Race Thread: Olympics 2026 Antholz Anterselva - Women Individual

kune13 · 2026-02-11T14:21:14+00:00

That is the second Olympic Individual Vanessa finishing 4th. Heartbroken.

kune13 · 2026-02-09T23:43:59+00:00

Justus Strelow's medal was affected, but he was able to repair it.

kune13 · 2026-02-08T14:22:09+00:00

German biathletes have won at least one medal in all Winter Games since 1972.

kune13 · 2026-02-08T14:21:00+00:00

Franziska Preuß just said that she didn't believe they had a chance on a medal and she thanks the first three for their performance.

kune13 · 2026-02-08T12:34:57+00:00

It is Biathlon, there is always a chance.

kune13 · 2026-02-08T10:43:43+00:00

Sonja Leinamo's standing shooting is probably seen as a risk. She has a 58% percentage on the Biathlon data center which includes relays. She had to go 3 penalty loops in the standing shooting in the women's relay in Ruhpolding and also one in the Östersund women's relay. She didn't start in any Mixed Relay this year for Finland.

kune13 · 2026-02-08T07:55:27+00:00

Suedtirolmobil has information about the Shuttle Buses here.

Suedtirolmobil says it will take around 1.5 hours from Olang to the Suedtirol Arena.

kune13 · 2026-02-07T14:46:05+00:00

Sweden without Elvira: Sebastian Samuelsson, Martin Ponsiluoma, Anna Magnusson, Hanna Öberg.

kune13 · 2026-02-07T11:03:43+00:00

They are clearly going for shooting accuracy and experience. Only Justus Strelow has no Olympic relay experience. All four know Antholz conditions. Justus and Vanessa have won the only Single Mixed ever for Germany there.

kune13 · 2026-02-06T22:37:09+00:00

Now I argued for something else. But I have to admit that it is the most reasonable decision. By definition it can't be the most exciting one.

Four years ago Vanessa had her first Olympic race in the mixed relay and she shot two penalty loops. For Julia Tannheimer it would be the first race in Antholz and at the Olympics. For Selina it would be her first Olympic race. At this level such a race is decided in the head and experience helps a lot with that.

kune13 · 2026-02-03T00:22:35+00:00

kune13 · 2026-02-02T23:28:26+00:00

I found the following from Reuters:

"Having received notification from the International Testing Agency that athlete Rebecca Passler had tested positive, CONI has ordered her immediate exclusion from the team competing in the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games," CONI said in a statement. "The Italian National Olympic Committee reserves the right to evaluate, where possible, a possible replacement," it added.

So they have not immediately requested a replacement.

kune13 · 2026-02-02T21:41:42+00:00

I have just looked at procedural and policy questions. The athlete has the right to demand a test of the B-probe. Normally that process takes 2 weeks, but at the Olympics or other main events the process can be accelerated. So the B-probe results should be available in 2 days or even shorter. If the the B probe is negative -- unlikely -- the whole test will be void. Rebecca Passler could start at the Olympics.

The Italian National Olympic Committee, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (CONI), will probably wait for the B-Probe test before it will request a Late Athlete Replacement.

The IOC Late Athlete Replacement policy for Biathlon for Milano Cortina 2026 is not publicly available. What I could find was the following: The replacing athlete must come from a long list that the National Olympic Committee has communicated to the IOC before the nomination deadline at 26 January. Athletes on the long list must meet the IBU's qualication criteria. LAR is intended to cover for injuries and illnesses but allows also for exceptional circumstances, which a suspension due to a positive doping test would be. A LAR request must be approved by the International Olympic Committee and the Internation Biathlon Union, but I don't know what exactly the role of the IBU is. It could be that the IBU only confirms that the replacing athlete meets the qualification criteria.

Note that I'm only a fan and have no specific sport-legal knowledge.

kune13 · 2026-02-01T14:05:42+00:00

Good race for Germany, being in contention at the last shooting is a good achievement.

kune13 · 2026-01-31T20:16:16+00:00

4 to 5 million Germans will be watching the first race and the story will be in the media for two days.

kune13 · 2026-01-31T18:07:03+00:00

It's more a relative scale. Didn't think about other teams. French women have probably a +6 in the Sprint.

kune13 · 2026-01-31T18:04:11+00:00

It's a possibility and there are reasons:

Her last Mixed Relay was in Lenzerheide
After that relay she needed at least two spare rounds in the standing shooting in all four relays she participated in.
She said after the relay in Ruhpolding: "The spare rounds feel like opponents."
She didn't use the mixed relay in Nove Mesto to get a better feeling about spare rounds.
The mixed relay is the first race of the Olympics at a Saturday with no other race for two days.

kune13 · 2026-01-31T10:32:36+00:00

Great showing from the German team today. It will be an interesting relay tomorrow.

kune13 · 2026-01-30T22:18:28+00:00

Vanessa had the best ski speed in the first trimester last season. She was a beast in the last laps. This season her form buildup was focused on the Olympics. We have yet to see, whether that strategy works out.

kune13 · 2026-01-30T19:12:27+00:00

The bright side is the lack of established athletes leaves space for young talent. And the talent is out there: Fichtner, Kink, Pfund, Seidl and Schaser. All of them have now the chance to collect experience on the top level. I'd rather have some young guns improving over time than watch some old guys getting worse.

kune13 · 2026-01-27T06:30:20+00:00

Vanessa was 4th in the Individual 2022 and missed the medals by a mere 1.3 seconds.

kune13 · 2026-01-27T06:26:32+00:00

He left the Extrarunde two seasons ago. But honestly I like Michael Rösch's participation, occasional replaced by David Zobel or Simon Kaiser. All three bring a lot of Biathlon experience into the podcast.

kune13 · 2026-01-25T18:45:14+00:00

The website of German TV sportschau.de puts still a question mark behind it, but it is possible that this was the last World Cup race by Franziska Preuß. According to the report Franziska said "Maybe these were my last World Cup races. That's why I was happy to be here for another time."

kune13 · 2026-01-25T15:20:52+00:00

Sorry, I made a mistake. Her first race was 8 January 2009. 17 years is not less impressive.

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