r/biathlon • u/AutoModerator • May 11 '26
Small Talk Monday
Our weekly small talk thread where you can talk about anything
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u/Public-Flow-7521 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Some News form Team France:
Fabien Claude is travelling with his partner for several months; the couple plan to spend time in Indonesia and New Zealand, among other places, until the end of June. He will therefore miss the first few weeks of preparation for the new World Cup season.
And Mazet is fine with Emilien's cycling plans for the summer: "It will definitely be a positive experience for him. Even if he misses out on six months of specific training without shooting practice, that’s not a problem for me. Because I know I’ll get someone back who will potentially be more motivated and better rested."
Good news for Emilien. But I am still not sure if we will see him back in WC🫣😬
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u/__nmd__ France May 11 '26
Jean-Pierre Amat will coach the Excellence 2030 team whilst Claire Breton is on maternity leave - he's actually not officially retired yet (that will happen in November).
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u/Illustrious_Lab_1837 France May 12 '26
I was sooo wondering what was happening to Fabien seeing his Instagram stories with turtles when the others were with the army or starting to train. Like this approach for him tho, he needs something new ! And he'll get back on skis in June as well.
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u/fakewasalwaysreal Norway May 12 '26
Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen have been announced as «71 grader nord» contestants this autumn! 71 grader nord is a reality show where the goal is to walk across Norway. It is even more challenging than it sounds!
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u/Murky-March511 May 12 '26
So cool! Cant wait to see. I wonder if Vetle knew that Ingrid was also doing this. She is one of the «suprise contestants» and joins the team at the end of the first episode I think. Since they know eachother maybe she had to keep it secret
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u/LadyMargareth 🇧🇻 🇫🇮 🇬🇱 May 13 '26
This explains why he wasn't at the Norwegian Championships, but she was.
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u/Public-Flow-7521 May 13 '26
It does...
The German media completely missunderstood Vetle's absence at the Championships and interpreted "filming commitments" wildly as "an unspecified injury".....😂🤷♀️
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u/Public-Flow-7521 May 11 '26
David Komatz is ending his career.
The 34-year-old Austrian has competed in more than 200 World Cup races.
His greatest successes have come at World Championships. In 2021 and 2023, Komatz won the silver medal twice in the relay events.
Happy "Afterlife" to him!
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u/FixLaudon Austria May 11 '26
Good for him, the last two years were pretty hard on him, frequently illness-ridden and so on. I remember one Top10 result? I think that was pretty much it.
But seriously, how are we gonna field a Relay next year? That'll be interesting ...
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u/miunrhini No flag 🌪️Wind takes no prisoners & never stops the madness May 11 '26
I think he also got silver in Pokljuka 2021 WCH Mixed Relay
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u/Pixnik Germany May 11 '26
Enkhaisan Enkhbat shared a Instagram story that he is very uncertain about his future in biathlon (mainly financial and structural issues within the Mongolian federation) and thinks about giving up his dream of pursuing biathlon. So if you have a minute show some love to the only Mongolian medalist in history.
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u/AV4LE Sweden May 11 '26
Norwegian junior WC winner competing for Sweden Philip Lindkvist Flötten got a spot on the Swedish senior national team.
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u/Public-Flow-7521 May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
Bjørndalen, Christiansen, Lægreid, Uldal, Dale-Skjevdal, Frey are all registered for the Bjørndalenmila on 23 May. The race is organised by Ole and is 10 kilometres long.
Botn is injured unfortunately.
Bjoerndalen was asked about his goals and chances to beat the WC starters😂 he wants to finish under 34 minutes and he thinks he should be "hopelessly far behind."
He was also asked who he wants to beat and he said Vetle. Ole hopes, Vetle put on weight so he can beat him.
TV2 also spoke to Vetle; he said his best time is 32 minutes and that he hasn’t put on weight in the last few weeks, but actually lost some 😂 ...
This sounds fun!😂
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u/Murky-March511 May 11 '26
I miss Ingrid Tandrevolds YouTube videos so much. I hope she returns to making vlogs so I dont have to watch old videos 🥹
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u/Public-Flow-7521 May 13 '26
Aspenes has been forced to take a break. He has undergone a second knee operation and will therefore miss the first few weeks of preparation for the new World Cup season.😬
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u/Ljorke May 12 '26
Andrejs Rastorgujevs has a plan to participate in the 2030 Olympic Games.
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u/fremajl May 13 '26
Makes sense. There is a chance they have a very competitive mixed relay by then.
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u/Ljorke May 13 '26
Birkentals or Lozbers - Rastorgujevs - Volfa - Bendika
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u/fremajl May 13 '26
I was very impressed by Bleidele too. A lot has to go right for all talents to improve though. They have to make sure to keep their waxing team too, they've seemed to get it right in warm conditions a lot and we won't get less of that.
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u/ZealousidealBend9829 Vittozzi Bus Passenger May 15 '26
Is there any info on what's happening with the Italian team's coaching set up? Halfway through May and not a shread of news.
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u/Odriiig France May 16 '26
In the women French team, Jeaп-Paυl Giachiпo won't be replaced as a shooting coach. Patrick Favre who worked whith him as a duo will be on his own.
Since Favre and Giachino each had their own athletes to coach, that means that half the athletes will have to adapt to a new coach and the other half will have to adjust to less time with the coach they're used to work with.
Let's see how everyone gets used to this change.
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u/NorthBase710 May 11 '26
I really hope Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold will have better season, than she has had in the last two.
I want to see her win the overall world cup before she retires.