Photogallery from Women’s and Men’s Mass Start races at 2024 IBU World Championships Biathlon Nove Mesto Na Morave. On the last day of a two-week Championships, top 30 Women and Men competed in front of the spectacular crowd surpassing 20 000 people.
Women’s 12.5 km Mass Start: 1. Justine Braissaz-Bouchet, 2. Lisa Vittozzi, 3. Lou Jeanmonnot
Men’s 15 km Mass Start: 1. Johannes Thingnes Boe, 2. Andrejs Rastorgujevs, 3. Quentin Fillon Maillet
IBU Open European Championships Biathlon Brezno-Osrblie took place between January 21st and 28th. My photogallery from (mostly) sunlit Men’s pursuit and Women’s pursuit with quite a lot of snowing from Saturday 27th January. Results:
Men’s 12.5km Pursuit: 1. Isak Frey (NOR), 2. Dmitrii Shamaev (ROU), 3. Antonin Guigonnat (FRA), 4. Vebjoern Soerum (NOR), 5. Mats Oeverby (NOR), 6. Martin Nevland (NOR)
Women’s 10 km Pursuit: 1. Maren Kirkeeide (NOR), 2. Emilie Aagheim Kalkenberg (NOR), 3. Oceane Michelon (FRA), 4. Ida Lien (NOR), 5. Marlene Fichtner (GER), 6. Johanna Skottheim
Photogallery from an 8-day shoot covering Empire Tennis Academy Open 2023 – the largest women’s tennis tournament held in Slovakia (ITF World Tennis Tour – 100 000 USD + H). The 12th edition had a number of firsts – first all-Belgian final and first time the final was played “in the bubble” due to persistent rain and unfavorable weather forecast. Nevertheless, it was a good week – being back as the official photographer of the event, getting the basic things done a bit easier thanks to the mirrorless system. The urge to capture new and exciting stuff was great, if only the matches were as good as I remember from the past…
Singles winner: Yanina Wickmayer defeated Greet Minnen. Doubles winners: Amina Anshba, Anastasia Detiuc.
Photogallery from January 7th, 2023 races of IBU Cup 2023 held in Osrblie, Slovakia. This will probably go down in history as “Muddy Cup” and I’m not sure if it wasn’t even worse than last year’s extremely slippery ice around the track. Winner of Women’s 7.5km Sprint: Eleonora Fauner, Italy. Winner of Men’s 10km Sprint: Eric Perrot, France. Special moment: The joy of finishing the race by Raul Antonio Figueroa of Mexico – the instant favorite of the crowds.
Cosmos Discovery is a large scale exhibition about space exploration, mapping the short but exciting history of manned and unmanned flights from Earth to its orbit and beyond. It is currently held in Incheba Expo Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia from October 1st 2022. It is the second and expanded edition – this time borrowing some of the large exhibits from Gateway to Space Exhibition, such as section of Mir Space Station or Space Shuttle cockpit and Mission Control Room. On September 30th news and media were invited for the opening of the exhibition. Among the guests was Ivan Bella, first Slovak cosmonaut, who spent almost 8 days on Mir Space Station in 1999.
Photogallery from the last day of second IBU Cup in the 2021/2022 season held in Osrblie, Slovakia. Two races, two entirely different lighting conditions (sunny morning and afternoon in deep shadows) and extremely slippery conditions (even though there wasn’t any snow left beside the track) were additional hinderances to very strict anti-pandemic precautions that made photographying much more difficult. Winners of the day were Emiliene Claude of France (Men’s Sprint – rescheduled from Friday) and Evgeniia Burtasova of Russia (Women’s Pursuit).
When Francisco Pizarro coquered Inca Empire in 1532 with only 168 men and 27 horses he came into posession of a tremendeous amount of gold, silver and artifacts. It is believed that over 180 tons of gold and more than 16 800 tons of silver was melted and transported back to Europe. Only a fraction of breathtaking artifacts remained in the existence. Museo Oro del Perú has loaned them to “Inca Gold” Exhibition and they have been touring Europe for the first time in history. On June 24th, the exhibition opened in Bratislava, Slovakia.
It was supposed to be one of the highlights of the Biathlon Season. The World Cup Event in Nove Mesto Na Morave always draws huge attendance and more than 120 000 spectators were expected this year as well. Because of the continued spreading of Coronavirus and the threat of COVID-19 disease, it was decided that the spectators would not be allowed inside the stadium and were forbidden to gather in large numbers outside of the arena as well as in Nove Mesto itself. Biathletes had to perform in front of empty stands. In a time of national tragedy, our former president made now infamous misquote: “It will be a different kind of joy. It will be grief.” I’m sure the sterile atmosphere left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Photos from Women’s and Men’s Mass start that took place on March 8th, 2020.
Women’s 12.5km Mass Start: 1. Tiril Eckhoff (NOR), 2. Hanna Oeberg (SWE), 3. Franziska Preuss (GER)
Men’s 15km Mass Start: 1. Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR), 2. Emilien Jacquelin (FRA), 3. Arnd Peiffer (GER)
Fed Cup entered into a new era during the first week of February 2020. Sixteen World Group teams competed to secure the spot in the newly established Fed Cup Finals, held in Budapest, Hungary. Slovakia hosted Great Britain and managed to win the tie 3:1. Tie details and results here.
Note: Unfortunately they haven’t invented a way, so one person can be two places at the same time. Due to other comittment, I was unable to capture the deciding match between Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Hariett Dart. I’m hoping to catch more Fed Cup action in Budapest in April…
The 4th round of 2019/2020 IBU Cup biathlon season takes place in Osrblie, Slovakia. Due to instatisfactory show conditions, the individual races held on Friday 10th January were shortened for both Women (12,5 kilometers) and Men (15 kilometers). In Women’s short individual race, Ekaterina Glazyrina claimed the first place. Endre Stroemsheim claimed the victory in Men’s short individual race. Slovak biathlete Matej Kazar (bib 66) chose the event in Osrblie as a farewell event from his long biathlon career.
