When biathlon begins: more about past and current seasons

Biathlon can rightly be called the most popular sport. Many skiers take up their guns. The only competitor can be only hockey. As soon as winter approaches, all fans are interested in the question of when biathlon begins. A few years ago, the biathlon season began in the last week of November with three races for men and women, the first of which was individual, it was also classic.

The beginning of a new season

Now everything has changed a little, and the first race is a mixed relay that opens the biathlon season. The relay takes place on Sunday, then the athletes have two days of rest, and already on Wednesday individual races begin. In 2015, the season began on November 30 in the Swedish town of Ostersund, as always.

Everyone starts to speculate about where the seventh and eighth stages will be held, when biathlon begins. This time, the International Biathlon Union included two overseas stages in the World Cup program. The seventh stage was held in Canmore, Canada, and the eighth took place in Presque Isles, United States of America. Problems arose already in the first North American stage. Canadian specialists could not make a normal broadcast of the competition.

Unexpected changes

If to the frequent changes of the seventh and eighth stages all are accustomed to, since almost every year they change, in recent years spectators and organizers of the competitions have started to get used to the fact that the second and third stages can also be transferred.

It often happened that Pokljuka could not take the race because of the weather, then the Austrian Hochfilzen refused the stage due to "non-biathlon" weather. Last season, this did not happen. However, the trouble came, where did not expect. The sixth stage, which traditionally takes place in the German Oberhof, was moved to Ruhpolding. Thus, in Bavaria passed two successively World Cup stages.

The sixth stage was held on schedule - in the Italian Antholz, and the final stage - in Khanty-Mansiysk, where again the audience could view the last biathlon in 2015-2016. The World Cup began on February 29 and lasted until mid-March. The last race took place on March 13, 2016. Also during the period from 22 to 28 February 20016 fans of this winter sport could watch the European Championship.

Combat in the overall standings

The competition for women again was very stubborn. As in the 2014-2015 season, the gap between the first and second place was not very large. Gabriela Koukalova scored 1106 points, and Marie Doren-Aber - 43 points less. Why this sport is one of the best, once again showed biathlon 2015-2016. Marie Doren-Aber has just made an amazing comeback, as she became the world champion right after she returned to the big sport after she gave birth to a baby.

Another triumph of Fourcade

Everyone expects that when biathlon begins, one of the athletes tries to challenge Marten Fourcade. But for the umpteenth time this did not happen. The Frenchman was again on the head stronger than all his rivals, which it is difficult to call competitors. Also there was one more interesting French sportsman - Kanten Fillon Maye, who showed that biathlon is developing rapidly in France.

The World Cup once again went to Fourcade, who was ahead of his closest pursuer in the person of Johannes Be more than 300 points, and Fillon Maier took the twelfth line in the overall standings. Slightly from the Norwegian left the representative of the Russian Federation Anton Shipulin. The fourth and fifth places went to two Simons: German Shemp and Austrian Eder, respectively.

Last season, Fourcade was able to win his fifth Grand Globe in a row. In the 2016-2017 season, everything goes to the fact that the Frenchman will be able to win the sixth Globe. Prior to this, such an achievement was not possible for a single biathlete in the history of the competition.

Already by mid-January 2017 Fourcade had about 300 points off in the overall classification from his main pursuers: Shipulina and Shemp. Six stages have passed in the new season, there are three more stages and the World Championship, and the intrigue has already died.

Preparation for the World Cup

When biathlon begins, all athletes and coaches begin to think about how to reach the peak of the form by the time of the World Cup. Someone skips the race, as Ole Einar Bjoerndalen does, someone - even whole stages. Often adjustments in the preparatory process are made by the disease.

German athlete Laura Dalmayer is one of the most talented and promising. However, a young German woman can not fully concentrate on the struggle in the World Cup because she is subject to illness, so she misses many races and stages, not counting the important points for the fight in the overall standings. But this is biathlon. Season is long, so all coaching staff and athletes themselves need to develop the right tactics and strategy in order to be in good shape in important races and to minimize losses in case of poor physical condition.

In the 2016/17 season, Dalmayer also missed several races, but before the world championship, which starts on February 9, 2017 in Austria, she still remains the leader of the overall standings, but her advantage over Gabriela Koukalova and Kaisa Makaryainen is not as great as in Fourcade. Therefore, in women's competitions, the struggle is just beginning.