up to 4th, but a while back – Sui & Italy among those doing more loops, Canada up to 5th! Second handover – Malyshko and Desthieux away from JoBø about 9 seconds back; how reliable will he be today? Arnd Peiffer goes for Germany, but again, how is his form? At the next split JT Bø has already closed down the 2 leaders and seems content now to tuck in; nasty fall for the Canadian. S5 – Bø blindingly fast and accurate, France 2 spares, Russia 3. So JT leads out 17.7 ahead of Desthieux, Malyshko 3rd another 10 seconds back. Peiffer clear and a minute back in 4th, Dolder (Sui) in 5th despite their penalty loop last lap. Estonia, Italy and Kazakhstan on the loop – wind seems to have eased since they zeroed? Bø is already in for his standing shoot – not going well; he’s on the loop but so are Russia and France; Arnd Peiffer needs 3 spares but keeps off the loop – Bø leads out from Malyshko and Desthieux but Arnd could be within podium range. Final change and Bjørndalen will be going for Norway, with 57 seconds advantage. Peiffer has closed the gap nicely and hands over to Schempp in second, just ahead of Shipulin and Fillon Maillet. Let’s hope the fog holds off – into S7; OEB needs just 1 spare, Shipulin none – very nice, Schempp 1 and F-M 1; gap from OEB to Shipulin down to 36, Schempp lost a bit of time feeding his spare; Swiss heading for the loop again and some poor chap is getting lost in the fog! Lost Eurosport on my desktop so missed OEB having problems on S8, Shipulin now only 9.4 back as they leave the range – Fillon Maillet does better than poor Schempp who has one loop to do; goodbye podium! Now can Shipulin catch OEB? Very close on the next hill – into the stadium and there goes Anton Shipulin to take the win; Norway second, France third – another disappointing day for the Germans, although on the plus side Arnd Peiffer looked on better form.

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint:  First news – Tina Bachmann seems to be in the starters today, nice to see her back!  The weather looks rather nasty again – bit warm, overcast and with gusty wind; might get worse if some forecasts are to be believed (so is it better to start early? Yesterday the tracks possibly got faster later?) – maybe you need a bit of luck today, even more so than usual! Looking at the early split times, Latuilliere (Fra) is fast; nasty fall from Glazyrina (lucky she’s so flexible) but think she kept the rifle safe – Teja Gregorin is already at her first shoot and she clears all 5 – very impressive! Abramova, who I thought looked useful at times in the relay, has missed all 5 in her first shoot. Looking at the first split time again, Mäkäräinen is about 6 seconds slower than Domracheva – very early to draw any conclusions. After S1 Gontier (Ita) is clear and leading at present; Dunklee (USA) fast but has 2 misses; wind gets up as Dasha settles – she takes ages to get set up and misses 3. There really is a strong cross wind on the range; Hinz and Preuß miss 1 each; Kaisa Mäkäräinen has dropped 2; Weronika N-Z (Pol) has cleared all her standing shots so it can be done – Eckhoff hit her first prone target and then started adjusting the sights, odd but not too bad as she only missed 1. Gontier has cleared all 10, and her team mate, Oberhofer, is fastest after S1!! Bescond not so lucky (or good?) – 3 misses in prone. Preuß has shot all 5 in standing – and fast too on the range; Wierer 9/10 as she leaves the range; Vanessa Hinz is also 9/10 – Kaisa skiing fast but she misses another 2 targets; Soukalová has 8/10 but is skiing well today. Karen Oberhofer has missed 2 in the stand – pity after such a good start. Skardino doing well – 9/10 and doing well to achieve that after missing the first in the stand (despite the commentators predicting a problem!). Luise Kummer has laid a few demons from the relay to rest by clearing all her prone shots; Pisareva (Blr) and Dreissigacker (USA) also useful after S1 but lost ground later. Wind has apparently died down a bit (or not, as the case may be – seems very variable); Burdyga (Ukr) joins a very small list of 10/10 shooters but maybe a little slow? Pisareva rather unlucky with the wind and misses 3 on her stand. Meanwhile Vitkova (Cze; 1,1) has taken the lead for the moment, ahead of Wierer (Ita; 1,0) and Gontier (Ita; 0,0). Domracheva and Mäkäräinen losing position all the time – Soukalová will be getting a useful points boost today. Watching some good athletes struggling up that new section hill, you get an idea of how steep it is! I’d like to know how fast Nechkasova (Rus) is skiing as she’s cleared all 5 at S1; very windy for her second shoot – 3 misses spoil a possible upset! Yet more falls today – nasty one from Julia Ransom but she does seem OK despite retiring. Live coverage has now stopped; looking at the total number of misses among those yet to finish I can’t really see any upsets coming. So, a very impressive win for  Veronika Vitkova ahead of Dorothea Wierer and Nicole Gontier – good day for Italy with 2 on the podium. Delighted to see Preuß in 4th just 2.3 seconds behind Gontier despite 1 miss. Slightly better day for Germany with Hinz in 7th, although sadly Tina Bachmann hasn’t had a particularly good comeback (but she did beat Horchler, and with one more penalty too). Domracheva was fastest round the course, ahead of Vitkova and Mäkäräinen; interesting that Vitkova was faster than Soukalová (who ended up 6th). Dasha was 18th and Kaisa 20th. Only 2 shot 10/10 - Gontier & Burdyga (10th); highest number of penalty loops was 8! Just seen on another forum that in the Men’s relay one of the Swedes used 4 spares (max 3) on a station and the team was DQd.

Men’s 10 Km Sprint: Another event affected by the weather, in this case delaying the start by 2.5 hours after rain and wind! Luckily we do get a race; Bjørndalen away early as are many other big names including Garanichev, Schempp, Bauer and Windisch – Fourcade starts number 27, Shipulin 29. That nasty corner isn’t looking any better! Early starters are at S1; it’s windy again and 2 loops seems to be the norm so far! OEB is the first to go clear but the average stays at 2 loops as Tsvetkov misses 4; not for long though as Lowell Bailey is also clear and Smith and Bauer only miss 1 each. Mesotitsch also clear, as is Chepelin (Blr); JoBø is clear – first 4 fast, last one a little slower as he has to hand feed a round, but he’s still faster than OEB. Soukup has a nasty fall; so far all the Germans have had 2 misses. Martin Fourcade shoots quite slowly but misses his 5th shot. Shipulin has missed 2, and so have Moravec and Beatrix.  Early starters are now at S2, and doing much better in the standing shoot, but Garanichev has a nightmare; OEB has missed 1 here. Bailey also not having a good time, missing 3, as does Nathan Smith. Erik Lesser seems to be the first German to go clear at S1; JoBø now at S2, and he misses 2 – going to be interesting, as OEB has now finished and is currently in the lead. Meanwhile Artem Tyschenko (Ukr) has shot 10/10, the first to do so, but took a while doing it – he ends 38 seconds behind OEB. Martin Fourcade clear at S2, about 7.9 seconds back on OEB’s time there. The intervals fluctuate on the final lap, but in the end Martin is 4.4 seconds ahead at the finish to deny Bjørndalen his 95th win. Erik Lesser was a little unlucky with the wind for his stand, but did well to only miss 1. At S1, apparently a Belgian is second fastest – it’s Michael Rösch! Timofey Lapshin (Rus; 0,1) is a threat to Fourcade, but missing that one in the stand is going to make things harder for him; he can’t pull the time back and goes third at the moment. Meanwhile Germany isn’t having a good day – Arnd Peiffer has missed 4 in his stand, to the vocal disappointment of the crowd! Now, what has Rösch done – missed 1 in the stand, but there are 2 targets standing; he’s doing 2 loops but seems from the graphic to have only shot 4 rounds? Possibly a graphics error as he’s shown as finishing (0,2). Great recovery by Jouty (?) from what could have been a nasty fall, but he’s broken a ski. Looking down the results sheet there seems no threat to the podium places, so that’s another win for Martin Fourcade, OEB second and Timofey Lapshin third; best Germans seem to be Benedikt Doll (1,1) in a respectable 8th, Andi Birnbacher (2,1) in 20th, then Erik Lesser (0,1) in 26th, although those placings could still slip as the later starters come in. Nice to see Andrejs Rastorgujevs (2,1) in 6th despite those 3 penalty loops and Lessing of Estonia in 7th. Fastest man round the course was Rastorgujevs, even faster than JoBø, with Simon Eder fastest on the range. Not many perfect shooting scores, I count only 3.

Meanwhile in the IBU cup events, my favourite female biathlete, Miri Gössner, has won!! More details at IBU site

What a busy day – men’s slalom from Adelboden, women’s Super G from Bad Kleinkirchheim, men’s & women’s final freestyle up the Alpe Cermis to end the tour de ski and two mass starts from Oberhof in the biathlon programme! What to watch?? What might the weather affect?

Women’s 12.5 Km Mass Start: Back to sub zero temperatures, less wind and looks like a tiny bit of snow! Soukalová nearly late for the start, and I don’t think she was in the right place? At the first timing split Dasha is leading from Mäkäräinen; bit of a bunch early but it’s strung out a bit more by the “nasty corner” (Frankfürterkreuz?) as the followers snowplough down the hill; and we’re in to S1. Dasha first to shoot, and also first to miss! Wierer is clear and, as usual, fast – Dasha and Kaisa miss 2 each; Bescond, Hildebrand, Glazyrina, Horn, Soukalová and Preuß are among those clear, Wierer leading out from Bescond and Glazyrina. Still a very close race – a large number in the leading group; Wierer has set a slow pace which has let Mäkäräinen close back up; on to prone 2 and conditions might be trickier? Wierer and Semerenko clear, so is Kaisa; out in order Semerenko, Wierer, Weronika N-Z; Kaisa 7th, Dasha has 1 more loop, Horn seems to have missed all 5! It’s now snowing more heavily and the visibility has suffered a little too (wind getting up too?) – Kaisa making up time again and by the second split she’s second (poor photographers look cold and wet crouched by the side of the tracks!) So far Wierer, Glazyrina and Preuß are among those who are 10/10; on to the first standing shoot – first miss for Wierer; Vitková clear as is Dasha; changes coming and out of the range Gereková (15/15), Vitková, Dasha, Preuß. Next lap Kaisa is hunting down Preuß; Dasha leads with Vitková also looking good and Gereková still there – if she works too hard to stay with them though, will she suffer on the final shoot? The wind has really got back up again; S4 and Vitková and Dasha miss 1 each; Preuß misses 2 but Gereková clears them all – 20/20 and she leads out from Vitková and Dasha – who is about 18 seconds back. Tiril Eckhoff has cleared all 10 in the stand and is also in the mix; Dasha is already past Jana Gereková and into the lead; Vitková takes a little longer but now she’s past too. Can Tiril get on the podium; she seems to be holding off Kaisa; yes, she’s past – very bad luck for Jana G after such great shooting! Domracheva (2,1,0,1) gets the win – delighted for her – Vitková (1,0,0,1) rounds off a great weekend with second and Eckhoff (1,1,0,0) holds off Mäkäräinen (2,0,1,1) to get third; so Kaisa 4th Jana G (20/20) 5th and Preuß (0,0,1,2) 6th. Dasha fastest around the course, just over 10 seconds better than Kaisa; Gereková best on range time despite being so accurate – good news for Slovakia. Only Gereková and Hauser shot the perfect score.

Men’s 15 Km Mass Start: With the problems of keeping the tracks in condition, it might be that the committee get the men to run two 2.5 Km loops before the first shoot which will change the character of the event; let’s see. It doesn’t seem to be live on Eurosport, but is in the schedule for later; however I think some ski-jumping is off (more weather input!) so we are going live after all. This race is running, so all the biathlon programme has survived; visibility looks better than earlier but it’s still windy; Svendsen is back today after sitting out the rest of the weekend with a cold. There is a faller already, but going into the bad corner – catching an edge? They are going to do an initial 5 Km before the first prone shoot, then 2.5 Km between each remaining shoot and so to the finish. Still seems to be some grit and a few twigs on the track; pace has slowed a little? They’ve all remembered that they don’t stop at the range this time! Erik Lesser has also fallen on “that” corner as they continue on lap 2; leading group quite well bunched still. Coming in now for S1 – lots of red flashes on the IBU graphic as people miss but EHS is clear, so are Fourcade (both of them), Bjørndalen, Fak and Eder among others; out OEB, Eder, MF, EHS, Rastorgujevs and Fak. JoBø has missed 2 and he’s not alone on the loops; poor Weger has missed 4. Still less than 14 seconds between 1st and 10th on the next lap; more falls but luckily no multiple pile up. In for the second prone shoot – EHS clear again with Fak, Eder, MF and Slesingr; out in order – MF/Fak/OEB/ EHS/Eder/Slesingr; Beatrix has missed 3 this time and Andi Birnbacher 2; to add insult to injury he falls on the next lap. Martin Fourcade has put in a burst of speed to get himself some space for the corner. First standing shoot – MF clear but Svendsen misses 3, maybe still not well, although the weather has worsened as MF finishes? Out MF/Malyshko/Lesser/Doll/Slesingr. JT Bø’s woes on the range continue – so far 2,1,3! Just one shoot to go – Doll losing ground on the lap. MF clears his first 3 quickly, then a long pause until he clears the final 2 after a massive gust comes across. Lesser misses 3, and he’s not alone in having problems, none of the leading group are clear here Fourcade is away with a comfortable lead over Shipulin and Malyshko; Anev (Bul) up to 4th. Martin F looks to be the only one to shoot 20/20 in this race; Garanichev has missed 8, and Lowell Bailey 10. Very impressive win for Martin Fourcade (5th win of the season) with perfect shooting. Great skiing by Anton Shipulin (1,1,1,1) to get 2nd after those penalty loops with Dmitry Malyshko just holding off Krasimir Anev to take the final podium place. Doll (0,1,0,2) best German in 8th – no Norwegians in the top 10; best was JT Bø who was 14th despite 7 penalty loops! No surprise that Shipulin was fastest over the course, fractionally better than Garanichev and Schempp. Simon Eder fastest on the range, ending in 11th place.

Women’s 4 x 6 Km relay, Ruhpolding: What awful weather! Quite warm, relatively speaking, with rain and sleet, looking as though it’s becoming more snowy; difficult waxing?! Lead leg are jogging out to the start; max climb 18 metres today – maybe the slow conditions will reduce the number of falls there??  Shooting supposed to be easier at this venue than it was last weekend at Oberhof, with a reasonable run in to the range. Franziska Preuß will be taking the first leg for Germany; at the first split it’s Laukkannen (Fin; incidentally Mäkäräinen isn’t racing today!) leading but all very close at this early stage. In for S1, quite a slow loop, and despite the comment about easier shooting Russia, France, Norway and Sweden need 3 spares each; unusually Wierer ends up with 2 penalty loops – Puskarcikova (Cze) leads Heinike (Can) and Preuß out of the range. Seems to be a group of 5 at the front on the next lap – still quite a slow pace though. On to the standing shoot – Preuß having cleared 4 quickly has trouble with her last target; uses all her spares and ends on the loop. Out Puskarcikova (10/10), Heinike (1 spare) & Hojnisz (Pol); Germany have dropped to 13th; hopefully Franziska can pull a bit back? Handover 1 – Soukalová out in the lead, Ransom (Can) second about 20 seconds back just ahead of Gwizdon (Pol). Not the sort of day most of us would choose for a x-country ski! Hildebrand has pulled Germany up to 4th from the 8th she inherited, so good work by Preuß too (on the lap, anyway – fastest on this leg), but only just ahead of Norway. In for S3 – almost no wind; Soukalová needs 1 spare. Ransom clear, so are Germany and Norway; out Soukalová, Ransom, Hildebrand, Horn (Nor), Kryuko (Blr), Gwizdon. France and Italy not having a good day at present! Next lap Soukalová seems to have upped the pace, opening the gap to the chasing group of Canada and Germany; Ransom has the snow cover off her sight, so she’ll need to clear that (hopefully before loading!!). S4 – Soukalová misses her first and needs 2 spares; Hildebrand slow to feed spares with wet, cold gloves, needs 2; Ransom having problems too, as is Horn. Out now in order Soukalová, Hildebrand (nearly a minute back), Kryuko, Burdyga (Ukr), Horn, Ransom. Maybe the slow snow is sapping them pre-range, because some of the shooting isn’t good? Next handover and Landová (Cze) takes over a good lead; Vanessa Hinz 1.07 behind with Abramova taking over for Ukraine about 20 seconds further back. Pisareva (Blr) and Ringen (Nor) next.  S5 – Landová needs all 3 spares, Hinz clears, as does Abramova – so out Landová, about 30 seconds ahead of Hinz with Abramova another 22 back. Amazingly Russia are 8th after a clear shoot, despite 2 penalty loops earlier! OK – on to S6; Landová better here (good work, must have been loads of pressure after her melt last week), just 1 spare – same for Hinz. Out Landová, +29.1 to Hinz, 1.12 to Pisareva just ahead of Ringen and Abramova. Going to the handover Vanessa H isn’t catching the Czech; Vitková takes over with almost 31 seconds advantage over Laura Dahlmeier, but – going last for Belarus is Dasha!! Norway up to 4th, with Tiril Eckhoff on the anchor leg, just ahead of Valj Semerenko (Ukr) – might be exciting despite the time gaps! Looks as though Laura is losing ground to Veronika Vitková; sensible pace? So, S7 and VV needs 1 spare – fast though and she’s out before anyone else is in sight! Dahlmeier clear, but so is Dasha, who was faster on the range? Eckhoff also clear, Semerenko 1 spare. Russia (Nechkasova) up to 6th but Kocher (Can) is on the loop. Dahlmeier looks quite slow on this lap and Dasha is closing fast, and she’s through on the climb. Final shoot and again Vitková is fast and needs only 1 spare; brave stuff! Dasha needs 1 spare, Laura clear but she only has a tiny lead over Domracheva – not a nice situation!! Eckhoff needs 3 spares and leaves just ahead of Semerenko. MD-H keeps France in the top 6; Dasha already through Laura D and about 15 seconds clear. So – great win for the Czech Republic (2nd week in succession), good work by Belarus to get 2nd and Germany holding third despite the early penalty loop. Norway 4th, Ukraine 5th and France 6th. Kazakhstan seem to be worst on the range with 4 penalty loops and 13 spares; USA 3/19 – best Belarus with only 6 spares.

Men's 4 x 7.5 Km relay: I was out, so missed most of this live - shame as I think it was a good race! I joined it on the final leg, with Simon Schempp just ahead of Emil Hegle Svendsen (wondered if he would be racing) and Anton Shipulin some 13 seconds behind; reasonable gap to the chasing pack of Eder, Moravec and Martin Fourcade. Into the final shoot, S8 in the standing position. Schempp did really well here, clearing all 5 with no problems while EHS and Shipulin both needed 1 spare. That gave Schempp a little breathing space and he left the range 7.4 ahead of Svendsen, and 20.5 ahead of Shipulin; big question - has Svendsen recovered from his illness? Fourcade was up to 4th, ahead of Eder and Moravec. By the next split, on this final lap, EHS had closed to only 1 second (so I think he may have pretty much recovered!) and Shipulin was up to 15.7 behind; last split and Anton Shipulin had clawed back another 5 seconds or so, but was running out of time. Near the final bend EHS cut inside and engaged the afterburners - Schempp couldn't go with him, but did hold off Shipulin - Norway take the win (0 penalty loops + 8 spare rounds) from Germany (0+4) and Russia (0+8). France (1+5) in 4th ahead of Austria (1+8, so good work by them to recover) and the Czech Republic (0+7). Germany fastest on the range and Austria fastest on the course.

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: Air temperature – 7 degrees! Most of the favourites seem to be in group 1, but let’s see what happens. I see Tina Bachmann is racing again today, vice Miri who is still racing in the IBU series. Kaisa Mäkäräinen is lucky here as she is, once again, starting after Darya Domracheva so she can have the benefit of split times as the race develops. Vítková is already flying on lap 1 and Elise Ringen (Nor) is at S1 – all 5 clear and Hildebrand does the same; today could be about sheer ski speed; just as we are listening to the commentary about how easy the shooting is here (relatively), Oberhofer misses her 5th! Preuß really does ski nicely – very smooth, but she’s missed 2, and Vítková has missed 1 as well. At S1 Laukkanen is currently fastest leaving the range; Dasha has to hand feed a round but clears all 5. Ringen is already in for S2, and she is 10/10; so is Franziska Hildebrand and she’s nearly 20 seconds faster! OK – Wierer is clear at S1, so, no lingering ghosts from the relay? Vítková has missed 2 in the stand – skiing fast but that might ruin her run of podiums; Kaisa M has missed once at S1. Preuß has missed 1 in her stand but Enora Latuilliere is 10/10. Dasha seems to have picked up the pace on lap 2 and she is also 10/10 – that’s bad news for the rest! Hinz clear at S1, but Eckhoff has missed 1. Brilliant run from Hildebrand, over 30 seconds faster than Ringen who was also 10/10, but Mari Laukkanen is faster even with 1 penalty; amazed that Vítková is currently 3rd with 3 penalties – she is fast!! Wierer misses her 10th, shame, but very fast on the range. Megan Heinike (Can) was having a good run but missed 1 in the stand. Kaisa M has missed her first in the stand. Dasha is over the line, although Laukkanen was faster on that last lap. Eckhoff is only 4.2 back on Dasha as she leaves S2 – could still be possible as she’s flying on the skis; Horn is clear and now fastest as she leaves S2, still in touch at the next split. Tiril Eckhoff hasn’t quite caught Dasha, but only +5.9 despite 1 miss. What an upset – Fanny Welle-Strand Horn has just done it – 3.4 faster than Domracheva despite being slower on the last lap; previous best was 7th, so a great day for her!! Norwegians are all kissing their skis, looks like their technicians were on form today. Might not be quite all over as Braisaz has cleared her prone targets and is skiing well too; missed her 9th though. Looking at the total course times, Vítková was even faster than Mäkäräinen (although Eurosport reckon it was Eckhoff, who is third in the IBU list I looked at), with Dasha only 6th some 21.5 behind. So, Horn wins for Norway, Domracheva 2nd and Eckhoff 3rd. Valj Semerenko was 4th, just ahead of Laukkanen with Hildebrand the best of the Germans in 6th. Kaisa down in 7th, just ahead of Vítková, Wierer and Landová with Megan Heinicke in 11th. Disappointing shooting today for some of the Germans – 2 misses for Dahlmeier and Kummer, 3 for Preuß and 4 for Bachmann.

Men’s 10 Km Sprint: Some new snow, but not as much as expected – may get more during the race? Back to 1 degree today and the tracks look better. Looks as though the favourites are more spread through the start list today; OEB, EHS and JoBø go 23-25, but Martin Fourcade goes 72? Shipulin seems on form and he starts in group 1; could be useful if the heavier snow does come? Rastorgujevs was looking useful but he’s missed 1 in the prone; Shipulin clear and fastest out of the range at this stage! Doll also clear and very close to Shipulin’s time; Jakov Fak also clear although a little slower. OEB is clear too and in touch; Svendsen misses 1 but JoBø also clear and fastest out of S1; now it’s starting to snow more heavily! Meanwhile Rastorgujevs clears his standing targets; Shipulin misses his 10th and Doll his 9th. Lukas Hofer has missed 4 of his prone targets – almost certainly no mass start for him! Arnd Peiffer clears in prone, but he’s quite a bit slower than JT Bø – snow getting deeper on the track (not good news for Martin Fourcade!). OEB in for S2, but he’s missed 2 – JT goes clear, and he’s fast; well ahead of Shipulin’s time! Svendsen clear in the stand but the prone miss means he’s well off Bø’s time. The early starters have finished; Shipulin just ahead of Rastorgujevs and Doll at present but .. the JoBø express is coming – he’s over a minute faster as he crosses the line!! Quite amazing – Svendsen is also in, currently 5th; not sure he’s fully fit yet. Lovely prone shoot by Erik Lesser, only 12 seconds off the pace at S1; Fourcade is in for the prone and shown as clear but he’s doing a penalty loop; seems he did miss one, looking at the IBU feed, but the French coaches look puzzled. Meanwhile Peiffer has finished; must have been a great last lap as he’s beaten Shipulin! Erik Lesser has missed 1 in the stand; Simon Schempp is clear though and faster than Shipulin at S2, but I can’t see him matching JT’s speed on that last lap; Martin F has missed one in the stand as well; he finishes almost 2 minutes back from the leader, so almost a minute off Bø if you disregard the penalty loops. Nice to see Krasimir Anev shooting clear and finishing in the top 10. Very fast, clear standing shoot by Volkov – impressive stuff, but he doesn’t have the ski speed today! Good effort by Schempp who is in 2nd only 24.5 behind Bø. For the Brits, good to see Marcel Laponder has shot 10/10. Daniel Böhm has also gone clear – better day for the Germans today; Schempp in 2nd, Peiffer 3rd, Doll in 6th and Böhm 9th after fading a little at the finish! So, JT Bø wins rather convincingly; no surprise that he was fastest over the snow too (although Schempp was faster on lap 2) and 4th quickest on the range! Schempp and Peiffer take the other two podium places ahead of Shipulin, Rastorgujevs and Doll. Svendsen in 12, just behind Os who had one more penalty, which seems to confirm that he’s not 100%; similar story for Malyshko? And no French in the top 20, which is odd - perhaps poor group selection and/or poor waxing although Fourcade was fast enough at first!

Women’s 12.5 Km Mass Start: Bit colder today with light winds.  Bit of a traffic jam as they reach the first bend; now Wierer has fallen, losing ground. Domracheva, Semerenko and Vítková are the leading 3 early on, but the positions are swapping around Dasha has dropped back a bit as they approach the range. First shoot; Hildebrand has fallen just before her mat and has also lost some time  – no graphics for Dasha and Kaisa (data centre says 1 miss each; same for Vítková and Semerenko); Hinz shooting fast and she’s clear; Hinz leads out from Glazyrina and Weronika N-Z. Preuß and Wierer are with them, so Dorothea hasn’t been too badly affected by that fall. Eckhoff has missed 2 in that first shoot, as has Karin Oberhofer and Mari Laukkanen has missed 3. Horn is now leading as they come in for S2; lot of misses here too but W N-Z is clear and leads out from Virolaynen and Hildebrand; Dasha, Valj and Kaisa among those clear on this second prone; Horn, Hinz and Preuß have missed 1. On the next lap Dasha and Kaisa are making ground; Dorin-Habert also well up; in for the first standing shoot – Dasha has a gap from Kaisa who is also getting a little clear of the chasers – but Dasha misses 2, so does Kaisa, Valj only 1 miss, Glazyrina is 15/15; out in order Glazyrina, Bescond, Dorin-Habert. Teja Gregorin is also 15/15 and in 6th. Somehow Dasha has got back up to 2nd on this lap, but it’s quite close at the front; now she’s back in the lead as they head in for the final shoot. Dasha is clear!! So, out Domracheva, Bescond, Semerenko, Preuß, Vítková, W N-Z. Pace picking up on the final lap – good fight for the other podium places. Dasha is well clear, Preuß has got into 2nd, slightly ahead of Valj Semerenko and she’s pulling away. Another great win for Domracheva (1,0,2,0), with Preuß (0,1,1,0) showing her class again in second. Veronika Vítková (1,1,1,0) wins the race for the final podium place ahead of Semerenko, Bescond and Weronika N-Z. Kaisa (1,0,2,1) was 7th. Not surprising that Dasha was fastest over the course, just marginally beating Kaisa; Preuß best on the range. Poor Enora Latuilliere missed 9 today – that’s a lot of extra ground to cover! Nice to see Gold Lena in the crowd!

Men’s 15 Km Mass Start: Quelle surprise – the ski jumping is over running, but it looks as though the biathlon start has moved 10 mins later, so no problem! There are rumours that the French had real problems with their waxing for the sprint; wonder if they have it sorted this time? There are a total of 450 metres to climb over the 15 Km; max climb 18 metres – conditions look good. Shipulin is very much on form; not sure Svendsen is quite fully fit but little Bø was awesome yesterday – this should be a good one! Again, they are quite bunched as they come in to S1 led by JoBø. EHS clear; Fourcade and Shipulin miss 1 each; out Eder, Birnbacher, OEB, EHS, JT Bø – all clear; Anev and Weger have missed 2 each. Still not much in it on the next lap, Svendsen looking good and JoBø very fast; Os up with them so looks like the Norwegian waxing is spot on again. EHS has missed one, Fourcade drops 2 (not a good weekend for him!) but JoBø clear if slightly slow on the range – out in order Eder, Birnbacher, L’Abee-Lund, Fak, Bø. A group of 8 breaking clear now, led by Fak; Shipulin back with them after shooting well on S2. Fak falls and JoBø somersaults over him – is he OK? What about his rifle? In for S3 – Schempp is clear, so are Eder, Shipulin and EHS; out Schempp, Eder, Fillon-Maillet. JoBø clear and changing a ski. Fourcade has missed another 1, that’s 4 so far! Shipulin is back up with them and into the lead; another new ski for Fak – I think that might be the second one? Still very tight as they come in for the final shoot; Schempp clear, Shipulin misses 1, EHS clear and so is JoBø; Eder eventually misses 1; Böhm who was 15/15 misses 3 here. Out Schempp, Fillon-Maillet, Svendsen, Slesingr, OEB, Bø. This is going to be interesting – Schempp blocked, but he goes right on the bridge, EHS wide – photo for the front 3, EHS (0,1,0,0) 4th, OEB (0,1,0,0) 5th and Shipulin (1,0,0,1) 6th, but – who has the photo? They have announced Simon Schempp as winner, from Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Michal Slesingr, all clear, like to see that photo! Looks like the Frenchman lunged at just the wrong time. Bø eventually 10th; Arnd Peiffer in 9th with 1 miss, and Martin Fourcade back in 21st. Shipulin fastest round the course, from Peiffer and EHS; Eder best on the range.

Men’s 10 Km Sprint: On Eurosport it seems to show this listed as Ruhpolding, Mass Start but luckily it really is the Sprint from Antholtz!! Air temperature is 3 degrees; snow -2 and it looks a nice day (not a lot of snow in the surrounding area though?). Lot of the big names going early on today, although Shipulin seems to be in group 2 and Rastorgujevs goes as bib 50; Arnd Peiffer even later. Two Bøs today, as Tarjei is back from illness and hopefully JT is OK after his fall last weekend, which has left him with a scar. The Eurosport graphic is now correct! Martin Fourcade is away; lot of questions about whether he has recovered from last summer’s illness, but he’s in an ideal position behind EHS, JT Bø and OEB. Early starters at S1; Krcmar is first in, and he’s clear – EHS misses 1; Malyshko is in with JT Bø just behind – the Russian is clear but little Bø has missed 2, too fast on the lap at this altitude? Semenov has missed 4, but OEB is clear! Martin Fourcade is in but he’s also missed 1; Andi Birnbacher has missed 2 – wind maybe up a little? Böhm and Moravec clear but not as fast as OEB; Pidruchnyi only a fraction behind Bjørndalen. EHS at S2 and he’s missed another 1; Malyshko has hit all 10; but JoBø has missed another 1 – Malyshko fastest here so far (but I’m not sure he’s fully fit either). OEB has missed 1 in the stand (still just faster than Malyshko) and so has Fourcade; Shipulin clear at S1 and faster than OEB, Lapshin also good; Schempp is a touch faster still; Moravec  has also cleared all 10 and his standing shoot was fast; Pidruchnyi has missed 1 here. At the last split OEB is still looking good – great run from Vladimir Iliev (Bul) who is fastest so far at the finish despite 1 penalty, but OEB is even faster; 11.3 inside Iliev. Shipulin misses his final shot, but even after his loop he’s just up on OEB! Fourcade comes in just ahead of Svendsen and JT Bø; Schempp is 10/10 and fastest at S2. Another good result for Moravec, with 10/10 but slower on the snow as he’s outside OEB’s time despite no penalty. Benni Weger was looking really good at S1 but missed his 5th; Fak fastest at S1 now; Schempp is building on his advantage on his final lap. Anton Shipulin has beaten OEB’s time at the finish but Schempp is 34.2 faster than the Russian! Fak has missed his final shot; Garanichev quite in touch and Weger is also clear at S2; Peiffer clear at S1, but not as fast at this stage. Brendan Green (Can) has shot 10/10 and is 5th as he leaves the range after S2. Garanichev has beaten Shipulin’s time, by almost the amount of a penalty loop, with Fak and Weger also pushing Anton off the podium – at the completion of the race it’s a brilliant win for Simon Schempp (0,0) ; Garanichev (0,0) in 2nd, Fak (0,1 – almost exactly 20 seconds off the winner) gets the final podium place, Behind them - Weger (1,0), Green (0,0 – brilliant result for him), L’Abee-Lund (0,0), Shipulin (0,1). OEB in 9th; Fourcade in the 20s, behind brother Simon, just ahead of EHS; Erik Lesser with 2 misses is faster than Fourcade, as are Beatrix and Rastorgujevs so maybe Martin is suffering? Looks like Weger was fastest over the snow, but his range times were poor – think he may have had rifle snags (not getting the bolt back properly?); Simon Eder fastest on the range. Martin Fourcade, EHS and JT Bø have all lost points today, to Shipulin.

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: On British Eurosport we are still at the snowboarding – very annoying as the video only feed obviously lacks commentary! Horn is the first away; bit cooler than for the men’s race yesterday. I see Dasha goes no 3, so no split time info for her today! Wierer goes 9; Kaisa at 25; a huge cheer indicates that Dahlmeier has started! Meanwhile at the snowboard parallel slalom a 42 year old Austrian (Claudia Riegler) has won gold – excellent, perhaps now we can get back to biathlon where S1 is already underway – Horn clear, as are Laura Dahlmeier, Dasha and Tiril Eckhoff. No, apparently we are still with snowboard coverage; pathetic scheduling! Wierer, the red bib wearer for this discipline, has missed 1 in her first shoot, and so has Megan Heinike (Can), but Susan Dunklee is clear as is Franzi Preuß; can’t see timing information on the video coverage; rats! Meanwhile Horn is at S2, and she’s missed 2; Laura D is clear but Dasha is already up with her and clear too! Soukalová clear at S1, but Vítková has missed 2; Eckhoff has missed 2 in the stand and Gontier 3; Wierer clear there and Kaisa is clear at S1 and fastest there. Fastest at S2 so far is Dasha from Gerekova and Laura D with Susan Dunklee (0,1) almost a minute back; interesting that Wierer (1,0) is slower than Franzi P (0,2) here. At long last, some 25 minutes late, Eurosport condescend to start coverage – hopeless! Luckily we join just in time for Kaisa’s S2 – she was in touch but misses the first shot! She comes out 2nd fastest here after her strafrunde but 20 seconds back on Dasha’s time; at the next split that has increased slightly to 24.6. M D-H misses her 3rd shot at S1, but Valj Semerenko is going well after her clear S1, only just behind Kaisa. At the finish Kaisa has gone into 2nd just 26.9 behind Dasha; currently Laura D is 3rd but 50.4 behind Dasha (and Kaisa too for ski speed except for the penalty), but she passed Gerekova between the final split and the line, pulling out about 7 seconds. Meanwhile Franzi Hildebrand (0,1) has gone into 6th, at present, and Luise Kummer is 10/10 – might be a good day for the Germans, although her ski speed isn’t quite there yet! M D-H is skiing quite fast but has missed a second target (1,1), and Valj has also missed 1 at S2; Anais Bescond was also quite in touch, but again missing at S2 – somehow she missed 3; Miri has missed 1 at S1 and her prone was the problem, so that isn’t bad, but her speed isn’t anything special! She’s in for S2, and again 1 miss but maybe the speed is better? Looking at the moment as though Wierer will just lose the red bib; might depend how far she slides down the finishers? Fastest over the course was Dasha, just 2.7 faster than Kaisa ahead of Oberhofer and Laukkanen; Franzi Preuß fastest on the range (shoot plus drills), marginally ahead of Weronika N-Z; Romanova fastest for getting the rounds away. Little chance of change in the top 5 now, but Bolliet might change the top 10? No, too slow on the final lap; Annika Knoll (in what I think is her first World Cup race?)joins the 10/10 list but, again, not fast enough yet. So, Darya Domracheva (0,0) wins from Kaisa Mäkäräinen (0,1) and Laura Dahlmeier (0,0). Jana Gerekova (0,0) 4th, fractionally ahead of the fast skiing Karin Oberhofer who had a penalty loop. Franzi Hildebrand, also with 1 penalty in 6th, Susan Dunklee (0,1) in 8th, and Preuß (0,2) in 9th, well clear of Tiril Eckhoff with the same number of misses – saving herself for the pursuit? Luise Kummer came in 13th and Miri seems to be in 24th, so also slower than Preuß (but 13th fastest overall today, and not too bad on the standing range either; pity)!

Men’s 12.5 Km Pursuit: What on earth are Eurosport doing – they are showing a repeat of the Kitzbühl Super G?? We have missed the start of the pursuit – yesterday joining the sprint late was annoying, but you can understand the problems when there is another event live (parallel slalom snowboarding) – however, joining late because of a repeat is inexcusable! From the IBU Datacenter (sic) I can see Schempp is at S1 and we are still watching adverts! Schempp misses 1; Garanichev clear as are Weger and Green; Shipulin has missed 3! OEB is clear – now Eurosport are at the delayed Kitzbühl downhill – alles klar, we obviously aren’t going to see the biathlon live; that’s a little more understandable! From the data centre then – Garanichev has led out from S1 from Weger, Green, Eder and Schempp; Fak also missed 1 but is out just ahead of Bjørndalen. Martin F clear and up to 16. S2 already and Garanichev is clear again and out in the lead; Eder misses 1 but remains ahead of OEB as they leave the range; Schempp misses another but is still 4th ahead of Weger and Fak; Martin Fourcade clear and up to 10th; EHS also clear and in 12. Green missed 2 at S2, which has dropped him out of the leading group. The first standing shoot and Garanichev has missed one here; Schempp clear but Weger is having a bad time – 3 misses. OEB remains clear and he is 3rd, behind Garanichev and Eder, with Schempp 4th – only 5.3 seconds between them! Fourcade (M) still clear and now up to 5th, 28.7 behind; Erik Lesser keeping with him; EHS has missed 1 and is back to 16. At the final shoot and Garanichev clears that to lead out, but Eder, OEB and Schempp also clear and there is only 2 seconds separating 1st from 4th. Fourcade clear too and out 25.1 from the Russian – Lesser 6th but 5 seconds back from MF; Fak is 7th despite 3 misses (1,1,0,1)! Wish I could see this sprint to the line; over to IBU video! Just in time – Garanichev is just ahead from OEB; camera has lost them  - up the little hill Eder is ahead from Schempp but it’s very close – Simon Schempp (1,1,0,0) just wins it (again!) from Simon Eder (0,1,0,0 & who started 8th) with Evgeniy Garanichev (0,0,1,0) in 3rd. OEB (20/20) gets 4th. Martin F (20/20) is one of the real gainers today going from 25 to 5, ahead of Erik Lesser (20/20) who went from 19 to 6. Jakov Fak was 7th. Among other Germans – Peiffer in 10, and Böhm in 12 – clean shooting by him got him from 30 to 12. Brendan Green was among those going the other way – 18 to 5, as was Weger; 4 to 28 after a total of 5 misses. Fastest over the course was Martin Fourcade, just ahead of Shipulin and Schempp; Eder best on range time ahead of OEB and Lapshin.  Great race, I might watch the repeat! Just seen a photo of the finish - quite odd; Schempp is lunging for the line (getting to be a habit), but Eder is standing up as though he thinks he's lost and can't be bothered stretching for the line; from the side he wasn't far behind and might just have got it?

Anyway, on the the Women's 10 Km Pursuit: Not such a tight race, at the front, although the fight for the remaining podium places was good, from which you might gather that Dasha was on imperious form again! But there I go, telling you the plot! Quite a few of those eligible are DNS, including Annika Knoll. On lap 1 Kaisa M has made up a small amount of time on Dasha; into S1 with the wind perhaps a little more variable than it was for the men's race. Dasha missed her 2nd shot, but so does Kaisa and to add to her woes she misses her final one as well; Laura Dahlmeier is clear, as are Karin Oberhofer, Jana Gereková and Franzi Hildebrand - out in order DD/KO/JG/LD/FH. Dasha still has a comfortable lead and comes into S2 looking quite relaxed; she clears all 5 and is out in the lead again; behind her are about 15 athletes all on the range - Laura D sadly missed her first 2, but Kaisa is clear, as are Valj Semerenko (10/10) and Dorothea Wierer; this time out it's DD/VS/KM/JG/DW. At the next split Dasha is about 40 seconds clear; looks like Valj is staying with Kaisa - she might regret that? First of the standing shoots and Dasha is clear yet again; she paused afetr the first shot and had to rebuild her position - good discipline there! Kaisa missed her 2nd shot, and Valj has missed 2; Daria Virolaynen (Rus) has sneaked up almost unnoticed and has shot 15/15 - she is out of the range 2nd just ahead of Wierer, Kaisa, Glazyrina, Preuß and Franzi H. In for the final shoot and Dasha is well ahead - she clears all 5 and that pretty much ends the race! She really shot well and was so confident that she almost had the gun on her back before the final target fell! Behind her more missing - Darai V missed 1, DW 2, Kaisa 2 and Preuß 2 but Franzi H is clear and so is the rapidly closing Marie D-H; really coming back into form. They leave the range with Dasha on cruise setting and a good race behind her - Virolaynen is 2nd, ahead of Franzi with Kaisa somehow still in touch despite no less than 5 penalty loops. Despite all the cheering Franzi couldn't hold off the Finn; Dasha (1,0,0,0) won by a mighty 1.21 from Daria Virolaynen (0,0,0,1) with Kaisa (2,0,1,2) stealing 3rd from poor Franzi (0,0,1,0); KM was only 8 seconds or so behind Daria V! Marie D-H (0,1,1,0) was 5th with Susan Dunklee (0,1,0,0) getting another good result in 6th. Franzi Preuß (1,0,0,2) was 9th, beating Wierer (0,0,0,2) who had one fewer penalty. Sadly my favourite, Miri Gössner seemed to revert to World Cup type today with 8 penalty loops - falling from 24th at the start to 43rd. Gainers today included Virolaynen (11 to 2) and Marie D-H (19 - 5); losers probably Laura D (3 - 13; not sure her ankle is fully healed), Skardino (7 - 28) and Miri. Not surprisingly Kaisa was fastest on the course from MD-H and Tiril Eckhoff; Olsbu best on range time from Weronika N-Z and Romanova. Amazing that Dasha wasn't fastest on any lap, although by the end she didn't need to be!

Men’s Relay: I just don’t believe it – the (expletive deleted) at Eurosport are covering tennis on BOTH channels, despite the schedule saying that the biathlon is on Eurosport 2! Way to really upset subscribers when there is already hours of tennis! Over to IBU commentary free video; shoot 1 of leg 1 – Garanichev leads out from Lesser and Simon Fourcade; OEB needed a spare round; Austria, Poland and Sweden still well up at this early stage. Some interesting teams and omissions – no Martin F or Shipulin; both Bøs in the Norway team but no L’Abee-Lund! Still tight as they go into S2; Garanichev missing and needs all 3 spares but France, Germany and Austria clear; Simon F leads out from Erik Lesser and Mesotitch with OEB in 4th – Garanichev 36 behind the French just ahead of Gow of Canada. I see Italy have already done 2 penalty loops; if the graphic is correct Japan have done 9! As we come to the first changeover Erik Lesser has pulled out a slight lead over Fourcade; then just over 20 seconds to Norway and Austria, and another 15 to Russia. Danni Böhm leads off from Fillon-M; Tarjei Bø goes for Norway and Komatz (new name to me) for Austria. Lapshin just ahead of Slesingr. At the second split on the lap Q F-M has closed a little on Böhm, but Bø and Komatz haven’t closed the gap (lost about 2 seconds) and Lapshin is a little closer to them. S3 and both leaders are clear with no spares but Böhm is faster and leads out; Bø needs 1 which lets Lapshin out ahead of him with Slesingr 5th; Komatz uses 2 spares and drops to 8th. At the next split F-M has again closed the gap and he overtakes on the hill; Lapshin and Bø seem to have dropped back a little; in to S4 and it’s not so good this time F-M needs 1 spare, but Böhm uses all 3 and is out 8 seconds behind the Frenchman; Lapshin & Bø need just 1 each but are still over 30 seconds back on F-M; Komatz back to 5th. Heading to the next handover Fillon-Maillet has pulled out a little more time – another 5 seconds by the 2nd split; Lapshin has closed a bit on Böhm and Slesingr has passed Bø. Handover – Desthieux has 15.4 seconds on Peiffer with Malyshko about another 16 seconds back in 3rd; Soukup is in 4th with little Bø just behind. On the lap Arnd P closes a little but the chasing pack are also coming closer; in for S5 – France need 1 spare, Peiffer and Soukup clear – out Germany, France, then about 25 seconds to Czechs and Austria; Bø needed 2 spares as did Malyshko and they are 5/6 respectively with Tim Burke up to 7 for the USA. JoBø is flying on the next lap, pulling back 12 seconds by the first split; maybe easing off a bit then?! In for S6; Arnd misses his 5th but only needs 1 spare and leads out; Bø clears (after such a lap too!) and is out only 12.6 back ahead of Grosse (Aut) and Malyshko; Desthieux needed 2 spares and slips to 5th. Tim Burke has had a disaster and seems to be doing 3 penalty loops. At the split before the final exchange Bø has just passed Peiffer! So, EHS has a very marginal lead over Simon Schempp – great work by JoBø! Volkov is 42.7 back for Russia with Simon Eder and Beatrix just behind; Moravec also still in touch but then there is a gap of over a minute to the next teams. Schempp is staying with Svendsen; is that wise? Final prone shoot – EHS clear and leads out; Germany 1 spare and the gap is now 10 seconds; Volkov clear, Eder 1 spare; out Nor/Ger/Rus/Aut/Fra/Cze. EHS isn’t pulling away though, in fact Schempp is closing a little and the chasing group are dropping back – final shoot; EHS clear again and out – Schempp needs 2 spares and the gap is now a massive 27.7; even if Svendsen isn’t fully fit I can’t see that being closed! Beatrix clears and is 3rd just ahead of Volkov (also clear); Eder needed a spare but is still with them; Moravec now a further 20 back in 6th – good fight for the final podium place in prospect? Beatrix is jumping up the hill, trying to break away from Eder; I think they’ve lost Volkov – perhaps EHS has eased back a little but he’s still 20 seconds clear of Schempp. At the line it’s Norway (all credit to JoBø and great tactics and shooting from EHS) – just 5 spares needed. Germany 2nd (7 spares) with France (5 spares) in third; then Aut/Rus/Cze. Credit to the USA for getting 8th despite 3 penalties; Italy are 10th despite 4 penalties!!

Women’s 4 x 6 Km Relay: Germans going with Hildebrand, Preuß, Luise Kummer and Dahlmeier; possibly a good chance? I think this could be a close race – hard to call; Czechs, Belarus, Norway and France all in with a chance; maybe Italy or Austria too? Gosh, what a surprise; Eurosport are still covering the cross country skiathlon, but that isn’t live (started 1230 CET and took about 45 mins) so I’m betting they started that late too (more tennis?) which is why it’s still running as the biathlon starts; something about drinking bouts in breweries springs to mind! Right, the relay is starting – 21 teams today, although Estonia are not starting it seems. First split and the top 10 are separated by 2.3 seconds; faller on the hill, but I couldn’t see who (Romanova?). Not much less crowded at the next split either with Skardino (Blr) leading the way; in for S1 – Germany clear but France and Czechs having snags; Yordanova (Bul) leads out from Hildebrand, then Landheim (Nor), Skardino and Dunklee. Now S2; Hildebrand has 2 misses to start, wind quite gusty – she’s on the penalty loop (2 loops, rather unusual for Franzi). Puskarcikova (Cze) leads out from Hauser (Aut) and Hojnisz (Pol); Dunklee also well up, and gaining well on the lap. At the exchange it’s the Czech Republic from USA and Poland; Germany in 10th over a minute back. Soukalová is away for the Czechs and despite a spare at S3, leads away followed by Dreissigacker (USA, 2 spares) and Weronika N-Z. Preuß is clear and up to 7, but she’s lost a pole. The later athletes here at S3 have had some bad luck with a very gusty wind. At S4 things change around a bit; Soukalová stays in the lead despite a windy shoot needing 3 spares; Russia (Virolaynen) better but the gale is back - no one can shoot, and Dreissigacker presumably decides 3 loops are less time consuming; not a good call as it turned out! Out Soukalová, Virolaynen, Burdyga (Ukr), Innerhofer and Preuß. By the next change Franzi Preuß has made up time and passed Innerhofer, who has also lost a place to Wierer; out Cze/Rus/Ukr then Ger/Ita/Fra. Landová (Cze) can’t hold off Shumilova (Rus) on the loop, and Sanfilippo (Ita) passes Kummer. In for S5 hoping for less gusty conditions; it’s a bit better! Shumilova clear, brilliant shooting, and leads out nearly a minute clear of Landová who needed 3 spares as the wind gusts again, Kummer and Braisaz next having shot better than Sanfilippo; Eckhoff up to 6, Abramova on the penalty loop (3 loops). This is all a bit of a lottery at times – leading 6 stay in the same order coming in to S6; commentators curse the Russians by pointing out they’ve got this far with only 2 spares. As Shumilova starts another big gust comes in; awful conditions! Russia 1 loop ; Kummer only needs 2 spares and she goes out just 10 seconds behind Shumilova; amazingly Abramova is clear and gets back up to 3rd ahead of Braisaz and Landova; Eckhoff has 2 penalty loops but is 7th behind Crawford (Can). At the next exchange Shumilova has pulled out time over Kummer between split 2 and the line; Glazyrina is away 20 seconds ahead of Laura Dahlmeier, with Valj Semerenko about 30 more behind. Bescond 4th ahead of Vitkova and Horn; Dasha is 9th 1.11 behind. Two shoots to go and, as we have seen, anything could happen! In for S7 and Glazyrina misses her 1st and the wind is back while she fiddles with the sight; she needs 2 spares which lets the clear shooting Laura D, who was 17 seconds behind, through into the lead; she’s 23 seconds up on the Russian as they leave the range; astonishing! Bescond needs just 1 spare, as does Vitkova; Valj uses 2 – they are out in that order. Horn has caught another gust and has a penalty loop. On the next lap they aren’t catching Laura D, on the contrary she has a marginally growing lead; poor Glazyrina caught a vicious headwind coming up the hill. She is in, it’s still windy but not too awful – she’s clear before anyone else is in the range; lovely shooting, what an asset she is to the German team! Vitkova shoots better than Glazyrina and she’s out 2nd, 44 seconds back, with the Russian 3rd. Valj Semerenko also in touch, Bescond 5th and Dasha 6th. On the last lap Valj passes Glazyrina – at the line Dahlmeier is still well clear; what a leg for her to give Germany (2 penalty loops/10 spares) the victory! The Czech Republic (0/15; the only team to avoid the penalty loop completely) get 2nd from Ukraine (3/14). Russia (1/9) are 4th ahead of France and Belarus. Norway down in 11th. Interesting race; I think almost everyone had an equal share of the good and bad luck! Ukraine best on range time from Canada and Germany, while Italy had the best course time.

Well, time for biathlon in Nove Mesto and we kick off with the slightly confusing “Single Mixed Relay”; one woman, one man, each going twice (total 4 x 1.5 Km for the women, 5 x 1.5 km for the men, each shoot four times in total; spare rounds and a shorter penalty loop if required). Some discussion on another forum about whether those taking part in this event could also be in the “normal” mixed relay – seemed to depend on which language you read the rules in, as both options seemed legal at one stage, but I understand that anomaly has been resolved and that answer is that being in one event disqualifies you from the other, which might explain some odd looking pairings in this single mixed event, although it does count for the nations cup! Quite a few big names not appearing for either of these mixed relays, including Svendsen? Canada were listed in the starters but I understand they are now a DNS, but we do have a GB team. Right, women away for their first lap; in for S1 (prone) – Luise Kummer is clear for Germany as are Dzhyma (Ukr) and Romanova (Rus) rest needing spares; Swiss and Brits on the penalty loop. Only 10 seconds or so between the top 10 as they leave the range. Second lap and in for S2 in what seems no time: Romanova clear and out first from Kummer (1 spare) and Dzhyma (1) – the Poles are well up (and the only married team!) – straight into the first exchange – out Russia/Germany/Ukraine from Pol/Nor/Swe. Shoot 3 – Erik Lesser is first out and clear, Volkov (Rus) needs 2 spares so Tyshchenko (Ukr) is 2nd, Volkov 3rd and L’Abee-Lund 4th. The hosts, the Czech Republic, are having a nightmare with 3 penalty loops. Already at S4; bit windy at times – Erik needs 1 spare but leads out from Tyshchenko (2) and Volkov (1); L’Abee-Lund clear and 4th. Another exchange, straight after the shoot – Germany 13 seconds clear of Ukr/Rus, Norway in touch but France 5th and 52 seconds back. So, on to S5 and the second session for the women – Kummer 1 spare and leads away, Romanova quick and clear – into 2nd from Dzhyma and Olsbu (Nor). Latuilliere (Fra) needs all 3 spares and is 6th. Romanova and Dzhyma are going fast on their final lap; Kummer clear and out but only 1.8 ahead of the Ukraine with Russia third at +5.6. Olsbu is 4th but a bit unlucky with the wind. At the last exchange there are only 5 seconds between the top 3; Tyshchenko very close to Lesser; on the next lap Erik tucked in behind the Ukraine athlete but then moved past again as they approach the range and they are in for S7; Erik clear and out; Volkov needs 2 spares which gets him out 2nd at +21.4, Tyshchenko (2) +27.8 and L’Abee-Lund clear but + 49.0. Now, what will the pressure do to the final shoot? S8 – Erik misses his first 3 and he’s on the penalty loop – 3 loops no less! Volkov clears the lot and he’s out first; Tyshchenko second (+26.5), L’Abee-Lund clear and third (+27.3) with Lesser 4th (I think he’s done this before?). A final lap to the finish; Russia take the win (just 5 spares all event) from Norway (just 3 spares!) and Ukraine (8). Germany are 4th (3+6); that’s not going to do Erik’s confidence much good! France win the sprint for 5th from Sweden but almost 2 minutes back from Russia. The “proper” mixed relay is at 1730 CET.

Nove Mesto; the “proper” mixed relay and it’s rather cold – minus 9 degrees already! OK, this should be better – 16 starters; 2 x 6 Km (women) and 2 x 7.5 Km (men). Good team for the Czechs - Vitková and Soukalová taking the first two legs. Bescond going first for the French; E Gasparin (Sui), Horn (Nor), Hildebrand (Ger) etc. Decent run to the first shoot; I think that’s my gripe with the single mixed – too much reliance on the shooting perhaps and not enough chance for the skiing to affect things? At 1.5 Km only 4.4 seconds separate the top 10. Hang on, S1 and the first out is Amanda Lightfoot (5/5)!! Behind her are Hildebrand and Gasparin! Then Ukr/Blr/Cze. Odd – one of the Japanese from the single mixed is racing again – I thought that was illegal? In for S2; Vitková clear and out first ahead of Varvynets (Ukr) and Skardino (Blr) with Dunklee also well in touch; Hildebrand needs all 3 spares but avoids the loop; Glazyrina isn’t so lucky and has a loop to do. First exchange and Soukalová leads away from Valj Semerenko and Dasha! Vanessa Hinz is 8th but very close behind France (M D-H), Italy and Switzerland. Tiril Eckhoff for Norway in 11th., and really motoring on the next lap. In for S3 – Valj has missed her first 2; Soukalová clear and away first ahead of Dasha; Valj third despite 2 spares just ahead of M D-H (clear); Vanessa is on the penalty loop – not Germany’s day! Two sets of brothers on the final 2 legs; Fourcade and Bø! However, back to real time and Dasha is closing down Gabi; in for S4 – both leaders need spares so Valj, who shot clear, leads away from Marie D-H (also fast and clear) with Gabi 3rd, Dasha 4th and Tiril Eckhoff in 5th about 28 seconds back. Looks like M D-H is back on form; flying on her last leg – Dasha and Tiril also going fast. Exchange for the first of the men – Fra/Ukr/Blr from Cze/Nor/Slo – only 8.5 between the top 4 and we might expect JoBø to get with them; rest over a minute behind though. OK – on to S5 and Slesingr is clear and away; young Bø is also clear and just 1 second behind; Simon Fourcade is on the penalty loop – twice! On the next lap JoBø seems to be pacing himself, tucking in behind Slesingr; Pidruchnyi (Ukr) in third – then a good gap to the chasing pack. Bø is clear and fast; Slesingr needs a spare so Pidruchnyi is out ahead of him. Belarus are having a meltdown – 2 loops. USA up to 4th ahead of Slovenia and Russia. Grief – Slesingr is closing down Bø; he’s passed him at the 7 Km split! Pidruchnyi in third with a gap of over 1 min.30 to the next athlete. Last exchange and the leaders are neck and neck; Tarjei Bø slots in behind Moravec.; Semenov about 15 seconds back. There’s a suggestion that Norway’s skis aren’t running well (but Eckhoff seemed fast). Final prone – Moravec clear and out; Bø needs a spare, losing about 5 seconds; Semenov is on the penalty loop but there is a big gap to USA, Slovenia and Russia; Shipulin clear but 42 seconds behind Semenov; Martin Fourcade also missing but no loop. Last shoot – this time Bø is clear (shooting fast; bit lucky on one shot!) and leads out from Moravec (1 spare); about 14 seconds clear. Semenov needs a spare but although Shipulin is clear he’s still almost 30 seconds back. The two leaders could almost walk to the finish – Moravec has closed a little at each split, but I can’t see that he has enough track left to close right down. So, Norway first (0+6) from the host nation (0+5) and Ukraine (1+7). Russia 4th, from France and USA, Germany 7th. Some disappointed people here I suspect, especially the French women!! Over to BBC red button for the Alpine stuff!

Nove Mesto; Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: Kaisa Mäkäräinen goes number 22; Dasha 45 (Miri at 62!). Seemingly ideal conditions at present although it may warm up a little for the men’s race. Total climb for the women 252 metres; apparently this is quite a tough course! Back to normal today; no spare rounds and a full size penalty loop! Early pace setter on lap 1 is Marie Dorin-Habert, but Vitková is even faster in front of her home crowd. Early starters are now at S1; MD-H is clear; so are Hauser, Gregorin and Dzhyma, but Latuilliere has missed 2. Hinz also clear at S1 which has moved her up to 3rd at present after S1; Vitková starts to shoot just as Soukalová starts – wonder if the huge cheer contributed to her one miss? Even so, faster than Hinz. Tiril Eckhoff is through S1, maybe a little lucky with one shot (again!), and out in the lead. MDH is at S2; 2 misses here – not what she is capable of on her best day. Franzi Hildebrand is clear at S1 and only marginally slower than MDH at that point; meanwhile Kaisa is fastest at the 2 Km point. Not sure what Crawford did at S1 – wrong target? Anyway 5 loops are shown against her name and she’s been given an 8 minute penalty; Kaisa has missed 1 at S1, Laura Dahlmeier clear here as is Soukalová, but she’s a little slow. Back to S2 where Vitková has gone clear; Eckhoff misses her first, and then 2 more – no chance for her today and Horn is also shooting badly, 1+3 so far! Valj Semerenko has cleared S1 and she’s fast too; Franzi H is clear at S2 as well and faster than Vitková; Kaisa is in at S2 – missed her first and 1 more; now what will Dasha do? Soukalová pauses in her standing shoot and has missed her last target! Huge groan from the crowd; Franzi still best here ahead of Vitková and Dahlmeier. Dasha at S1; missing her first but clearing the rest – 23.8 off the pace as she leaves after her penalty; that’s 4 seconds slower than Kaisa at the same point, with the same number of penalties.  Back at the finish, Franzi H was leading but Laura Dahlmeier has judged the final lap rather better to pull back almost 17 seconds on her compatriot since S2 and she takes the lead by 1 second!  Dasha is at S2; again missing her first – out 7th there about 36 seconds back on Franzi’s time – could gain points on Kaisa today? However, Kaisa is flying on her last lap – currently in 6th about 30 seconds back on the clean shooting Laura D after 3 penalties. Dasha has pulled back 7 seconds from S2 to the next split, but she is looking a little tired; up to 4th by the final split after pulling back another 5 seconds – but she’s not pulling back as much as Kaisa (who, of course, wasn’t in the relay yesterday!). Quite amazing effort from Dasha – she finishes in 4th place, with Kaisa now in 7th. Gloom – my delight at Dahlmeier and Hildebrand doing so well is tempered as Miri has missed 3 at S1 and 2 at S2 (and Tina Bachmann 2+1); on the plus side she is gaining places on the final lap! Poor Clare Egan (USA) was looking at a fair result but she’s missed 4 at her S2. Varcin (Fra) has shot 10/10 and might be looking at a top 10 – 5th at S2; good final lap and she’s finished 8th at present, just ahead of Susan Dunklee. OK, so Laura Dahlmeier (0,0) has taken the sprint, with Franzi Hildebrand (0,0) second and Veronika Vitková (1,0) third, which will delight the host nation! Dasha (1,1) managed 4th just pipping Marie D-H (0,2) with Valj S (0,1) in 6th. Kaisa 7th, so losing points to Dasha. Coline Varcin (0,0), Susan Dunklee (0.1) and Anais Bescond (0,0) make up the top 10. No real surprise that Kaisa was fastest around the course, about 15 seconds faster than Dasha; Luise Kummer best on shooting and range times. I quite like Justine Braisaz, but sadly she had a touch of the Gössners today with 6 misses so we won’t see her in the pursuit! Men’s race this afternoon.

Nove Mesto; Men’s 10 Km Sprint: So, OEB goes 8 (now aged 41, and according to the commentators he has never won here), Svendsen at 23, Martin Fourcade 27, JoBø 28, Simon Schempp 29 but there are lots of possible winners today – the women’s race showed what shooting clear at the expense of skiing a little bit slower could achieve! First 10 are through the first timing point – Tim Burke the best at present. Moravec into S1, and he’s missed 2, huge groans; not sure he meant to fire one of those shots?! Tim Burke isn’t looking like he’ll medal again here today – 3 misses! Wind conditions seem to have changed since they zeroed, but Beatrix, de Lorenzi and Rösch are clear; OEB has missed his 5th shot. Pidruchnyi has adjusted his sights at S1 and cleared the lot! Michal Slesingr is also clear and close to Beatrix’s time – the crowd love that! Meanwhile Benni Weger is fastest at the first split, until Martin Fourcade takes over, and he’s faster than JoBø too! Good shooting from Jakov Fak who is now fastest at S1. Great shooting also from Beatrix who is also clear at S2; EHS at S1 and he’s missed his first shot and the last! Quentin FM is through S1 and well in touch; OEB has missed another 2 in his stand, so the elusive Nove Mesto win isn’t happening today! Martin F is clear at S1 and fastest out of the range at this stage although JoBø is also clear and only 4.6 slower; Slesingr clear at S2 but 11.6 slower than Beatrix, although he is pulling some time back on the final lap. Well, Fak has cleared all his standing targets and he’s now fastest at S2. Tough for the crowd – Slesingr has really pulled back time but he misses the lead by 0.7! M Fourcade has missed his 9th shot but he’s out 16 seconds back from Fak’s time; JoBø has missed 2 – Schempp is clear and only 4.3 behind Fak’s time; on the lap Fak has had to slow a little as someone falls just in front of him, but he’s gained time on Beatrix; he’s 26 seconds faster at the finish! Simon Schempp is slipstreaming behind JT Bø and he’s making up time on Fak at the first split of the final lap; lost it again at the second – great race! Martin Fourcade is in, just behind Beatrix. Schempp has lost time on the final section and is 12.8 behind Fak at the finish; maybe he should have passed Bø? Looking back Shipulin is clear after S2 but 11.9 back on Fak’s time; Böhm also clear but doesn’t seem to have the ski speed, Erik Lesser doing better today with just 1 miss in the stand; Tarjei Bø has missed 2 in each shoot as has Svendsen – not a good range day for the Norwegians! Interesting that Erik Lesser, with 1 miss, has beaten the clean shooting Andi Birnbacher! Eurosport coverage has stopped; not sure about late surprises, although I see L’Abee-Lund was clear at S1, but 21 seconds or so off the pace; no, he’s missed 2 in S2 – Norwegians do seem to be having snags with the standing shoot today. So, barring a real surprise, it’s Jakov Fak from Simon Schempp and Jean Guillaume Beatrix – all shot 10/10. Martin Fourcade was 0.3 behind his countryman, in 4th despite 1 miss (so, if he hadn’t dropped his pole after S2 … ??). Rest of the top 10 could still be up for grabs. Bit odd – Garanichev left S2 only 35.3 behind but finished 1.07.7 back – wonder if he fell? That is pretty much it; good to see Slesingr 5th, just ahead of Shipulin; Nathan Smith (0,0) was also in the top 10 (7th). Germans not too bad as, apart from Schempp, they also had Peiffer (0,1) in 9th, Böhm (0,0) in 11th and Lesser (0,1) in 13th – good for the pursuit! in Simon Eder seems to have been best on range and shooting, while Fak was fastest over the course. I've seen 1 report that the weather might be awful for the pursuits - hope not!

Nove Mesto; Women’s 10 Km Pursuit: Seems that the poor forecast had some truth – a lot of fresh snow (getting soft later?) and the wind looks a bit of a nuisance! The live timing seems to have gone berserk early on but it looks more normal at the 1.5 Km point – the Germans seem to be going fairly steadily so the pack have closed up as they come into S1; Franzi H clear first, Laura also clear but Vítková has missed 1 as have MDH and Valj S – Kaisa and Dasha have missed 2 each! Out Franzi H, Laura D with a gap of 31.8 to Vítková, then MDH, Valj and Anais Bescond. On the next lap Franzi is pulling away slightly; rest of the gaps pretty steady although Gabi Soukalová is up to 9th after also shooting 5/5 at S1; Kaisa and Dasha about a minute back on the leader. In for S2 and it’s snowing! Franzi clear, but Laura and VV have missed 1 each; MDH clear and out second; so out FH/MDH/LD/Hinz (10/10)/Bescond/Dasha (clear this time). Kaisa also clear and out 10th just under a minute back. Now it’s snowing quite heavily on some parts of the course – hard work and even harder if you can’t slipstream behind someone! Meanwhile MDH has closed a little on Franzi, and Dasha is up to 3rd; Laura has Kaisa right behind her – all getting interesting as they come in for the first standing shoot. Oh no – Franzi has missed 3;  the combination of wind and snow is making things very difficult – Gabi Soukalová is clear – all 5 down and she’s out first ahead of Anais Bescond who has also shot 15/15; Dasha and Kaisa miss 1 each and they are out in 3/4 respectively, Franzi now 5th and Laura 6th. Vítková has missed 2 and so has Hinz; Varcin has only 1 miss so far and is still in the top 10. Gabi seems to be pulling away from Bescond; Dasha is pulling out a little on Kaisa; at the 2nd split of this lap Dasha is up to 2nd; Laura losing time – as they come in for the final shoot the order is Gabi, Dasha, Anais, Kaisa, Franzi H, Vítková. Visibility is quite poor and the snow is VERY heavy – Gabi has missed her first shot; she hits 3; Dasha hits 4, so does Kaisa. Vítková has a problem but no one is coming to help – terrible stuff from the range officials! Meanwhile, Dasha leads out almost 16 seconds ahead of Kaisa; Gabi 3rd just ahead of Laura D and Vanessa Hinz, who both managed all 5 at S4 – great shooting! On the final lap Kaisa has closed a little on Dasha; Laura D has moved up to 3rd and Hinz has also overtaken Gabi. Final split and Kaisa is 9 seconds behind Dasha, Laura still 3rd almost 10 seconds clear of Hinz; Franzi H is shown as having missed 5 at S4 – the suggestion is that she shot Vítková’s targets; real shame for them both. At the finish Dasha (2,0,1,1) has held on to win from Kaisa (2,0,1,1), with Laura Dahlmeier (0,1,2,0) on the podium again. Hinz did well to get 4th after starting 12th, while Gabi went from 21 to 5; shame about the 2 misses at S4! Other gainers include Dzhyma (18 to 7), Tofalvi (who Mike Dixon pretty much wrote off yesterday, 24 – 8) and Kummer (29-12). Losers include – Vítková (3 – 11), Dunklee (9-18) and Varcin (8-21). Miri managed to get from 49th at the start to 33rd despite no less than 7 penalties! Kaisa the fastest today, with Hinz getting the best “isolated pursuit” time and Luise Kummer best on the range times and also the only 1 I can see who shot 19/20. With her penalties (for cross firing?), poor Franzi ended up 50th. VV is shown as 1,1,2,1 and in 11th place after being credited with the time she lost waiting at S4.

Nove Mesto; Men’s 12.5 Km Pursuit: Well, let’s see what the conditions are like for this one! Snow seems to have eased off a bit; can’t see how the wind is gusting at present – I wonder if Fak can actually shoot well 2 days in a row? Beatrix has had a fall on lap 1, that will have lost him 20 seconds or so; 43 seconds separate the top 10 at the first split – Fourcade is making up time even this early, but easing off a little at the 2nd split. In for S1 – Fak clear, so are Schempp and Fourcade with the Frenchman faster and out second; some good shooting here and the wind is kinder than it was earlier, although Shipulin has missed 2. Fak pulling away a little on the lap; Schempp staying with Fourcade at present; second prone – Fak clear again as is Fourcade but Schempp has missed 1; was that due to staying with MF? So – Fak leads away, MF now only 7.7 behind and Schempp now 30.3 behind just ahead of Slesingr and Nathan Smith (those 2 10/10) – again some good shooting here, several athletes 10/10. On the lap Schempp is holding the 2 leaders but the next group of 8 including JoBø, Lesser and Smith are a bit further back. In for S3; Fak and Fourcade both clear and out in that order with 6 seconds between them; Schempp also clear as are Lesser, Semenov, Smith – more great shooting! JoBø and Peiffer have a miss each; Böhm has dropped 2. Lesser and Semenov having a good race on the next lap; top 9 all 15/15; Garanichev has moved to 6th from 19th. Final shoot – Fak has pulled out a bit of time on Fourcade as they approach the range. One miss from Fak, and it’s his last shot (again!!). Fourcade and Schempp both clear and they leave the range in order Fak, MF, Schempp – only 1.4 between them. Semenov and Smith are 20/20 and are clear of Lesser who missed 1. Now for the final lap – Fak is leading but he hasn’t shaken off the other 2, and Semenov is closing them all down. The snow is getting heavier again; Fourcade seems to have slower skis today! Fak has pulled away a little, and Schempp is through Fourcade, who looks knackered! Semenov has dropped back a bit. Brilliant stuff from Jakov Fak – led from start to finish; Simon Schempp in second, Fourcade 3rd. Semenov gets 4th from Nathan Smith (great work by him) and Garanichev. Andi Birnbacher got 7th from 18th at the start, finishing just ahead of Erik Lesser and Arnd Peiffer with Lindström in 10th. Good gains by Garanichev and Birnbacher, and Simon Fourcade too (23 to 13). Anev went from 48 to 22, and EHS from 43 to 23; OEB had 5 penalties (1,1,3,0) and stayed in 35th, which is where he started. Going the other way, Landertinger from 12 to 34, and Beatrix 3 to 16; never really settled after that early fall? Garanichev fastest over the course and he also had the best isolated pursuit time; Simon Eder again the best for shooting and range times.

Oslo (Holmenkollen) – Women’s 15 Km Individual: This is the odd one, where not only are there no spare rounds, but there’s no penalty loop either – just a rather brutal 1 minute added to your time for each target missed! Looks like 96 starters, with Kaisa Mäkäräinen going no 2 and Darya Domracheva at 30; plenty of other favourites too as this really should suit the steady shooters – bit of an endurance event too, quite a lot of climbing in the course. Looks a bit misty today; IBU says the air temp is -2 with light winds. Kaisa is apparently just 23 points clear of Dasha in the overall points (not sure what they’ve done about discards in calculating that). First split time of the race and Kaisa has taken 20 seconds out of Fanny WSH already! Elise Ringen also quite slow there; is there something amiss with the Norwegian skis, as some pundits are saying? Mind you, Gabi Soukalová is going about the same speed. FWSH has also missed 1 at her first shoot (prone); Kaisa clear; Hildebrand and Usanova have also missed 1 but Oberhofer clear. Marie D-H is clear, as are Susan Dunklee, Ringen and Gabi; some good shooting so far. Currently after S1 it’s Kaisa from Karin Oberhofer and MDH. Kaisa in for her second shoot (in the individual you alternate so this is her first standing shoot) and clear again! Dasha through the first split and 3.9 slower than Kaisa; Tiril Eckhoff has missed 2 in her first prone; Franzi Hildebrand not shooting as well as she can; another miss at S2; Oberhofer has missed 2 but MDH is clear there, as is Gabi. Poor Valj has been through S1 just as the clag closes in a bit; 3 misses. Dasha shooting well at S1, but she’s missed the final target; visibility is not good! Now, one of my tips for today would be Dorothea Wierer – she’s clear at S2 and 10/10 but maybe a bit slow on the skis? Early starting Germans not having a good day; after S2 Franzi H is 1,1; Franzi Preuß is 0,2 . Kaisa already in for S3, and clear again; meanwhile Vítková (VV) is 10/10 after S2 and faster than Wierer; Eckhoff has missed another 3 at S2, and people are starting to talk about possible cancellation as the mist closes in further. After S3 MDH has missed 1, so Kaisa is currently fastest here by almost 2 minutes! Gabi has also missed 1 at S3, while Dasha is clear at S2. Wierer has gone clear at S3 and is second there for a while until VV also goes clear; she’s 48 seconds behind Kaisa at S3. As she exits, Kaisa is at S4 and she’s clear again!! Back at S1 Laura Dahlmeier is clear but over 25 seconds back on Kaisa’s time. It seems the track is getting slower too, especially on the climbs (?) where the snow is quite soft. Dasha at S3; this time she’s clear and out in 3rd place. Looking at the S4 stats Gabi is in 2nd with 1 miss but she’s over 3 minutes behind Kaisa – very slow for her, surely; she’s only a tiny bit faster than Franzi H who has one more penalty? VV has shot 20/20 but even she is almost a minute back on Kaisa! There goes my tip – Dorothea W has missed 2 in her final shoot; that must surely be the pressure? Iryna Varvynets (Ukr) has joined the 20/20 team but again her ski speed surely isn’t good enough for a podium? No – as Dzhyma (also Ukr) is also 20/20 and faster. Dasha is clear at S4 and only 10 seconds behind VV. Miri is at S1; 1 miss (her first) but the speed is pretty fair! On the final lap Dasha has taken time out of VV at the last split. At the finish Varvynets is into third, but she is only about 17 seconds ahead of Franzi H who had 2 minutes of penalties! Dasha is at the finish, and she’s into 2nd (great effort as VV was penalty free) which might limit her points loss to Kaisa if she stays there. Currently Kaisa, Dasha and VV on the podium; Hojnisz is also 20/20 but probably too slow to upset the podium; same for Heinicke – more 20/20s than expected! Rats – Vanessa Hinz has missed 3 on her last shoot; some good news though as Laura Dahlmeier has shot 20/20; why did they put her in group 3 as the snow is doing her ski speed no favours!? Aha, Miri clear at S3 – good stuff as her prone shooting is the one she has problems with since her injuries; bit slower than Franzi H though at the same stage with the same penalties. Laura D is in 4th at the finish, but 2:28 behind the winner, and over a minute slower than VV! Double rats – Miri has missed 3 in her final shoot; can’t see her qualifying for the world championship (needs a top 8 finish). So, Kaisa wins from Dasha and Vítková. Laura D is 4th ahead of Hojnisz and Dzhyma; 2 Germans (Franzi H 8th despite 2 penalties) in the top 10; 2 from Cze (VV and Gabi) and 2 from Ukraine (Dzhyma & Varvynets). What a surprise, fastest over the course was Kaisa, just ahead of Dasha. Not a good day for Norway; best result seems to be Ringen in 22nd over 5 minutes back with only 1 miss.

Men’s 20 Km Individual: 98 starters for this one, with Martin Fourcade the first away – I imagine he’s hoping for the same sort of race that Kaisa had from start number 2! Seem to have most of the big names in group 1 (but L’Abee-Lund and Peiffer go quite late on); no OEB today, no Svendsen and Tarjei Bø is also missing due to a virus! So, eight women shot 20/20; how will the men do? Almost 800 metres total climb today; bit of a beast! Martin F in for his first shoot and he’s adjusting his sights – whatever the reason, it works and he’s clear. Garanichev is faster still and clears his 5 to be the early leader at S1; Beatrix is the first to miss 1. Quentin FM was faster than Fourcade at first split and is clear at S1; Lindstrøm is even faster away – Lapshin faster still; Fak flying around the first lap. Shipulin clear too at S1, and he’s now the fastest out of the range; not for long though as Fak is also clear; at this stage he’s 21 seconds faster than Martin F! Böhm was good but lost time trying to get the gun back into the carry position; Schempp clear at S1; lots clear here. Martin F in for S2 (standing); seems to have got faster that lap, and he’s clear again. JT Bø is about 5 seconds faster at split 1 than even Fak! Rastorgujevs is at S2; he’s 10/10 but 23.4 behind Martin F. Lindstrøm also clear at S2 and much closer to the lead; JoBø clear at S1. Lapshin has missed 1 at S2; Shipulin is 10/10 and he’s 21.8 faster than Fourcade, but Fak has missed 1 here and so have Birnbacher and Böhm. Schempp is clear at S2; faster than Fourcade but 12.3 back on Shipulin. Martin F in for S3, and clear again – good shooting! Same for Garanichev, Weger and Soukup who follow out in that order, but Weger is almost 50 seconds behind the Russian. Rastorgujevs also clear at S3, just a tiny bit faster than Weger; Lindstrøm has missed 1 here. JT Bø clear at S2, about 10 seconds back on Shipulin; speaking of Anton, he’s in S3 and has missed 2; Fak is clear there though and back to 3rd. Gloom – Simon Schempp falls to the curse of the commentator (“he’s so reliable” etc) and also misses 2 at S3. Martin F is in for his final shoot and 20/20! Garanichev also 20/20 and only 4 seconds behind Fourcade. At S2 Chepelin and Simon Fourcade are 10/10 and in touch. Rastorgujevs has missed his last target – shame! JT Bø has also missed his 15th target at S3; Shipulin clear at S4 (and but for his penalties he’d have been amazingly fast!). Final split, and Martin F has increased his lead over Garanichev by another 8 seconds; great pacing. Semenov is also 20/20 and much faster than Weger; Chepelin (Blr) 15/15 and very close to Garanichev’s time, but he’s missed 2 at S4 as well. Fak even faster than Shipulin, both with 2 penalties though; JoBø losing time against Weger on the final lap. At the finish, it’s Martin Fourcade from Garanichev and Semenov; with Fak, Weger and Bø taking the next 3 places. Looking back at S2 none of the later starters are making an impact; L’Abee-Lund is clear at S3 and his 15/15 has got him up to 15th; he seems to be the best of the late starters so far; missed 1 at S4 though and he is relatively slow – Birkeland with one extra penalty is only 2.5 seconds slower after S4. OK – all finished and no change to the top 6; good win by Martin Fourcade, and a great effort by Fak to stay in the top 5 despite 2 penalties. Erik Lesser the best of the Germans in 9th with 1 penalty; Andi B in 11th with 2. Fak fastest over the course, 7.4 better than Fourcade; Lapshin best on total range time, even beating Eder!

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: Yet again the Germans, due to their selection method, have put Laura Dahlmeier in a later start group; hope the track doesn’t cut up! All very quick today; short distance and only the 2 shoots; Kaisa goes 24 and Dasha 32, which gives her the advantage of knowing the Finn’s split times and shooting scores. At S1 Valj Semerenko and Skardino were among those clear early on, but Susan Dunklee had a bad day, missing 3 in what seemed good conditions – perhaps the lack of fog put some of the athletes off? Vítková also missed 2 here but Marie D-H and Franzi H were clear, and so was Tiril Eckhoff who managed to remain the fastest out of S1 all race. Preuß and Gabi S also missed 1 and, crucially, so did Kaisa. By now the early starters were at S2; Skardino was clear but Valj, MDH and Tiril E were among those missing 1; Franzi H missed 2! For quite a while Anais Bescond was the fastest here, after shooting 10/10. We cut back briefly to S1 where Dasha was also clear and out 4th fastest; at S2 Kaisa has missed another 2 (second looked a bit like a split round, so a little unlucky?) At the finish Valj Semerenko took an early lead but with the 1 miss didn’t look likely to stay there as the shooting seemed to be improving among some of the later starters! Bescond looked favourite to take over, but I thought she was fading a little compared to Marie D-H, despite Marie having completed a penalty loop – sure enough Marie D-H was faster to the finish; currently MDH/Bescond/Wierer. Gabi managed to take away 3rd place despite her early penalty, but back at S2 Dasha was not only clear but fastest by a good margin! Laura Dahlmeier was also through S2 with no penalties but a couple other contenders (Yurlova, Crawford etc) had missed one; nice to see Hojnisz and Tofalvi among those also shooting 10/10 though. Podchufarova, one of the later starters, also managed to clear 10/10 and left S2 well in touch but has missed training after her injury (dog bite!) and faded a little on the final lap, to finish 7th. By that stage Dasha was finished and in the lead by 14.3 ahead of Laura D (who had skied the final lap even faster than Dasha; maybe she had eased back a tiny bit?) with Dorin-Habert in 3rd, and that’s how it stayed. Gabi was 4th, Anais Bescond 5th and Hojnisz 6th. Vítková was the fastest round the course today, with Romanova fastest for shooting and range time. Miri Gössner cleared her prone targets but missed 3 standing, which means she won't go to the World Championships - however that isn't all bad for her (she would almost certainly have been a reserve), as she can return to IBU races where she has done well. It's also encouraging that she has shot 5/5 in prone twice here, as after her accident her injuries meant she had to rework her prone position - seems to be working and the ski speed is coming back too!

Men’s 10 Km Sprint: No Svendsen, as he does now have a full blown cold, and OEB is also absent as he has decided to train/rest pre the Worlds Championships. Schempp goes 19, Martin Fourcade 27 – be interesting to see how some others, who seem to be coming back into form, might do – Weger, Lindstrøm, Shipulin, Semenov and Fak among them. Weger fast at the first split, and he’s in to S1 – all 5 down! Clear shoots from Slesingr and Lindstrøm too, as is Eder – Weger still fastest though. JoBø has started; shooting conditions are good, so today might be better for him? What happened to Windisch; 4 misses at S1 and Rastorgujevs has missed 3 at S1 too? Shipulin also clear though and close to Weger’s time; Schempp is fast through split 1, Semenov clear at S1 too, but a bit slower. JoBø is at S1 and clear – out in 1st place. Weger has missed 2 in the stand and Schempp 1 at S1 pity! S2 seems to be causing snags, Moravec is the first to shoot 10/10, but Birnbacher has also cleared and is faster; Lesser clear at S1 and in touch; Martin F is clear but 13 seconds from sticks down to first shot – leaves 8th almost 10 seconds back. Shipulin clear at S2 and very close to Birnbacher (and he’ll be told the split times on his last lap); Fak has missed 1 at S1. Quentin FM is also clear at S2 and will be trailing Fak on his next lap which might help pace him? Schempp, leader of the sprint standings, isn’t helping his efforts to stay there – a single miss at S2 as well (1,1); Bø shooting very fast at S2 but snatches his final shot and misses 1; about 21 seconds to go round the penalty lap. Erik Lesser has missed 1 at S2; Birnbacher has finished but Shipulin was inside his time at the last split – the Russian takes the lead by 3.1 but Fourcade has cleared 10/10! Currently at the finish it’s Shipulin, Birnbacher and QFM from Moravec, Semenov and Slesingr; as I type Ermits (Est) nips into 6th and Nathan Smith (0,1) is also faster than Slesingr. JoBø’s miss has cost him, in 5th but only +14.5 on Shipulin. Martin Fourcade takes some air over the last jump and he’s in the lead by 12.1 over Shipulin; interesting to see that Birkeland is 10/10 and out of S2 6.3 faster than Fourcade (commentators may not have noticed; ah now they have!). Next (final) split – Birkeland is now slower than Fourcade by 7 seconds, not even sure he’ll be on the podium at that rate? The Norwegians coaches are screaming at him on the last stretch; into 4th only 0.6 behind Birnbacher! Still a lot to go through S1 but at present nothing to worry the podium? Peiffer has now shot 10/10 and he’s only -1.5 on Birkeland; more crucially he’s 4.8 faster than Fourcade, but Martin’s last lap was incredible (although Landertinger was even faster!). Peiffer is still just marginally faster at the final split, but he’s losing time; Fourcade is looking worried! Now the German coaches are doing the shouting – Arnd Peiffer takes the win by 3.3 seconds (bet Martin regrets that jump, but it can’t have cost him anything like that margin!) so a great last few metres; pity it also took Andi B off the podium, but a good day for the Germans with late starter Doll in 11, Schempp in 13 and Lesser in 14! So, Peiffer gets his first win for a while, Fourcade second and Shipulin 3rd – all 10/10. Then Birnbacher, Birkeland and QFM, again all clear; Bø the best with a penalty in 8th. Martin F fastest round the course but only 0.3 faster than Peiffer; Martin only 41st in range time, 3 seconds slower than Arnd! Jakov Fak only 4 fastest today, 14.7 behind Fourcade.

Women’s 4 x 6 Km Sprint: Germany have, for some strange reason, decided to rest Franzi Hildebrand – good idea as she hasn’t had a break (Eurosport reckon it’s a foot injury), but they have replaced her with Miri Gössner. Now I am a real fan of Miri, but given her recent form I’m amazed she’s in a relay team (although there are spare rounds today). Let’s see how it goes; Ukraine leading at the first split (someone said they don’t have Valj today, but she’s on the list for leg 4; Belarus aren’t including Dasha!) – by the next split it’s Mali (Slo) ahead of Bescond (Fra) and Olsbu (Nor). In for S1: Wierer is clear and out first just ahead of Romanova (Rus) and Högburg (Swe); Hauser, one of the more reliable shots in women’s biathlon, has had a meltdown and is doing 4 penalty loops! Hinz needs 1 spare and leaves the range 5th. On the next leg Dunklee has moved up to 2nd; little surprised that Wierer is on leg one though! Quite a short loop so they are coming in for S2; Wierer is clear again and leads out; Puskarcikova (Cze) is 2nd with Hinz 3rd just ahead of Oslbu; Dunklee used 2 spares and is 9th. On the lap Bescond has moved to 2nd but Wierer is pulling away a little; Oslbu is just ahead of Hinz. First exchange – Italy lead; Gontier almost 20 seconds clear of Latuilliere with Gabi a close third; Ringen 4th ahead of Preuß. By the second split Gabi is in 2nd just ahead of France, but the next group are dropping back a little. S3 and the wind has changed; Gontier needs 1 spare but leads out from Gabi (1 spare), Preuß and Ringen (both clear). France needed all 3 spares and Latuilliere is now 6th; USA on one penalty loop. Next lap and Ringen seems to have lost almost 10 seconds – problem? In for the standing shoot – Gontier clear and out first; Gabi and Franzi Preuß also clear and out in that order; Ringen is on a penalty loop. France 4th, Canada 5, Russia 6. OK, next exchange and this is Miri’s leg; she looks cheerful! Italy (Sanfilippo) lead, but only by 4.8 seconds over Landova; Varcin going for France; Solemdal for Norway. By the second split the leading 3 are only separated by less than a second; gap of over 40 to the next group. In for S5 – Miri is clear!!!!! (Yes, I do know there’s a standing shoot to come!). Cze/Ita also clear and out 2/3; Varcin clear as is Shumilova and out 4/5 about 45 seconds back. Now, the crucial one – Miri has missed 2; Landova clear and Miri has them all down for 2 spares; Landova leads out with Miri 23.4 back just ahead of Sanfilippo; Varcin clear and out in 4th; Shumilova needs 2 spares and out 5th. Next lap and Miri has pulled back about 4 seconds at the first split, and another 3 by the next – fastest lap of the race so far? Final handover and Vítková has a gap of 18.5 over Laura Dahlmeier; Karin Oberhofer third with MDH taking the final leg for France; Russia still in touch and Podchufarova is (almost?) fit again and shooting well. On the lap Laura D is dropping back on VV; S7 – wind has changed again – VV uses 2 spares, Laura 1 and Oberhofer clear. Out in that order with Ger/Ita about 30 seconds back; Horn has cleared all 5! On the lap Karin O has just passed Dahlmeier, but they aren’t closing on VV. Final shoot – VV uses 1 spare and she’s one of the fastest on the circuit; out before the chasing group are in! Oberhofer clear and out in 2nd; Dahlmeier uses 2 spares letting MDH through as they exit the range; she needs to recover 5 seconds to get on the podium; not sure I’d bet on that! Sure enough MDH is pulling away and closing a little on Karin O, but I don’t think she has enough space to get up to her. Doesn’t seem as though Laura D is on her usual form today – she had 2 hard races here and was in a later start group yesterday in the sprint. The Czechs, favourites today, take the win (5 spares) ahead of Italy (2 spares) and France (5). Germany (6) are 4th; delighted for Italy who managed to hold on and win a medal! Even more delighted that Miri held up well on her leg; that should help her confidence. Good race, and another great performance by the Czechs – obviously singing is good for Gabi!

Men’s 4 x 7.5 Km relay: Wind seems to have picked up, and the light has become a bit variable too! On leg 1 we have (among others) Os (Nor), Garanichev (Rus), Simon Fourcade (Fra), Hofer (Ita) and Erik Lesser (Ger). Mike Dixon is tipping the French for the win, and they are in a very slight lead at split 1! First shoot – wind all over the place; Fourcade leads out from Lesser, Hofer and Mesotitch, all clear but Os needed 2 spares; Rastorgujevs is on the loop. In for S2; still all very close; Lesser clear again and leads out from Krcmar (Cze) and Hasilla (Svk); Garanichev is 6th despite 1 spare each time, Fourcade needing 3 spares and down to 13th. Lesser going well to the exchange but Garanichev is up to 2nd at the split. Handover, but Andi Birnbacher has only 2.8 seconds over Soukup (Cze) slight gap to Dyuzhev (Blr) then Ukr/Rus/Aut – only 10 seconds between that group. Eder (Aut) up to 3rd at the next split, working hard. By the next timing point Andi B and JS are neck and neck with Eder also with them; in for S3 – Tsvetkov out just ahead of Soukup and Andi B, all clear; Eder needs 1 spare and Dyzhev 3. Out in order Rus;Cze;Ger;Aut;Ukr;Blr. Eder is catching up the leaders again and Fak is up to 6th having made up time after the range. Tsvetkov is clear at S4 and leads out just ahead of Eder, Soukup, Zhyrnyi (Rus) and Andi B who needed a spare; Fak clear and 13.7 back on Russia. France 11 and Norway 17! Heading to the next exchange Tsvetkov seems to be pulling away, even making time on Fak, but later Fak speeds up and leads at the handover! At the exchange, Trsan (Slo) leads by 0.6 from Malyshko who has a slight lead over Peiffer, Grossegger and Slesingr – at the next split only 2.9 between those 5; by the next split the gap is only 0.9!! In for S5 – lots of spares needed here; Grossegger (2 spares) leads Slesingr (2 spares) and Peiffer (3), with Ukraine, Russia and Canada in touch; amazing that Malyshko is still so far up after a penalty loop. Coming in for S6 the lead 3 are still very close, and the wind is still causing problems – especially for Slesingr, who ends up with 2 penalty loops; Peiffer leads out fractionally ahead of Grossegger, Malyshko up to third some 20 seconds back. QFM has also had to do a loop so France come out 12th, but JoBø has used 3 spares in total and is up to 14th. Peiffer is doing a great job on his last lap; almost 20 seconds ahead at the last split; at the exchange Schempp leads off with a gap of 31.4 over Landertinger, with Shipulin 3rd and Semakov (Ukr) 4th; Green of Canada is out in 5th but over a minute back – Martin Fourcade is over 2 minutes back in 12th. So, final leg and Shipulin is catching Landertinger, passing him by the 2nd split. In for S7; Schempp needs 1 spare for his 5th target; Shipulin shoots very fast and clears all 5 – he is out 2nd and now only 15 seconds back, Landertinger clear and 3rd, Italy (De Lorenzi) up to 4, Moravec 5 and Brendan Green 6. Fourcade has cleared all 5 very quickly, but he’s still 2 minutes back. Final shoot – Shipulin arrives as Schempp is on target 2 and he misses it – 1 spare needed and Shipulin is clear, out almost together and the last lap is looking tactical; they have over 50 seconds to Landertinger in third. Moravec and Green are also clear in 4/5 and de Lorenzi holds on to 6 despite needing 3 spares. Russian and German coaches are running up that hill, shouting advice – I wonder if they can translate each others plans? They are through the final timing point only 0.4 apart – now Shipulin goes, it’s the last little hill, Schempp just ahead but Anton Shipulin comes back and just takes it – what a superb race! Russia (1 penalty & 5 spares) win from Germany (0+6) with Austria (0+6) third ahead of the Czechs (2+5!!) with Canada 5th and France 6th.

Annoyingly I completely forgot about the mixed relay yesterday evening! Apparently it was run in less than ideal conditions; soft, deep snow and above freezings temperatures (is this really Kontiolahti?). Anyway, all credit to the Czech Republic (VV, Gabi, Slesingr and Moravec) for taking the win in such conditions, full detail on the IBU site, link here

Men’s 10 Km Sprint: Still a bit warm, and with a lot of starters the course may well cut up; quite windy too. Five start groups today to try and get the top ranked athletes away before the course deteriorates; only 10 starters away and it’s starting to break up already; Svendsen has a stumble on his first lap, costing him a few seconds; Lukas Hofer the fastest man at present, but he’s missed 1 in his prone; Rastorgujevs has missed 2 there. JT Bø is going fast on lap 1; EHS is in for S1 – two misses but Garanichev is clear here and best out of S1 at present, just ahead of Nathan Smith who is also clear. JoBø fastest into the range and he is clear – out just over 3 seconds faster than Garanichev. What an upset; Simon Schempp has missed 4 in his first shoot – that might cost him a globe? Conditions must be tricky – 23 have finished S1, only 9 clear – that becomes 10 as Martin Fourcade gets 5/5; only 0.3 slower than JT Bø. Svendsen is through S2 and he’s missed another 2; Garanichev has also missed 2 and Nathan Smith 1; the Canadian is best here at present. JoBø has just missed his 10th, but he’s still in the lead at S2. Meanwhile OEB is at S1, and he has missed his 5th target, Erik Lesser clear; track is apparently breaking up badly which won’t help the later starters. Liadov was looking promising, but he’s missed 2 at S2; another upset as Martin Fourcade misses 3 here and Schempp has missed 3 more! JoBø’s 1 miss looks a lot more competitive now, and he takes over the lead from Nathan Smith! OEB has missed 2 more at S2; with 30 through there no one has shot 10/10 yet; Lesser drops his 10th! At last – Tarjei Bø has cleared the lot, but he’s almost 20 seconds slower than his brother who had 1 penalty loop completed at this point. On the final lap it’s a race between Tarjei Bø and Erik Lesser for the bronze medal, as it stands at present – Bø takes it and that leaves both Bø brothers potentially on the podium. Jaroslav Soukup has become the 2nd person to shoot 10/10, but he’s over 20 seconds behind JoBø’s time at S2; faded a bit on the final lap but into 11th, just ahead of Martin Fourcade. Looks like a win for JT Bø, with Nathan Smith getting the silver and Tarjei Bø the bronze. Simon Fourcade the best of the French in 4th, and Erik Lesser best German in 5th. JoBø fastest over the course from Slesingr and Martin F; OEB best on the range from Rösch and Malyshko. Looks like Simon Schempp won’t even qualify for the pursuit – not a good day! I can only see 2 people with a perfect 10/10; T Bø and Soukup!

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: Again, a lot of big names going as early as possible in case the track breaks up; rumour has it that the wind might get up, but I can’t see whether that’s true as Eurosport are still with the langlauf – lots on today! OK – we are with the biathlon and the weather looks a bit awful – snow, wind and less than optimal visibility! That’s confusing – Dasha is in the new Belarus colours. Karen Oberhofer is first into S1; the wind has eased a little but she’s missed 2; Gerekova and Tiril Eckhoff are both clear, but so is Valj and she’s faster than Eckhoff. Kaisa is in for S1, but today’s upsets continue – 3 misses. Gabi is on the range now; clear but Dasha has missed 1 as the wind gusts – up to 20 mph according to the commentators. So, at present, after S1 it’s Valj, Tiril, Gerekova and Gabi; Dasha 13.3 back and Kaisa over a minute behind. Dunklee has missed 1, but Marie D-H is clear and she’s even faster than Valj. Tiril is in for S2 - 3 misses; Valj manages with just 1 miss which is pretty good in the conditions; no one else that good as yet. Kaisa in and she’s missed 2 more, Gabi has missed 3 here and Dasha has missed her first 2 – it gets worse as she has missed 4 here – 5 in total. Elisa Gasparin was looking good in S2; missed her 9th and took ages over the last shot; almost a minute behind Valj. Now, MD-H is in and with just 1 miss she’s faster than Valj; snow is looking very slushy on the loop! Valj Semerenko has finished – good time but maybe not enough to hold off MD-H? Under the radar Weronika N-Z has shot the perfect 10/10 and leaves S2 almost 10 seconds ahead of MD-H. Back at S1, Horn has missed all 5 and Vítková 2, and at S2 Preuß has dropped 3 after a good start. Marie D-H has beaten Valj’s time; Weronika can’t match that pace and goes 2nd. Snow has stopped so the track might get a little faster. Laura Dahlmeier has had a relatively bad day on the range, but she’s fast – she’s managed 4th at present, well ahead of Hildebrand who had 1 penalty fewer. Of the other big names, Vítková has missed 4 in all and Wierer 3. Guzik (Pol) with just 1 miss has got into 5th; conditions are looking better – Abramova also doing well and into 6th; Dubarezava has 2 penalties but is close to Abramova’s time after S2; Gwizdon and Mali also well in touch here. This looks like a win for Marie D-H, and for the pursuit she will have a good lead over some of what might have been expected to be the other main contenders (Dasha almost 2 minutes back, Kaisa 2:20, VV 1:22 etc). So far only Weronika N-Z has 10/10; lovely standing shoot from Emilia Yordanova to clear the 5 really fast but she had 2 misses in prone. Looking back down the lists only Yue Wang could now shoot 10/10 to join WN-Z with a perfect score, but the wind seems to be getting up again and it’s snowing too – no, she’s missed 2. Amazingly the best course time was set by Laura Dahlmeier, perhaps now the Germans will let her start further up the order? Kaisa was 3rd fastest, just better than Dasha. Valj best on range time. A well deserved win for Marie D-H (one of the commentators said her first?), from Weronika N-Z and Valj Semerenko. Laura Dahlmeier the best German in 4th, Shumilova best Russian in 6th, among today’s surprises - best Finn Laukkanen in 16 and best Belarussian Dubarezava in 12! Dasha down in 25, Kaisa in 35.

Men’s 12.5 Km Pursuit: It might take a brave man to bet against JoBø today; he has 50 seconds advantage over Martin Fourcade for example. Doesn’t seem to be live on Eurosport, so I tried the IBU feed – it now has a commentary, which is useful although maybe a bit US focussed! Looks better weather today; they are at S1 already and both JoBø and Nathan Smith have missed 2 here, but Tarjei, Simon Fourcade and Erik Lesser are clear; Simon F leads out from Lesser and …. Martin Fourcade, who is only 5.3 back! Here we go for S2 and JoBø is only 15 seconds or so back. Lesser, Simon F, Tarjei and Iliev are clear, Martin F has 1 penalty, JoBø has 2 more; Lesser’s fantastic fast shoot has him leading from Simon F, T Bø and Vladimir Iliev (Bul); Tim Burke also clear but slower than Slesingr who has one penalty. OEB is also clear and 8th after S2. That climb, just on the way into the range (the wall) looks awful – this is a tough course. In for the first of the standing shoots; Lesser clear again – T Bø, Simon F, OEB  and Iliev have all missed 1, as has Martin F, JoBø has missed yet another 2 – so much for my prediction! Lesser leads out, 22.4 ahead of Simon F, then Iliev, T Bø and Slesingr. Now, what will this situation do to Erik Lesser? Final shoot – Erik Lesser has cleared the lot! Simon F drops 2, Iliev 1 but Tarjei is clear and he’s 2nd as they leave; Shipulin up to 3rd just ahead of Slesingr and Iliev. What a superb effort by Erik Lesser; this will be his first gold medal; Bø, Shipulin and Slesingr pretty much neck and neck about 30 seconds behind him. Erik Lesser takes a really well deserved gold after shooting 20/20; Anton Shipulin (0,1,0,0) wins the silver and Tarjei Bø (0,0,1,0) the bronze. Slesingr 4th with OEB 5th just ahead of Iliev. Major gains today include – Anton Shipulin from 18 to 2, OEB 19 to 5, Semenov 26-11 and Eder 46-12. Losers – the most obvious was JT Bø from 1st to 31st with 8 penalty loops, Nathan Smith 2–13, Garanichev 6-22. Simon Eder was best for range time; Julian Eberhard had the fastest course time, ahead of Fak and Svendsen (who went from 36 to 19 despite 3 penalties).

Women’s 10 Km Pursuit: As Eurosport seem to be wedded to tennis and athletics today (despite what they said about biathlon coverage yesterday), back to the slightly grating commentary on the IBU feed. Firstly – yesterday’s gold for MDH was apparently not just her first championship gold, it was her first individual win! Also a best for Weronika N-Z. Race underway; Marie D-H holding a reasonable gap; Laura D seems to be closing a bit on Valj? In for S1 – MDH and WNZ clear, Laura misses 1 but Valj has missed 3! That puts Laura about 57 seconds back on MDH with Shumilova clear and just behind her; Dasha among those who are clear but she’s back in 19. On the lap the gap between the leading 2 is steady; Laura not catching but she is pulling away from Shumilova a little. This commentary is a little odd and it’s not just the pronunciation, come back Patrick & Mike! In for S2 and MDH is clear again and quite fast too, but Weronika has missed 1. Laura is clear and faster on the range than Shumilova, who also clears. Dasha up to 16, despite a miss here; Kaisa missed 2 at S1, but clear here and up to 22. Next lap the gaps look pretty steady for the first 5; I see Dorothea Wierer is making up places and 10/10 at present. First standing shoot – MDH slower this time and she’s missed 2; so has WNZ but Laura is clear, she’s out in 2nd and now just 20 seconds back; a gap of about 23 seconds to WNZ and Shumilova; Dasha up to 7 (0,1,0). The gap between MDH and LD is again stable, but the 2 of them are pulling away slightly although Dasha is closing down WNZ and Shumilova. Last shoot – MDH has missed 1 but so has Laura; out MDH 27.3 ahead of Laura – Shumilova clear and into third ahead of WNZ. Gabi is clear and 5th just ahead of Franzi Hildebrand. Dasha has missed 1 and is out 8th – can she catch Guzik and Franzi? Last lap – MDH holding her advantage over Laura but Shumilova has fallen letting WNZ through into bronze – Dasha through Guzik, but not closing on Franzi. A superb second gold for Marie Dorin-Habert (obviously got the taste for it), Laura Dahlmeier gets silver and Weronika N-Z the bronze – second medal in 2 days! Poor Shumilova is 4th after her fall, Gabi 5th, Franzi H 6th (so that’s not 2 Germans in the top 5, commentators) and Dasha 7th; Kaisa in 12th despite 3 penalties. Nice to see Amanda Lightfoot in this pursuit, finishing 48th. Gains – Gabi up from 18 to 5, Dasha 25 to 7, Kaisa 35 to 12 and Podchufarova 45 to 27. Going the other way, Gwizdon 7-17, Valj 3-19 (with 6 penalties, taking after JTB!), Mali 8-20 and Dubarezava 11-33. No surprises about the 2 fastest course times – Kaisa ahead of Dasha but with Dunklee third! Best range time to Varvynets

Women’s 15 Km Individual: Reminder – no loops, just a 1 min penalty for every miss! Some startlist gambles, with nations betting on conditions shifting – Norway opting for later starts in groups 3/4 for example presumably hoping the colder conditions will make the tracks speed up, although Gabi is away number 4. However, the forecast seems a bit off as it’s cooler at the start than expected and not as windy either. No MDH today and no Franzi Preuß (both resting); oddly the Russians are resting Glazyrina, who historically (I think) seems to do well in this format. This race is also the last Individual for the women this year, so this will settle not just the World Champion, but also the small crystal globe – as it stands before the race Dasha and Kaisa are tied in the lead on 114, with Vítková third on 88 and Franzi Hildebrand on 72. OK – race has started and Anais Bescond is the first away. Early pace setter at the first split point looks like Karin Oberhofer; early starters are at S1 (prone) and Bescond, Cook and Gabi are clear; Hauser however has missed 2 – Gabi leads out of the range at present. Oberhofer also goes clear and she’s faster than Gabi, but Laura Dahlmeier has gone faster at split 1. Sadly Franzi H has missed 1 at S1 and so has Laura Dahlmeier; Bescond in for S2 (standing) and she misses her 10th, but Gabi is clear; so is Oberhofer and she’s still faster. Rasimoviciute-Brice is not having a good day – 3 misses at S1 and all 5 at S2; Dasha clear at S1 as is VV. Kaisa has started and is fast; Virolaynen is through S2 and 10/10, and so is Cook – Kaisa at S1; clear and just fractionally faster than Oberhofer. Franzi H clear at S2, but Laura D has missed another; Gabi in for S3, her 2nd prone – bit lucky with the last one but all clear! Hard to keep up with so many starters; the TV director is frantically flicking between shoots and the wall; Dasha at S2 but she’s missed 3 (!), drops her to 16th; VV much better, clearing 10/10. At present S1 – Kaisa, Karin O and Dasha; S2 – Karin O, Gabi and VV; S3 – Gabi, Karin (despite a miss here), Wierer; Kaisa drops 1 at her S2. Gabi in for her last shoot – missed the 19th! Karin O has missed her 1st at S4 and then 2 more – pity. After S4 Gabi is just fastest but Dot Wierer is less than 5 seconds back and Virolaynen also in touch – all with 1 miss overall. Kaisa in for S3 – 1 more miss (unlucky – split round?). Gabi has finished – really wiped out! Wierer pulling back time at the final split over Gabi; +1.6 now – she can’t pull that last bit back though and goes 2nd, Virolaynen goes into 3rd. After S3 Cook is still clear, but slow over the snow – sadly she’s missed 4 at S4. Dasha is through S4 but 0,3,0,1 – pressure on Kaisa at S4 but she must be favourite now for the globe? She’s clear here – 0,1,1,0 and out 4th; she needs to gain 14 seconds on Virolaynen to get on the provisional podium; she is flying, shouting to clear the track of slower skiers! Kaisa was +38.4 after S4, +25.7 next split, and +5.4 at the split on the wall – what a fantastic lap – she goers into 2nd just 1.2 behind Gabi! Back at the very first split Tiril Eckhoff, the last to start, has just gone fastest. At S1 Yurlova is clear and into 3rd there, but Eckhoff has missed 3; maybe the Norwegian gamble has backfired? Ekaterina Yurlova also clear at S2 and in touch; Kummer also 10/10 but slower. Yurlova has just gone clear at S3 and she’s in to 2nd place; in for the final time and she’s cleared the lot – the only 20/20 of the evening! She’s out 32.8 faster than Gabi but there is only 1.6 seconds between the top 3 – Gabi, Kaisa and Dot W; we need to watch the split times (Gabi is off the phone, and looking a bit worried?) First split and Yurlova’s lost some 4 seconds; final split on the wall and she’s still 26.8 faster than Gabi – she’s over the line and that’s a real upset! Ekaterina Yurlova has shot the perfect score and wins; Gabi takes silver, Kaisa bronze and poor Wierer gets nothing in 4th place. Nice to see Kaisa congratulate the Russian. Laura D best German in 6th (1,1,0,0); Dasha down in 16th. Kaisa, not surprisingly, fastest round the course with Laura D 2nd ahead of Dasha! Wierer just better than Virolaynen on range time. Men's race tomorrow, same time.

Men’s 20 Km Individual: The IBU site says air temperature 2 degrees with light winds; the wind seems to be building a little – still less than the women’s race though. Now, 127 starters today! Good mix of names; Semenov (the red bib holder) at 12, Svendsen at 17 ; Peiffer & T Bø go 104/5. Martin Fourcade goes number 34, just after Joel Sloof (he’ll be looking over his shoulder soon!). Interesting to see if the late starters will be faster today? Tracks are salted and quite fast anyway, which puts a premium on clean shooting, especially with that 1 minute penalty for every miss. Jakov Fak is off fast – very dynamic style, although at 2.2 Km he’s a tiny bit slower than Lukas Hofer! Early starters at S1; Simon Fourcade clear but Slesingr has missed 1; Garanichev has missed 2, so has Hofer! Toivanen was lucky; a split round, but the target fell and he’s clear too. Semenov has missed 1 – he was on 102 points at the start in the small globe, but Slesingr is only 20 points behind (82) – Garanichev on 80, Lesser on 75, JT Bø on 72; could be close today. Meanwhile Fak is clear and now fastest at S1; EHS also clear and in touch as are Erik Lesser and Simon Schempp. Looking back at the first split, Nathan Smith is going well – he goes clear at S1 and is fastest out of the range, ahead of Fak and JT Bø. Simon Fourcade is at S2 and clear; his brother is now fastest at 2.2 Km. Semenov goes clears at S2; lying 4th at present; pushed down a place by Fak despite his miss at S2. Martin Fourcade is clear at S1, and faster than Smith; EHS clear at S2 and now fastest here – nice shooting. There is a faller – looks like Shipulin (yes), and he then needs a magazine at S2 which also costs him time, but he clears - good recovery. Lovely clearance by Lesser at S2; nicely in touch, but Schempp has missed 1. Garanichev at S3 and he’s clear there – pity about the 2 missed at S1; Simon Fourcade is 15/15 but Nathan Smith has missed 1 at S2 – skiing fast though; JoBø is 10/10 and fastest after S2. Semenov clear at S3, and 4th there; Martin Fourcade has missed 1 at S2; after the range he’s 34 seconds back on Bø in 7th. Svendsen adjusts his sights at S3 – obviously worked as he’s clear; 15/15 which gives him almost 20 seconds lead over Simon Fourcade. Erik Lesser joins the 15/15 club and is in touch but Schempp has missed 1 here; Simon Fourcade has cleared all 20! Bad news for Canada; Nathan Smith has missed 2 at S3 [and another 2 at S4]; wind seems a little stronger and JoBø has missed 1. Crucially Sergey Semenov is clear again at S4, so 19/20 – 3rd out of the range so still a chance of the globe! Martin Fourcade clears S3 and despite his 1 miss he’s only 22.9 behind EHS – however EHS shoots 20/20 (1 very lucky split round!) and he may have saved something for the last lap? Erik Lesser has missed 1 at S4 and I can’t see him on the podium in this race. JoBø clears S4 and out 4th; 17 seconds behind Semenov. Martin Fourcade has shot 19/20, clearing S4 and already 3.5 faster than Svendsen! Svendsen seemed to slow just before the line, hope he doesn’t regret that! Nice to see Lee Jackson in the top 25 at present after S3 (0,1,0). On the final lap, Martin F is at 18.2 Km and now 10.8 faster than EHS; at 19.3 Km the gap has grown to 16.3 – so, Martin Fourcade takes the lead from Svendsen by 20.9 seconds – remembering yesterday, will he be giving interviews? Meanwhile Ondrej Moravec has really pushed it on his final lap and goes 3rd, pushing Simon Fourcade off the provisional podium; Semenov down to 5th but he’s beaten Slesingr, Garanichev and Lesser. Of the later starters Lindstrøm has just missed 1 at S2, Beatrix has missed 1 at each of the first 2 shoots. Peiffer has missed 1 at S2; OEB had 1 miss at S1 but cleared the rest; he might beat Semenov but maybe not Moravec? No, OEB goes into 6th, just behind Semenov. Rats – Arnd Peiffer has missed 2 in his final standing shoot! I think that’s pretty much it – a brilliant win by Martin Fourcade ahead of Emil Hegle Svendsen with Ondrej Moravec taking the bronze. Almost certain that Semenov has won the crystal globe for the individuals this season. Interesting to look at the statistics – Martin Fourcade obviously fastest over the course, but by only 5.8 over Slesingr with Schempp 3rd; best Norwegian Svendsen in 14th (although OEB was better in pure ski time without penalties) – wonder if they have a preparation snag? Amazingly Schempp was even faster than Fourcade on the 5th lap! Arwidson fastest for total range time just ahead of OEB. Finally, a good result for Lee Jackson (0,1,0,1) finishing in 39th (actually ahead of Nathan Smith, although he did have 5 misses in all).

Women’s 4 x 6 Km relay: First leg includes Puskarcikova (Cze), Hildebrand (Ger), Varvynets (Ukr), Skardino (Blr), Bescond (Fra), Olsbu (Nor), Glazyrina (Rus) and Hojnisz (Pol) –  the Czech Republic look strong; Norway do have a team of past winners but their form so far hasn’t been too impressive lately; however, this is biathlon, so anything could happen! Here we go – must remember that Belarus have a new colour scheme! Through the first split, only 8 seconds between the first 20; Dunklee well up! In for the first shoot; Franzi H clear and out first from Skardino and Glazyrina; Olsbu needing 2 spares, same for Dunklee. Puskarcikova nicely in touch as are Italy and Poland (and Suzuki from Japan too). By the timing point on the wall Franzi is 10 seconds clear; already in for S2 – Franzi H needs 2 spares, but Hojnisz clears and leads out from Glazyrina, Vittozzi and Bescond; Dunklee clears here and back up to 7th, Franzi drops to 10th. First handover – Franzi H and Susan Dunklee have pulled some time back; Gwizdon takes over for Poland, just 0.4 clear of Virolaynen with Dreissigacker (USA) third! Franzi Preuß is 6th, just over 12 seconds back, Gabi Soukalová is back in 12th, just over 26 seconds back. As the lap continues Karin Oberhofer gets Italy up to 2nd, pulling out a little on Russia and USA. In for S3 - Virolaynen clears and she’s out first from Oberhofer; Romania (Piscoran) third and Gabi up to 4th. Franzi P needs 1 spare but she’s out 5; Solemdal used 3 spares as did Dreissigacker and poor Gwizdon is on the penalty loop. Heading towards S4 Gabi and Franzi P have passed Piscoran; next standing shoot and Oberhofer is missing! Gabi goes clear and leads out of the range, Karin O uses all 3 spares to salvage 2nd ahead of Franzi P (1 spare) with Piscoran (1) back up to 4th. Karin pulling back time on Gabi and so is Franzi P; Latuilliere up to 4th. Third leg; Karin O has passed Gabi as they approach so Nicole Gontier leads Landova and Hinz out of the exchange – just 10 seconds between them. Braisaz away 4th for France; Belarus fall at the exchange – was there a touch? Vanessa Hinz pulling back time, Landova leading from Gontier as they come in for S5; Hinz clear others needing spares; Landova and Braisaz looking shaky! Vanessa H leads out from Gontier, Yurlova (remember her!) and Abramova (Ukr). Landova used 3 spares and is 5th; Braisaz had a penalty loop and slips to 8th. Hinz turning up the pace on the lap, but her standing average isn’t as hot as her prone; worrying for us German supporters and the commentators keep mentioning it! In for S6; Vanessa delights me and confounds the commentators by needing just 1 spare. Yurlova clear (10/10) and 20 seconds back as they leave, Gontier used 2 spares and out 3rd – Landova and Abramova on the penalty loop! On the lap Vanessa holds Yurlova; Gontier 3rd with Braisaz coming up to 4th after a much better second shoot. Final leg and Laura Dahlmeier has about 30 seconds in hand over Shumilova, Dorothea Wierer almost a minute back in 3rd with MDH 4th. Laura D has pulled out from Shumilova and Doro W – good speed, same as MDH and Dasha; S7 and Laura clears! Doro also clear, Shumilova 1 spare; MDH and Dasha also using spares, Vítková on the penalty loop. Laura out of the range just about a minute clear of Shumilova who has Doro right on her heels; MDH ahead of Tiril Eckhoff and Valj. OK – final shoot; MDH is closing on Doro and Shumilova – Laura clears again – oh you lovely German team! Meanwhile MDH is also clear and out 2nd just fractionally ahead of Doro (1 spare); Shumilova (2) about 10 seconds behind them. Good fight for silver and bronze, MDH has the advantage at 5.1 Km and she’s better on the wall. Germany cruise to a well deserved win (0+6), France (1+9) take silver (another medal for MDH!) and Italy (0+9) bronze, Russia get 4th, Norway up to 5th thanks to Tiril E. Czechs down in 8th, which isn’t bad after 3 penalty loops and 11 spares.

Men’s 4 x 7.5 Km relay: 27 teams including Britain today; it seems Eurosport aren’t joining the race until later, so back to the IBU video. Leg 1 includes Garanichev, Bjørndalen (part of a very strong looking Norwegian team with both Bø brothers and Svendsen), Lesser and Simon Fourcade. I had wondered why Andi Birnbacher wasn’t here – apparently he’s ill and won’t be racing in these championships. Lead swapping around as they approach the wall for the first time; Lowell Bailey leading into the range; lots of clean shooting and Erik Lesser leads out from Simon F and OEB. Arwidson needs 2 spares, but Garanichev has had a nightmare and is on the penalty loop. Mesotitch well in touch and moving to the front by the next time split; top 10 only separated by 3.9 seconds. In for S2, a few more spares used this time – Simon F is clear and leads out from OEB and Erik L (top 3 have used no spares), but this time Mesotitch is on the penalty loop. OEB has closed a little on Simon F, Erik L a little slower on the snow; Krcmar up to 4th – OEB is past and pulling away; he will be handing over to Tarjei Bø who leaves the exchange area 1.3 clear of Beatrix; Böhm is 3rd 6.4 back with just over 10 seconds advantage over Soukup. Lukas Hofer well in touch on the lap and Soukup has had a fall which has left him a broken pole! Volkov is slowly pulling back the time that Russia’s loop cost them. In for S3 – Böhm is clear, so is Bø but Beatrix needs 1 spare; Böhm leads out from Bø, Beatrix still 3rd and Hofer up to 4th, Nordgren 5th for the USA; Volkov used 2 spares and has lost much of the time he gained on the lap. In for S4 now – Eurosport still haven’t joined. Beatrix uses only 1 spare to lead out, Böhm 2 spares which lets the clean shooting Hofer into 2nd; Soukup 4th, Weger up to 5th, Bø needed all 3 spares, dropping him to 7th. Hofer has lost a pole on the lap, but luckily right next to an Italian coach who had a spare! France lead at the exchange, QFM just ahead of Bormolini (Ita) and Peiffer; JoBø is 5th but only 11.2 back – his brother has pulled back a little time and JT is going mad on his lap! The pace has really picked up now; Peiffer just leads QFM at the next split but Bø and Bormolino are right with them; Swiss and Czechs also in the mix. S5 Bø and Peiffer both clear, QFM 1 spare but Bormolini is on the penalty loop. Out in order Peiffer, Bø, Slesingr and Wiestner (Sui); Malyshko has got Russia up to 8th, just 40 seconds off the lead. All still very close as they head for S6. Peiffer is clear and leading out, Slesingr and Bø need 2 spares and are out in that order; QFM is clear and back in 4th; Wiestner 5th and Grossegger 6th. On the lap Arnd P is holding off Slesingr and Bø but QFM  is losing time on them. Final exchange – Simon Schempp leads away; Svendsen just ahead of Moravec about 15 seconds back. Martin Fourcade is 5th about 40 seconds back. Last prone shoot; Schempp has lost a little on the lap, but he’s clear and leads out, EHS also clear but he’s tripped which will cost a little time, still 2nd but Moravec needs all 3 spares, letting Martin F through to 3rd. Gaps staying pretty steady on the lap for the top 3; Fourcade isn’t closing down Svendsen. The final shoot – Schempp needs 1 spare, so does Svendsen, Fourcade clear; Simon Schempp leads out, 15 seconds ahead of EHS who has barely 10 seconds lead over Fourcade. Shipulin up to 4th ahead of Landertinger and Moravec. Now – 6.1 Km split, Schempp has pulled out 4 seconds on EHS who has lost a tiny bit to Fourcade. At 6.8 Km Simon Schempp has increased his lead to 20.9 but Fourcade seems to have accepted he won’t catch Svendsen – gap back to 10 seconds. So, Germany win both relays – superb effort! Norway are in silver and France take the bronze. Russia 4th ahead of Austria and the Czech Republic.

Women’s 12.5 Km Mass Start: Big question – can Dasha get a medal today? MDH already has 4 medals, and she likes the Mass Start too; obviously she is on form. Kaisa has blistering speed as we saw; Eckhoff, Soukalová etc and the Germans also in the mix - too close to call today! From the start Dasha is pushing the pace, hoping to take her competitors into territory they feel uncomfortable in. At 1.8 Km Dasha has a 6.7 second lead from Oberhofer and Dahlmeier; Kaisa almost 10 seconds back, MDH 14th. On to S1 and Dasha goes clear to lead out ahead of Yurlova, MDH and Weronika N-Z; all also clear, as are Preuß, Hildebrand and Dahlmeier, among others. Wierer has missed 1 and Kaisa has missed 3, as has Vítková! Second time up the wall; Dasha 8.4 ahead of Franzi Hildebrand, Gabi third – Kaisa well over a minute back. In for the second prone – Dasha clear again; Dahlmeier has missed 1; MDH and Tiril E missed 2! Dasha leads out with Virolaynen only 6.5 behind, just ahead of Preuß, Hildebrand, Yurlova and Gabi. At the next split Franzi H has moved into 2nd; Dasha isn’t pulling away as fast as I might have expected; wall time again – the chasing group is holding up well, and it includes Valj who is gaining places. In for the first standing shoot – Dasha has missed her first and last. Valj clean and into the lead ahead of Franzi H, Franzi P and Gabi – all within 4 seconds. Laura D up to 5th, Dasha out 8th 36 seconds back. Virolaynen has missed 3 here. Franzi H has lost a pole and about 10 seconds as a result. Valj and Gabi are neck and neck on the wall with Franzi P close. Final shoot – Gabi fast but she’s missed 1, so has Franzi P – Valj is clear and leads off into the final lap Franzi’s P and H behind with Gabi close; Dasha clear and just 6 seconds behind Gabi. Next split and Valj is losing time to Franzi P who has left Franzi H a little behind; Karin Oberhofer is very close to her ahead of Gabi and Dasha. Last split – Preuß has cut the gap to 7 seconds; Karin O is 3rd but only just ahead of Dasha, Gabi just ahead of Franzi H. Valj holds on to take the gold; Franzi Preuß gets silver and Karin Oberhofer has held off Dasha to get bronze - what a great race by her! Dasha 4th, Gabi 5th, Franzi H in 6 just ahead of Laura D – 3 Germans in the top 10! Kaisa in 15th after 4 penalties in total, so Dasha gains some points in the overall - all very close. The usually reliable Dorothea Wierer must have had an off day – 6 penalties in total; the same as Abramova and Vítková!

Men’s 15 Km Mass Start: Nice gentle (relatively) start, no Dasha sprints here; Garanichev has broken a pole. Quick spurt from Martin Fourcade on the wall, perhaps getting a little more time to settle on the range. Lots of athletes clear at S1 (20 of them), Lesser leads out from Shipulin, JT Bø, Martin F and OEB. Simon Eder has 1 miss, so have Slesingr, Bailey Moravec, Soukup, Burke; Nathan Smith has 2. Interesting to see Rösch well up on the lap, now skiing for Belgium – be quite something to see him win a medal! Quite a bunch as they head to S2; Lesser shooting fast and he’s clear, so is JoBø and he leads Erik out from OEB, Simon F, Svendsen and Eder; Martin F has missed 1, so have Shipulin, Schempp and Rösch – lots of change! On the next lap Martin F has pulled back a lot of time on the easier part of the course; still very close and it’s a large leading group; 20 separated by less than 10 seconds. In for S3, few more misses – Simon F leads out OEB, Eder, Moravec, Green and Liadov – Martin F has missed 2 here, so have Lesser, Shipulin, JoBø and Slesingr. At the next split there is a leading group of only 4, and they are pulling away. Germans not doing too well at present; Arnd P has missed 4! Simon F seems to be slowing the race; can Martin come back? The leading group is now 8 strong and the chasers are much closer as they go up the wall. Final shoot – OEB clear, as are Moravec and Tarjei Bø; out in order OEB, Tarjei Bø, Moravec, Fak, Schempp; Simon F has missed 1 and so has his brother, that’s 4 misses for Martin yet he’s only 34.4 back! At 13.2 Km Moravec just leads from OEB and T Bø, Fak also well up; Martin F has pulled back 8 seconds. Final climb – chasing pack closing in; here goes Jakov Fak, at 14.3 Km Fak leads from Moravec and OEB but Tarjei is close; those 4 now 15 seconds ahead. Frantic pace to the line – a gold for Fak who ends 1 second clear of Moravec with Tarjei Bø in bronze. OEB is 4th, the only man to shoot 20/20. Simon Schempp is the best German in 8th, so they haven’t quite matched the French medal total. What a World Championships – I think we had 11 different nations on the various podiums! Martin F was fastest round the course; Simon Eder fastest on the range. Several small crystal globes have been decided; Semenov took men’s individual, Kaisa the women’s individual. The Russians took the men’s relay globe, the Czechs the women’s and Norway the mixed – remainder still to be sorted!

An enjoyable World Championship with some great performances however there was some disappointing performances from the favourites and I thought the crowds were a little sparse at times.

My performance highlights were Fak, Semerenko, Yurlova and Dorin Haber.  It was a great final day to the champs, delighted to see Semerenko claim gold, I thought she was going to be caught by Preuss but she held on. Very exciting end to the men's race,  I thought exiting the range it was going to be gold for Boe but Fak and Moravec were not having it. Fak timed his effort perfectly, it was great to see the nerves on the coaching staff during the final lap, Fak has been a great transferee for Slovenia.

For the Womens 15k, I thought Soukalova had it sewn up (even she did herself) but Yurlova came from nowhere with a start number of 93 and clean shooting to steal victory. It was an amazing performance from Kaisa to get the bronze, she really turned on the turbos on the last lap. I thought before the champs that Dorin Habert was in good form but I didn't think she would be a double world champion and with two relay silvers, a truly fantastic championship for her.

Was surprised to see the Germans with both relays, since January they have really stepped up their performances.  The speed that Dahlmeier has found is amazing, she is not that far behind Kaisa and Dasha at this stage.  The Russian women were looking good for a long time but their ski speed is pretty poor, if they don't shoot clean they have no chance, what are they doing wrong?.  Good to see the Italians medal.  Was disappointed for Belarus, they had a disappointing second leg and were to far back to catch up.

The men's relay was very exciting, I thought Martin F or EHS would close in on Schemp (who was not at his best here) but he more than held them off.  Russia would have been a factor if not for Garanichev, he most definitely cost them a medal if not the gold, he is not the best in pressure situations.

I was disappointed with/for a long of the big names. I was really hoping that Kaisa would have a great championship and get at least one gold on home snow but apart from the individual race she was not a factor.  I hope she hangs on for another season, I would like to see her retire a world champ. Coming into the champs I expected Dasha to be the star (just like Sochi) but she had a poor event, I was surprised to see her outpaced by Oberhofer for bronze in the mass start, her speed wasn't to it's usual level and her shooting was slightly off.

On the Men's side again the big names were slightly disappointing. I am a big fan of Martin F but his best form was left on the World cup, his speed was slightly off but he still got 3 medals.  Also for Shipulin and Schemp I expected more both medaled but not to the level I expected.

The star performer for me was Dorin Habert and I would say Tarej Boe on the men's side although he really seems to have lost his ski speed.

Role on the final leg in Khanty, Olga Zaitseva announced her retirement a few weeks ago and there will a presentation to mark it hopefully Eurosport will televise it.

Khanty-Mansiysk; Men’s 10 Km Sprint: This should be a good race; the wax trucks aren’t here, so there is a much smaller support team for the athletes. Got the start time wrong (from the ZDF ticker) and joined the race as OEB started! At that stage Kühn of Germany was fastest after shoot 1; JT Bø has just missed 1 here, so has Fak but he’s very fast on the skis and only 12.5 off the best! At S2 Kühn has missed 1, best so far is Beatrix who has cleared all 10. Simon Fourcade has missed once  at S1, but he’s even faster than Fak! Good shooting by Lindström at S1; Doll is even better and faster! Slesingr has also missed 1 at S1, but OEB is clear – some suggestion that the Norwegian waxing might not be that good? JoBø has gone very fast round the lap but misses 3 at S2; his brother missed 2 here. Martin F has gone clear at S1, and he’s faster than Doll and Böhm; Svendsen 4th here. At S2 Simon Fourcade is clear and just 1 second slower than Beatrix; I do wish the commentators would stop this “if he’d cleared all 10 he could ….” stuff – that’s the whole point of biathlon, you need to ski fast and hit the targets! Lindström has just cleared all 10 and briefly leads at S2; Doll is even faster and also clear! OEB clear at S2, all 10 down, and he goes 2nd; Böhm has missed 1. Ah, at last Rastorgujevs is on form and shooting well – 10/10 and he’s a tiny bit faster than Doll after S2. Peiffer has missed his first shot at S1, but fairly fast; Erik Lesser clear at S1. EHS has missed 1 at S2, but Martin F has hit all 10 and he’s 23.5 faster than Rastorgujevs! Shipulin has also cleared 10, but he’s 11.4 off Martin F’s time at S2. At the finish Nathan Smith has gone faster than Simon Fourcade, interesting! Currently Doll is leading at the finish from Rastorgujevs and Smith; OEB has faded a little on the last lap and is 6th at present. Odd that Martin F has lost time on the final lap against Doll and Rastorgujevs – he goes into the lead; can Shipulin catch him? He has closed at the first split, but has slipped back a little at the next; he goes 2nd 13 seconds back. Seems Martin F has secured the sprint globe (416 points to Shipulin's 370; Schempp 3rd on 354) and increased his lead in the overall. Of the later starters, surprised to see Eder miss 2 at S1, Graf has missed 1; meanwhile at S2 Schempp has missed 2, as did Lesser, the best German at present is Doll! All the athletes have now completed S1; Christoph Stephan who was doing well after S1 has missed 4 at S2, pity! Doesn’t seem that any of the later starters will affect the podium; they haven’t - Martin Fourcade (0,0) wins from Anton Shipulin (0,0) and Benedikt Doll (0,1); Rastorgujevs (0,0) in 4th ahead of Smith (1,0) and Peiffer (who, with 1 penalty at each shoot, has beaten Lindström who cleared all 10 – all together now “if only he’d hit all the targets…”). If Martin F is in the top 23 in the pursuit, that’s his 4th overall globe wrapped up! Looking at the stats, Arnd Peiffer was fastest over the snow ahead of Doll and Fak (3 misses in all ruined his day); Arwidson fastest on the range from Lapshin and Smith. In the overall standings Martin F has 993 points, Shipulin 876 and Fak 823.

Women’s 7.5 Km Sprint: Alas I was out when this was on live (although, as the pub I was having lunch in had free wifi, I was able to surreptitiously watch the IBU data centre feed – rude, but I’m addicted to biathlon!), so watched the video repeat later. Early leader on lap 1 was arguably Susan Dunklee, but she was replaced by Dasha and then Kaisa took fastest; Eckhoff, Vítková and Dahlmeier also going well. Poor Franzi Hildebrand missed 3 at S1, which spoilt her day; Kummer however went clear, although she was marginally slower than Podchufarova, who was in turn moved down the rankings by Wierer, Soukalová (both clear) and eventually by Kaisa who led at that point with a clear prone. By that stage Dasha had missed once at S1, Valj was off form and missed 2 but shortly afterwards Laura Dahlmeier went clear (bit lucky with 1 of them!) and was 2.8 seconds faster than Kaisa! At S2 Luise Kummer was the only one of the early starters to clear 10/10; she was fastest here until Dasha took it away despite one penalty at each shoot. So Laura leading at S1, Dasha at S2. Wierer has 1 miss at S2, but is fractionally faster than Dasha; Gabi a little unlucky with the wind at S2, and misses 2. Laura D’s time at S1 is holding up well (as you might expect since she’s faster than Kaisa!), but at S2 Kaisa has missed 1 (her 10th) – still better than Doro Wierer though and she takes the lead here; Vítková clear here after 1 miss at S1 and goes between their times. Dasha flying around her last lap as Laura D comes in for her standing shoot – she misses her 9th but the 10th is down and she’s out just 1.7 behind Kaisa. At the finish Dasha is faster than Kummer despite her 2 penalties, and into the lead. Vítková has only 1 penalty and could take it away – she was 4.9 seconds ahead of Dasha after S2, but even more likely is Kaisa; she takes the lead by 15.5! VV doesn’t quite match Dasha so at present it’s Kaisa (0,1), Dasha (1,1) and Vítková (1,0). However, Laura D (0,1) is coming – looking tired now, she is just inside Dasha’s time at the finish! Looking back at the later starters the obvious name that could cause an upset is Marie D-H, starting at number 68; she is clear at S1, but 12.7 slower than Laura. Sadly, for Miri fans, she has missed 2 at S1, so she’s almost a minute off the pace after the penalty loops. Tiril Eckhoff missed 1 at S1, but compounds her problems with 2 misses at S2 (“If she’d hit all 10 …” time). On the next lap MDH has lost time; maybe tracks are slower, skis aren’t running or she’s tiring a little? In for S2 and 3 misses; going to make life hard in the pursuit. Only 2 have shot 10/10; Luise Kummer and Aita Gasparin. No more surprises, Kaisa takes the win with Laura D second just ahead of Dasha; VV is 4th ahead of Wierer and Preuß. Luise Kummer gets 8th so 3 Germans in the top 10. Best of the French, Anais Bescond in 12 and Yurlova best Russian in 17. Poor Miri missed 3 at S2 and ended up 42nd. Kaisa 1.3 seconds faster round the tracks than Dasha with Laura D 3rd. Doro Wierer again best on the range. The IBU site gives the overall points position as Dasha 1005; Kaisa 996; Valj 798 (I think that's without dropping the 2 worst results?). Dasha has won the sprint (416 to Kaisa’s 364), but Kaisa leads the Pursuit by 305 to Dasha’s 287!

Khanty-Mansiysk; Men’s 12.5 Km Pursuit: Doesn’t seem to be live on Eurosport, so it’s back to Eurovision! Martin F leads away today, 13 seconds ahead of Shipulin with Doll a further 5 behind. Rastorgujevs, Smith, Peiffer and Lindström all in touch; OEB best of the Norwegians. No JoBø today as he didn’t qualify! That’s odd – no commentary on the IBU video today (not a massive loss)! I see Schempp and QFM are among the DNS team today – I see the Norwegian team includes Vegard Gjermundshaug, which is a new name to me, missed him in the sprint, but he finished 47th with 1 penalty! At S1 and Martin F has missed 1, but so has Shipulin; Doll clear so he leads out just fractionally ahead of Martin and Nathan Smith who was also clear. Rastorgujevs has also missed 1, as have Slesingr and Böhm; OEB has missed 2. On to S2 and Doll is clear again, but this time so is Martin F – out Doll, Martin, Nathan S and Peiffer; all bar Martin are 10/10; Shipulin still 5th despite 1 miss at each shoot. EHS now the best Norwegian but 1:12 behind after 1 miss at S2. Shipulin is pulling back time on the next lap, and so is Nathan Smith. By 7.1 Km Smith has passed Martin F! Peiffer just in 3rd ahead of Doll and Shipulin; Simon F and Beatrix both 10/10 and in touch too. Someone seems to have retired but I didn’t catch the number; might be Svendsen as he’s now shown as DNF. At S3 Martin F misses another 1 and Peiffer and Doll have also missed 1; Smith clear though and he leads out from Shipulin, who was clear here, Martin F, Peiffer and Doll – the Canadian has a 15.3 second lead! OEB is having a bad day 2,1,2 so far. On the lap Martin F is now faster and closing on both Smith and Shipulin; Lindström 15/15 but seems to be fading a little. In for S4 and Nathan Smith has his first miss, but he clears the rest; Fourcade and Shipulin have both missed 2; so has Peiffer and Doll drops his last! Out for the final time in order Smith (who has a lead of 37.7!), Doll, Shipulin, Martin F, then Böhm and Peiffer. Kühn and Lesser are having a disaster on this final shoot. Short of a disaster this should be Nathan Smith’s day – he’s been hinting at this sort of performance for a while; great effort! At 10.9 Km Doll has cut Smith’s lead by just over 7 seconds, but Shipulin and Fourcade seem to have settled for a fight between themselves? Final split; Doll has closed a little more but he hasn’t enough track left to take this away; Shipulin and Fourcade are pretty much neck and neck, but aren’t catching Doll, who cruises in to go 2nd! Anton Shipulin 3rd, in the end quite nicely ahead of Martin F, who’s 4th place has (I think) secured the large crystal globe? Great win by Nathan Smith (0,0,0,1) and really well deserved. Benedikt Doll (0,0,1,1) in 2nd and Anton Shipulin (1,1,0,2) third. Martin F 4th ahead of Böhm and Peiffer; Tarjei Bø best Norwegian in 11th after just 1 miss. Those who gained – obviously Nathan Smith from 5 to 1, and including Böhm 11 to 5, Fak 18 – 10, Tarjei Bø 50 – 11, Lukas Hofer 57 – 14 and Lowell Bailey 51 to 22. Major losers – OEB 9 – 27; Kühn 10 – 31; EHS 13 to DNF, not sure what happened there? Update – that does indeed win Martin Fourcade his 4th overall World Cup points title in a row, and it also wins him the pursuit title! That was Nathan Smith’s first World Cup victory, and it was Doll's second career podium.

Khanty-Mansiysk; Women’s 10 Km Pursuit: One minute 14 between 1st and 10th at the start, Kaisa just 16 seconds ahead of Dasha. Light is beginning to fade a little; they are away, and Dasha has taken off like a rocket – straight past Laura D and she’s closed on Kaisa to 9.8 by the first split; Vítková has also passed Laura. In for the first prone – Kaisa clear, so are Dasha and Laura; VV has missed 1, Wierer and Preuß clear. Out Dasha, Kaisa and Laura, about 8 seconds between them all, then a gap to Doro, Franzi P and VV. On the lap Dasha & Kaisa are neck and neck at 2.9 Km, pulling away from Laura who is keeping the gap top the chasers the same, so the front 2 are turning it up; Kaisa’s skis perhaps just a bit better on the long glide? Here we go for S2; Kaisa faster to shoot and clear, Dasha almost shooting in the stand! She remembers it’s supposed to be prone but misses 1 letting Laura through into 2nd; Franzi P clear too and out 4th, Doro has missed 1 and VV another one here. MDH cleared S1, but she has missed 1 here. On the next lap Kaisa is pulling away again, Dasha isn’t catching – what will S3 do? Kaisa has missed her 2nd and 3rd – she’s shaking a little and 2 loops aren’t going to help! Laura clear but so are Dasha and Franzi P; out Laura just 5.8 ahead of Dasha with Franzi P 3rd and Kaisa 4th 29.8 behind; VV up to 5th with Valj 15/15 and 6th. Franzi H has missed 2 here; she seems a little less reliable on the range later in this season? Next lap and Dasha has passed Laura, pulling back 9 seconds. Kaisa not making up much but the leaders are pulling a little out on VV. Last shoot – Dasha goes clear, and so do Laura and Franzi P – out in order Dasha, Laura, Franzi . Kaisa misses another 1 and out 4th over 40 seconds off the podium; that will give Dasha a better cushion in the overall if it stays as it is? On the final lap Dasha is again pulling away, Franzi P has passed Laura, who is also looking tired – it’s been a hard season for everyone! Dasha cruises to a win, gaining 17 points on Kaisa; good sprint between the Germans which Laura just edges over Franzi P. Two Germans on the podium, both shooting 20/20!! Alas, my joy is slightly tempered by Miri missing another 6 targets today; still, at least she cleared the last 5! Kaisa is 4th, ahead of Vítková and Valj. Gainers – Franzi Preuß from 6 to 3, Yurlova 17 to 7, Franzi H 22 to 11, MDH 20 to 12 and Crawford 28 to 13. Those losing places include Oberhofer 7 to 16, Kummer 8 to 15, Dreissigacker 14 to 38 and Pisareva 18 to 37. Dasha fastest around the course today ahead of Dunklee and Kaisa. The IBU site shows the overall points as Dasha 1065, Kaisa 1033 and Valj 836, but again I don’t think that includes discards. In the small globes Kaisa has won the individual and pursuit (the latter by only 1 point); Dasha has the sprint; the only one to be decided is the mass start (final one tomorrow) where Preuß leads Valj by 1 point! Kaisa 15 points back and Dasha 17 so all to play for tomorrow.

Khanty-Mansiysk; Men’s 15 Km Mass Start: Again, almost too much winter sport today; Eurosport are trying to cover ski jumping, alpine skiing and some biathlon – quite a juggling act; as the men’s Mass Start live isn’t on their schedule live it’s back to IBU video – again no commentary! All very tight on lap one, all the main players seem to be in touch; Shipulin just leads at 2.6 Km. In for S1 – Martin F and Shipulin have both missed 1; those clean lead out in order Lesser, JoBø, Böhm, Fak, Slesingr and Lindström. Shipuklin 17th some 16.5 back and Martin F 20th! Still very close at the next split; top 10 separated by only 2.3 seconds; Shipulin and Martin F closing up. Lead is swapping a lot - pace seems to have slowed a little as they head for the range; they are in for S2. This time Martin F and Shipulin are clear, with the Russian out first ahead of JoBø, Lesser and Eder; Martin 6th just 6.9 back. This seems a fast penalty loop (or a slowish pace?) as Shipulin and Eder, among others, have soon recovered from an early penalty! Shipulin has opened a slight lead, but Martin F is closing him down again; still very close at 8.6 Km – just 5.6 seconds between 1st and 10th. Heading for the first standing shoot – haven’t seen anyone unsure of the sequence today!! Fourcade shooting fast but he’s missed 2, Shipulin 1 – more misses here and that should open things out. Jakov Fak leads out with 15/15, just ahead of Tarjei Bø (1,0,0) and Erik Lesser; QFM 4th. JoBø missed 1 here but he’s 5th just ahead of Peiffer. Shipulin 11th just over 30 seconds back with Fourcade (M) another 10 seconds adrift. Next lap and while Shipulin is closing slightly, Martin F isn’t, he’s lost 12 seconds to Fak and is slipping back from Böhm who is the next person in front of him! At 11.6 Km Fak has pulled away a little and Martin F is about a minute back – I wonder if he’s bothered today after those misses? At S4 Jakov Fak clears again – 20/20 and he leads out from Tarjei Bø (19/20); Shipulin up to third! Simon F is 4th ahead of Eder and Beatrix. Martin F has missed another 1 (so 4 total) and is 16th. Shipulin is closing fast on the lap, and is right up with T Bø, but Fak is pulling away; those 3 aren’t going to be caught. Jakov Fak (0,0,0,0) takes a really well deserved win, Anton Shipulin (1,0,1,0) wins the sprint for second and Tarjei Bø (1,0,0,0) is on the podium as the best Norwegian (again!). Martin F (1,0,2,1) seems to have wrapped his claw in somewhere mid last lap and wanders in 20th 1:49 back. Simon F was 4th, Eder 5th and Beatrix 6th; Svendsen says adieu to a disappointing season with 27th place after 4 penalties! Shipulin fastest round the course ahead of Garanichev and Rastorgujevs, while Lapshin was fastest on the range. Good late surge by Fak has got him 3rd place in the overall, behind Martin F and Anton S. Shipulin takes the Mass Start globe from Fak and Martin F.

Khanty-Mansiysk; Women’s 12.5 Km Mass Start: Slow start – top 10 separated by 4.8 at the first split. Big pile up – 5 athletes involved including VV? E Gasparin or Crawford down first  and Rosanna seems hurt, hopefully nothing serious? Few broken poles too; nasty corner that! Into S1; relatively few misses and Dasha clear from Oberhofer, Laura D and Valj; MDH and Franzi H also in touch – Kaisa has missed 1. Top 10 all clear there. By 4.6 Km Dasha leads from Franzi H, Valj and MDH. Commentators desperately trying not to give away the results of the men’s race! In for S2 – Oberhofer first to shoot but missing too; some good shooting – Dasha leads out from MDH, Laura D and Valj; Preuß and Franzi H also clear. Kaisa has missed another 1, and Eckhoff has missed 1 here too. MDH certainly looking comfortable today as is Valj, their skis are looking good too; still close as the come in for the first standing shoot – now the misses start; Preuß clear and leading out from Laura D; Dasha has missed 1 and out 3rd, MDH has also missed 1 to go 4th with Gabi clearing 15/15 and up to 5th. Valj has missed 2 and is 40 seconds back on Preuß – interesting for the Mass Start globe! On the lap Franzi Preuß is keeping the gap steady; is that Vítková in another fall? Gabi is closing on the leading group at 9.6 Km; final shoot ands Preuß misses 2; Gabi and Laura clear . Out in order Gabi, Laura, MDH, Dasha. Franzi P is in 6th and crucially for the small globe Valj has missed 1 and is 12th. Laura D certainly looked tired yesterday, and Gabi has pulled away a little by 10.9 Km; MDH closing. Laura is jumping up that hill, closing Gabi – great race! Laura’s skis are looking good; she is slightly ahead at 12.1 Km. Laura Dahlmeier (0,0,0,0) has opened a gap on the final hill, and that’s another win for her, ahead of Gabi (also 20/20) and MDH (good effort from her after 2 penalties; 0,0,1,1). Dasha is 4th, Karin Oberhofer 5th and Franzi Preuß 6th – that must be good enough for the mass start globe! That means Dasha has won her first overall crystal globe – superb final race of the season! Kaisa was fastest on the course but 5 penalties left her 13th. No news at present about Rosanna Crawford.