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.
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)
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.
Photogallery from 2018 Viessmann Cup Round 1 in Osrblie, Slovakia. Around 90 biathletes in 11 categories competed in sprint on December 29th, 2018.
Personal notes: Sometimes you go in with the best intentions and things just… don’t work out. Despite the nice early afternoon weather, at times I found it more difficult to shoot than last year’s “blizzard edition”. Not much (capture-worthy) was happening on the track, the scheduling was way too tight so moving around was difficult at best. And my gear’s ability to produce decent results was a no show as well – probably still finishing the Christmas dinner leftovers. As they say: on some days, it’s indeed no picnic.
Summer Biathlon Championships of Slovakia 2018 on roller skis took place in National Biathlon Center in Osrblie on August 4th and 5th. Unlike last year, no members of Slovak “A” Team were present (or Marwe Skis for that matter), just beautiful surroundings of Central Slovakia and mostly nice August weather. My photos are from Satuday’s sprint
Anastasiya Kuzmina and Paulina Fialkova met the press at Viessmann Slovakia Headquarters after their successful appearances in biathlon competitions at Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Anastasiya Kuzmina won silver medals in Pursuit and Individual competitions and gold medal in Mass start. Paulina Fialkova finished fifth in individual competition and helped the Slovak team to reach the fifth place at Women’s relay. Prior to press conference, Anastasiya received the Award for outstanding sports performance from the Club of Sports Journalists of Slovakia. The Club is the governing body of the Sportsperson of the Year Award in Slovakia. Anastasiya reached several World Cup victories after the deadline of the year-end award.
The 4th edition of IBU Cup 2017/2018 biathlon took place in Osrblie, Slovakia on 6th and 7th january 2018. On saturday sprint competitions were scheduled both for men and women. The weather was cloudy and later foggy which means difficult to photograph. In women’s competition the overall leader Uliana Kaisheva claimed the first place ahead of Chloe Chevalier and Kaia Woeien Nicolaisen. Later that day, the main star of the event Simon Fourcade claimed the first place in men’s competition, beating Norwegian biathletes Frederik Gjesbakk and Vegard Gjermundshaug. Martin Otcenas of Slovakia claimed a respectable 5th place, pleasing the home crowd.
Photogallery from Viessmann Cup Round 1 in Osrblie, Slovakia – Sprint with relay type shooting. More than 90 biathletes in 11 categories competed on December 29th 2017. Heavy snowfall affected the day, particularly the zeroing-in. Certainly one of the most demanding conditions for racers as well as for photography…
The relocated 2017 Youth/Junior World Championships in Biathlon began today in Osrblie, Slovakia with invididual races for Youth racers. Leo Grandbois of Canada claimed the gold medal in very difficult rainy conditions, besting Said Karimulla Khalili of Russia and Danilo Riethmueller of Germany. Miroslav Pavlak (bib no. 79) the member of Slovak Biathlon Team and Stars For Stars unfortunately didn’t have the best day, finishing 79th with 10 penalty minutes. This will most likely be my only attendance of this event so this gallery is considered to be final.
The 6th edition of IBU Cup 2016/2017 biathlon season took place in Osrblie, Slovakia. I had a chance to attend the Saturday’s pursuit competitions. In women’s pursuit, the respectable home crowd cheered for Terezia Poliakova (the only Slovak biathlete in the line up) as well as the strong German and Russian squads. Daria Virolaynen of Russia won the race with two penalty loops. Czech biathlete Lea Johanidesova finished second with clean shooting. Denise Herrmann of Germany secured the third place despite five penalty loops. In men’s competiton, all eyes were on Norwegian biathlete Tarjei Boe, who chose Osrblie as his first venue of 2016/2017 season, as well as Matej Kazar, the only Slovak in the line up. Boe’s teammate Kristoffer Skjelvik won the race with clean shooting. Boe finished second, edged out Timur Makhambetov of Russia on the finish line. Kazar improved his starting position by four ranks and finished on 6th place.
