🎙️❤️ Mathieu Garcia, tout jeune retraité sportif, nous fait l'honneur de participer à notre Podcast.
50 minutes d'échanges hyper intéressants autour du biathlon.
Merci Mathieu, on en redemande... ;)
➡️ ballesdepioche.podbean.com/e/balles-de-...
📸 Alexis Rodriguez
Exactly like that. Made of metal and plastic and reduces friction. Also can’t herniate
🇨🇿 Marketa Davidova announced today she has undergone a 2nd procedure on her back today. This procedure removed the initial disc that had herniated and inserted a new disc with an implant and it sounds like possibly did a vertebral fusion. She only describes it as “reinforced with screws”
#biathlon
Good question:
First 13 races (Oestersund through Nove Mesto) avg ski rank was 35.5
Last 11 races (Olympics to end of season) avg ski rank was 17.7
I'm really really curious to see what he does next. He said that he'll still have role. I'm wondering if he's going to a developmental spot like Matthias Ahrens? But I would think he would be desired by another program like Switzerland
Added a new section at the bottom with Rookies who were kept out of the first draft. The first rookies added were Estere Volfa and Marlene Fichtner. I'll review and see if there are any others to add. Or if you have suggestions add them below!
#biathlon
This has been updated to add discussions of 🇸🇮 Slovenia's hiring of Armin Auchentaller and Rok Trsan as well as 🇸🇪 Sweden's hiring of Jonne Kähkönen.
#biathlon
penaltyloop.com/2026/04/15/2...
I will be totally honest. I probably missed a few. This was a classic project I thought I could knock out in a few days. Several weeks later I just decided I need to be done so this is what I've got. I did my best but I'm sure I missed a few so I apologize!
#biathlon
2025-2026 Most Improved. Wondering who is the most improved skier this year? Most improved shooter? Most improved shooting speed?
I tried to tackle this comparing each athlete to their prior career best to see who were the top 5 in each category
#biathlon
penaltyloop.com/2026/04/16/2...
Trying to do something new this offseason...a coaching carousel piece. I just put it together today and I'll keep it updated as new hires come through. So far we have completed:
France
Norway
Germany
Still need to add Sweden & Slovenia
#biathlon
penaltyloop.com/2026/04/15/2...
🎙️❤️ Damien Levet second au général de l'IBU CUP partage ce podcast avec nous ! Un biathlète très sympa, une discussion très intéressante... Que demander de plus ?
On n'a pas vu le temps passer...
Merci Damien pour ta bonne humeur et ta disponibilité !
ballesdepioche.podbean.com/e/balles-de-...
My earlier post erroneously stated *skiing* coach due to a translate error. Both the Instagram post and the press release translated per Google to skiing coach. However that is apparently incorrect and I appreciate Elin L over on the other site for the assist!
Jonne Kähkönen is fresh off of a successful stint with the Italian women that helped return Lisa Vittozzi to glory. This looks to be a good overall fit and one that has been discussed by pretty much everybody since the weekend in Oslo
#biathlon
🇸🇪 With little surprise Jonne Kähkönen joins the Swedish biathlon team. He's going to be joining as the top SHOOTING coach.
Johan Hagström will continue as shooting coach
Of course we already knew Johannes Lukas will continue on as the team lead
#biathlon
Jonne Kähkönen is fresh off of a successful stint with the Italian women that helped return Lisa Vittozzi to glory. This looks to be a good overall fit and one that has been discussed by pretty much everybody since the weekend in Oslo
#biathlon
Lampic was just sick A LOT this year. Hopefully the shooting comes along this season but we will almost assuredly see skiing rebound
Would be happy to! I’ll try to get to it tomorrow. Also working on looking at “most improved” for skiing, shooting, and shooting speed. Ended up being more work than intended
🇩🇪 Sandra Flunger has been announced as the new head coach of the German women's team. She will replace the recently departed Sverre Røiseland. Flunger is beloved by the Swiss team and has taken them to new heights lately. This is a home run hire
#biathlon
www.fondoitalia.it/2026/04/13/b...
🇸🇮 Armin Auchentaller officially the new coach of Slovenia. He has made a career out of converting xc skiers. Now he has his biggest potential challenge yet with Anamarija Lampic! Not to mention young talent like Repinc and Planko! Great hire!
#biathlon
www.nordicmag.info/biathlon-la-...
Meanwhile Marthe Kristoffersen has plenty of experience in coaching. We'll hopefully see continued growth of the ski potential of these Norwegian women over the next few seasons under this duo
On the women's side this was a win-win. Røiseland prioritizing family time and he'll be able to get that while living and working at home now. He has experience managing on the top level and his women have had success including managing Preuß to the Overall
#Biathlon
As this group enters the next stages and comes along, having that continuity will hopefully be beneficial. Øverby should understand how these younger boys operate and be able to continue to build them up. Oberegger hopefully continues the success of the older generation
#biathlon
Men's coaching choices make a lot of sense. Continuity if the story here and I understand why they want that. Oberegger and Ziggy clearly were friendly. And nobody can second guess Øverby's achievements the last several season developing talent.
#biathlon
Off the top of my head:
Italy
Austria
Poland hasn’t made Tobias official yet
Denmark
Maybe Belgium
German women
🇳🇴 Norway has finalized its coaches for the seniors biathlon teams for the next Olympic cycle
Men: Anders Øverby and Patrick Oberegger
Women: Sverre Røiseland and Marthe Kristoffersen
#biathlon
kommunikasjon.ntb.no/pressemeldin...
This took longer than I anticipated and it's not quite where I wanted it to be. It doesn't have everybody. But at some point just have to hit publish and hope that somebody enjoys it!
25-26 Career Best Seasons! A quick look at some of the athletes who achieved career years this season. From the top of the top with Jeanmonnot & Perrot, to big time surges like Lea Meier, and even a few who just barely grabbed a career best!
#biathlon
penaltyloop.com/2026/04/10/c...
New Penalty Loop Podcast! A slightly delayed 2025-2026 Season Recap:
We did something slightly different this year going week by week and sharing surprises/memories that stick with us. I could have gone another 3 hours!
Plus a look ahead at 26-27!
#biathlon
Find this episode, and all future and past episodes (like our very fun interviews from Oslo episodes!), wherever you get your podcasts including:
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1pttaFy...
New Penalty Loop Podcast! A slightly delayed 2025-2026 Season Recap:
We did something slightly different this year going week by week and sharing surprises/memories that stick with us. I could have gone another 3 hours!
Plus a look ahead at 26-27!
#biathlon