Top of her game…
Amigo Rick Schwertfeger hooked me up with a biathlon newsfeed on Facebook, which is fantastic, because this noble and very Frontier Partisan sport is not something you can pick up on ESPN.
Biathlon World brought the good news (for fans, not for other competitors) that Darya Domracheva is back in the fight. I watched almost all of the biathlon at Sochi, and Domracheva’s multiple gold medal performance there was dominant and magnificent.
Dancing on snow…
And she just kept rolling, with outstanding, consistent shooting and skiing that a competitor likened to “dancing on snow.”
Domracheva ended the 2014-15 season with nine victories on her way to winning the World Cup Total Score title for the first time in the season after her record-setting three triumphs in Sochi. Later that spring, she was diagnosed with mononucleosis and decided to sit out last season to recover from the disease and two previous very hard seasons.
Biathlon is a mind-blowingly demanding sport, with the strength-cardio demands of cross-country racing combined with the fine motor skill of small-bore shooting (with your heart jackhammering in your chest). No surprise that two seasons at the top of the sport would deplete you a bit.
Ski hard, shoot straight. It ain’t easy.
And Domracheva has other irons in the fire…
Never one to sit and wait for something to happen, Domracheva took advantage of her extra time. She spent more time with family, initiated and promoted the “Legends Race,” with retired biathlon stars at Raubichi stadium, married Ole Einar Björndalen, added a baby daughter Xenia to the family in October and in the recent holiday season launched a sportswear collection. Somewhere in between all of this, she trained at comfortable levels and promised her fans last April at the time her pregnancy was announced, “I will do everything possible to return to competition in early 2017.”
She’ll be in the start for a sprint race tomorrow in Germany.
Oh, in case that little throwaway line escaped you, Darya married the most decorated Winter Olympics history, her fellow biathlete, Norwegian Ole Einar Björndalen. Look out for Zenia in about 20 years, right?
I was talking on New Year’s Eve with Ceili’s new friend, a Norwegian exchange student named Emilie. She said that Björndalen is a major national hero in Norway.
The Greatest Of All Time. I hear he married well.
That’s what you might call a power couple.
Power couple.
Domracheva is a lovely example of a most welcome phenomenon: Like her colleagues in the tennis world, she demonstrates that there is no contradiction in being a world-class athletic competitor and a gorgeous, glamorous woman.
Rick Schwertfeger says
Love it! It’s becoming almost my favorite sport.
Watched the Men’s 10Km from Germany this morning. Tough conditions, with snow and wind and a soft track. VERY hard shooting conditions. Only something like 3 guys out of 106 shot all 10 targets. Even mega-biathlete Martin Forcade of France missed 3 and finished 9th – low for him.
For those who want to watch live, here’s the link: http://www.eurovisionsports.tv/ibu/.
These races are early for us in N. America. E.g. tomorrow morning’s Women’s 7.5 Km. is on at 8:15 a.m. Eastern, 5:15 a.m. PST. But they usually have a link to the replay; and a highlights link, too. The coverage is terrific; as are the announcers.
JimC says
Thanks for that. I will watch as much as I can. It inspires the hell out of me, frankly — add a little to that workout!
Rick Schwertfeger says
BTW: Here’s a link to the actual start times of all of the Biathlon World Cup races this season: http://www.realbiathlon.com/2016/08/201617-biathlon-world-cup-schedule.html.
CET – Central Europe Time, is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, 8 ahead of Pacific. So a race that begins at 14:30 CET is at 9:30 EST, 6:30 PST.
And, another way to link to the live feed is through the International Biathlon Union’s website at http://www.biathlonworld.com. Then click on “Live Broadcasting” on the upper right. That’s actually how I usually get there.
JimC says
Fun!
Rick Schwertfeger says
Everyone, TIME CORRECTION to my comments yesterday: CET is 6 hours ahead of EST!!!
I.e. tomorrow’s Men’s Pursuit will start at 5:30 a.m EST, 2:30 a.m. PST.
Tomorrow’s Women’s Pursuit will start at 8:30 a.m. EST, 5:30 a.m. PST.
Very sorry for my crumby calculations. I think it’s right now.
The farther west you are, there’s always the Replay or the Highlights!
JimC says
Thanks Rick!
Hillbilly Nick says
Thanks for the links! One of the few sports I’ll watch. I have no use for professional team sports. I will mention a strange weakness for women’s beach volleyball though….
JimC says
But why?
Hillbilly Nick says
Hmmmm, might have to do with scantily clad, athletic women jumping around, grunting. Also, it doesn’t hurt that I dated a 6’3″ volleyball team captain back in high school ( I’m 5’8″ BTW, always liked ’em tall!)