🇸🇪 Anna-Karin Heijdenberg with 4 consecutive top 5 finishes to start the season as she finishes in 5th today to go along with 5th, 1st, 1st in Obertilliach. Every race her ski ranks are between 4th and 7th. Hitting 90% in the early stages of the season! 📸Athamayou/IBU #biathlon

🇦🇹 Lara Wagner finished the 24-25 season strong and she's starting 25-26 even stronger. Scored her 4th career top 10 to open the season. Now her first career podium today. 7th best ski time which ties a career best for her! 📸Barbieri/IBU #biathlon

🇫🇷Paula Botet continues to do everything you could possibly ask of her on the IBU Cup. Her 25-26 finishes: 1,1,3,1. The French team is just so stacked, and with Bened performing well on the WC she finds herself in the same position that Norwegian men have for so long 📸Barbieri/IBU #biathlon

🇫🇷 Voldiya Galmace Paulin started the season "slowly" with finishes of 5th, 12th, and 6th in Obertilliach. But in Ridnaun she is back to her podium conquering habits finishing 2nd with the 2nd best course time just 6 sec back of Paula Botet. So much talent in this team! #biathlon

🇺🇸 Best buddies back together again. The support that Deedra Irwin has given to Joanne Reid these last few years has been so touching. I am so glad to see these buddies back racing together. #biathlon

🇳🇴 Such a bummer. Aasne Skrede won’t be able to make her World Cup debut this week due to illness 😩 #biathlon

🇺🇦 Pretty solid day for the Tarasiuks. First Taras finishes 6th and then Tetiana beats him out and finishes tied for 2nd! That's the first career podium and sixth Junior Cup top 10 for the 20 year old Ukrainian! 📸Authamayou/IBU #biathlon

🇫🇷 Lou-Anne Dupont Ballet Baz puts up her first career Juniors win. Before this she had four career top 10's including a 4th in the 2024 Youth Worlds Mass 60. 3rd best course time which is the best of her Juniors career 📸Authamayou/IBU #biathlon

🇱🇻 Annija Sabule sets a new career best mark today as she finished 18th. It breaks her prior career best of 21st she set at the end of last season. Latvia continues to have a great start to the season! #biathlon

🇨🇭Coralie Langel, racing for her new federation, continues to show well and briefly made a run at a career best but she'll fall just short as she finishes in 14th. Her IBU Cup career best is 10th which she set back in 2022. Hope to see break into the top 10 this season! #Biathlon

🇩🇪 Hanna Kebinger returned to IBU racing after significant troubles with both physical and mental health over the last few seasons. She did so with a 18/20 day on the range and a 15th place finish. I couldn't be more proud of her! I can't wait for more good things! #biathlon

🇵🇱 Poland with a very solid opening day in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna as Anna Maka finishes in 9th (19/20) and Daria Gembicka finishes 13th. This will take Anna Maka right back to the World Cup in Annecy! Poland having some good results early on in the 25-26 season! #biathlon

🇨🇳 Yuanmeng Chu with a big time career best and first career top 10. Her prior career best was 15th. She finishes 7th today after a 20/20 effort on the range. Magnificent racing and moving her way towards the Olympics! #biathlon

🇩🇰 Anne De Besche just out here making history. Not only is it her first time in the Flower Ceremony with a career best 6th place finish today, but as far as I could find the best finish by Denmark ever. So excited to see how far she can rise! #biathlon

Ridnaun IBU Womens Individual 1)Paula Botet 🇫🇷 2)Voldiya Galmace Paulin 🇫🇷 +23 3)Lara Wagner 🇦🇹 +23 4)Emma Nilsson 🇸🇪 +48 5)Anna-Karin Heijdenberg 🇸🇪 +49 6)Anna De Besche 🇩🇰 +1:00 7)Yuangmeng Chu 🇨🇳 +1:17 8)Anna Hedstrom 🇸🇪+1:21 9)Anna Maka 🇵🇱+1:54 10)Annie Lind 🇸🇪+1:58 #biathlon

Goms Junior Womens Sprint 1)Lou-Anne Dupont Ballet Baz 🇫🇷 2)Maela Correia 🇫🇷+27 3)Tetiana Tarasiuk 🇺🇦+27 4)Michaela Strakova 🇸🇰+31 5)Selina Ganner 🇦🇹+37 6)Louise Roguet 🇫🇷+41 7)Hanni Koski 🇫🇮+42 8)Valeriia Sheihas 🇺🇦+46 9)Lena Baumann 🇨🇭+50 10)Juliette Oliva 🇫🇷+53 #biathlon

🇸🇮 No Anamarija Lampic this weekend as she has caught the virus going through the field. Sad as she has had success in Hochfilzen! She hopes to be back for Annecy! #biathlon

Isak Frey is here in Hochfilzen, this is the reason he has not started in Ridnaun. He replaces Bakken, who has got sick. Photo from Giorgio Capodaglio of Fondo Italia, a winter sports focused website out of Italy that does really great coverage!

🇺🇦Taras Tarasiuk, the 17 year old Ukrainian, with his second career 6th place finish today in the Sprint in Goms to match his career best. The Ukrainians continue to be remarkably persistent and I admire their tenacity endlessly #biathlon

🇸🇪 Viktor Berglund finished 13th in the Ridnaun Individual. His prior career best was 32nd. It seems crazy for such an accomplished nation but it almost feels strange to have two Swedish men this high up in an IBU Cup race (Sjokvist was 3rd) #biathlon

🇨🇭Felix Ullman with a new career best on the IBU Cup. Finished 18th today in the Individual in Ridnaun 10 places better than his prior career best #biathlon

🇨🇦 Benjamin Brosseau with a great race today to finish 13th in the Sprint in Goms. The 20 year old Canadian collected his 3rd career top 20. Really fun to watch some of these young Canadians developing! #biathlon

🇫🇷 The French Junior men just crushed it in the Sprint squeezing 6 in the top 10 and 7 in the top 11. Leo Carlier led the way in 2nd. He is coming off his declaration season in 24-25 when he had 6 top 5's and 5 podiums including medals in each race at Youth Worlds! #biathlon

🇭🇷 Matija Legovic continues to be one of the great recent Juniors competitors. He now has 4 wins, 9 podium, 23 top 10's over the last four seasons. Even on the World Cup he has 3 top 50 finishes. It's hard to believe he is still only 20 years old! 📸Authamayou/IBU #biathlon

🇨🇿 2025 Junior Worlds double 🥉winner Petr Hak with a big new IBU Cup career best of 5th! He’s joined in the flower ceremony by teammate Tomas Mikyska. Nice day for @ceskybiatlon !!! A combined 38/40 on the range with Hak a perfect 20/20! #biathlon

🇳🇴 World Class youngtalent Kasper Kalkenberg picks up his 1st career IBU Cup podium in his 4th career IBU Cup race. 18/20 but 2nd best course time takes him to the podium!! Won’t be the last time we see that by a long shot! #biathlon

🇸🇪Hennig Sjokvist has returned to the IBU Cup on a mission. Having not raced IBU level biathlon since 23-24 he started the season in Obertilliach with finishes of 14,6,9. The 6th a career best! Well new career best and 1st podium today as he goes 20/20 and fin

🇦🇹 Dominic Unterweger is continuing his tremendous start to the 25-26 season. Last week in Obertilliach he had finishes of 8th (2nd best IBU Cup finish ever) and 13th. Today 20/20 and a 1st career win! 2nd career 20/20 on any level! A WC return may be coming soon! #biathlon

Goms Junior Mens Sprint 1)Matija Legovic 🇭🇷 2)Leo Carlier 🇫🇷 +12 3)Antonin Delsol 🇫🇷 +47 4)Guillaume Poirot 🇫🇷 +53 5)Camille Grataloup-Manissolle 🇫🇷 +53 6)Taras Tarasiuk 🇺🇦 +1:11 7)Thomas Marchl 🇦🇹 1:17 8)Enzo Bouillet 🇫🇷 1:23 9)David Elias 🇨🇿+1:24 10)Flavio Guy 🇫🇷+1:32 #biathlon

Ridnaun IBU Cup Mens Individual 1)Dominic Unterweger 🇦🇹 2)Kasper Kalkenberg 🇳🇴+30 3)Hennig Sjokvist 🇸🇪+37 4)Damien Levet 🇫🇷+46 5)Petr Hak 🇨🇿+1:22 6)Tomas Mikyska 🇨🇿+1:32 7)Taras Lesiuk 🇺🇦+1:37 8)Vetle Paulsen 🇳🇴+1:42 9)Valentin Lejeune 🇫🇷+1:53 10)Lucas Fratzscher🇩🇪+2:00 #biathlon

Goms Junior Women to keep an eye on: Alps Competitors 🇦🇹 Anna Millinger - 2 Juniors top 10’s & 6 top 20’s. 6th in 2025 Juniors Worlds M60 🇨🇭Sophia Imwinkelried - at 2025 Youth Worlds finished 8th, 19th, and 35th 🇨🇭Molly Kafka - 4 top 25’s in last 5 races last season #biathlon

Goms Junior Women to keep an eye on: Big Timers 🇸🇮 Manca Caserman - 3 Juniors top 5’s including 2025 Youth Worlds IND 🥉 🇨🇭 Lena Baumann - 3 top 10’s and 9 top 20’s last year including 5th in Sprint and M60 at 2025 Youth Worlds #biathlon

Goms Junior Women to keep an eye on: Yes More French Women 🇫🇷 Louise Roguet - 🥇🥈, 7th at 2025 Youth Worlds 🇫🇷 Namou Candau-Armand - 3 top 11 Junior finishes last year 🇫🇷 Lou-Anne Dupont Ballet Baz - 6 top 12’s in 9 Juniors races #biathlon

Goms Junior Men to keep an eye on: Hey Don’t Forget Me! 🇺🇦 Taras Tarasiuk - 6th, 11th, and 17th at 2025 Youth Worlds 🇸🇮 Aljaz Omejc - 2 top 10’s and 4 top 21 finishes on the Junior Cup last year 🇫🇷 Antonin Delsol -2nd, 11th, and 18th at 2025 Junior European Championship #biathlon

Goms Junior Men to keep an eye on: Canadian Speed 🇨🇦 Luke Hulshof - finished 33rd, 8th, and 9th with top 15 course times each race 🇨🇦 Benjamin Brousseau - 8th, 28th , 28th at 2024 Youth Worlds with top 25 ski times each race #biathlon

Goms Junior Men to keep an eye on: Alps Contenders 🇦🇹 Thomas Marchl - 4 career Juniors top 10’s including 9th in 2025 Junior Worlds IND 🇦🇹 Magnus Steiner - 12th in 2025 Youth Worlds IND 🇨🇭Tobit Keller - 11th, 15th, and 38th at 2025 Youth Worlds #biathlon

Goms Junior Men to keep an eye on: Big Timers 🇭🇷 Matija Legovic - 3 wins and 8 podiums in his career. 6,5,7 at 2025 Junior Worlds 🇫🇷 Flavio Guy - French speedster with 3 Youth Worlds top 10’s including 2025 Mass 60 🥈 🇫🇷Leo Carlier - 🥇🥈🥉at 2025 Youth Worlds #biathlon

For those of you who don’t routinely follow Juniors and might check in on the races in Goms this weekend I wanted to give a few names to watch. Here are a few young men grouped together in fun ways to remember them #biathlon

Year over Year Most Improved Men’s Skiers (through 1 week!). These are career bests unless otherwise noted 🇳🇴 Johan-Olav Botn -4.4% to -5.3% 🇳🇴 Martin Uldal -2.3% to -4.5% 🇫🇷 Eric Perrot -3.6% to -4.3% 🇩🇪 Philipp Horn -2.5% to -4.3% (career best -3.2%) #biathlon

Year over Year Most Improved Women’s Skiers (through 1 week!). These are career bests unless otherwise noted 🇩🇪 Julia Tannheimer -2.3% to -4.2% 🇩🇪 Janina Hettich-Walz -1.7% to -3.7% 🇫🇮 Suvi Minkkinen -1% to -3.5% 🇦🇹 Anna Juppe -0.7%. to -2.8% (-1.6% career best) #biathlon

It’s only been one week and at most 3 races for our World Cup athletes, but I wanted to have a little fun with small sample sizes. Before I post I want to say I’m just having fun…but at least a couple of these athletes are showing true improvement and not just noise! #biathlon

🇮🇹 Seeing Dorothea Wierer flying in a little plane over the Alps today gave me palpitations. Too much anxiety! Stay on the ground Doro! 😂 #biathlon

🇩🇪 Sadly Franziska Preuß and Selina Grotian are both out for Hochfilzen. Marlene Fichtner will return to the World Cup roster to bring them up to 6. But the 7th bib from Preuß’ overall win last year was specific to her so only 6 for this week #biathlon

🇩🇪 A couple of changes this week for the German roster Julia Kink comes up to join the women’s team. Marlene Fichtner will go down to the IBU Cup David Zobel is up as well after 3 top 8 finishes. Lucas Fratzscher is the odd man out 📸 Authamayou/IBU #biathlon

🇸🇪 Sweden with no major changes for Hochfilzen Johanna Skottheim to the IBU Cup as they cut from 7 to 6 Anna-Karin Heijdenberg still on IBU Cup after her 5,1,1 week in Obertilliach Linn Gestblom presumably will race the Sprint after only the relay in Östersund #biathlon

🇮🇹 A couple of roster changes for Italy this week Rebecca Passler is back to the WC after 3 top 6 finishes. She is addition and does not replace anybody Christoph Pircher arrives for his WC debut after 2 top 10's and a career best last week! #biathlon www.fondoitalia.it/2025/12/09/b...

🇨🇿 Czechia making a roster moves this week. Ilona Plechacova will return to the World Cup after making her debut in Oslo last year. She will take Tereza Vinklarkova’s spot. Last season 18yo Plechacova won 🥇🥉🥉 at Youth Worlds. Huge potential! 📸 Danielsson/IBU #biathlon

🇫🇮Finland with some expected changes to their roster for Hochfilzen Noora Kaisa Keranen is sick. No replacement imminent so Finland will have 4 women Rising stars Jimi Klemettinen and Arttu Heikinen up to the WC in place of Turkka Nieminen and Kalle Loukkaanhuhta #biathlon

🇦🇹 Hochfilzen Preview is up! As always it contains: - Weekly Schedule - Course maps for each race - Weather forecast (subject to change) - News and Notes - Top 5 finishers for the last 5 weeks in Hochfilzen - Good memories of recent races! #biathlon penaltyloop.com/2025/12/09/2...

Östersund Competition Recap is now up! - Athletes of the week - Young athletes of the week - Overall updates - A few fun things that happened - Career bests achieved #Biathlon penaltyloop.com/2025/12/08/2...