The Penalty Loop Podcast

The final race at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games is yet another thrilling one. - We say goodbye to two absolute legends: Dorothea Wierer and Franziska Preuss - Oceane Michelon wins another medal and many more hearts with a brilliant gold - Julia Simon digs deep to find the strength to chase down silver - Tereza Vobornikova wins a beautiful bronze medal - Anna Magnusson comes up just short once again for Sweden - We celebrate some other high achievers including Anna Andexer and Anne de Besche And More!

Last race of the men for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics and it was another special (and history making!) one - Johannes Dale-Skjevdal gives us all the feels with his first career 20/20 and the gold - Quentin Fillon Maillet another fantastic skiing day brings him his 1st career bronze and moves him to 2nd in career Olympic medals - Sturla Holm Laegreid ties for the most medals in a single Olympic Games with another silver - Hard luck for Philipp Horn who came so close! - Very tough scenes for Tommaso Giacomel - The Swedish men end their Games quietly - Jacquelin is once again Jacquelin - Campbell Wright has some fun at the end And more!

The French women are inevitable, and so is another post-race recap from Jordan and RJ. This was one for the underdogs and we had a lot to celebrate including: - The Polish women with a magnificent 6th place the best ever for the Polish women at the Olympics - Celebrating Baiba Bendika, the Belgian women, and the Bulgarian relay - The French with another early penalty loop come back for the gold sparking an emotional celebration - The Swedes continue their strong second week with a silver medal - Norway's Juni Arneklevi substitution pays off with the bronze medal - Another tough race for the Germans - Czechia a very strong 5th - RJ shares his hard work on the Antholz "athletes perspective animation" (link below) And more! You can find RJ's animation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN1nwOXN70k

This was the type of Olympic relay you dream of. The drama wasn't decided until the very end with plenty of fun stories along the way! - The French men finally have their Relay gold medal. Presented by none other than national hero Martin Fourcade - The Norwegians have a solid day in silver position. But what happened to Johan-Olav Botn? - The Swedish men pleased with their bronze medal - Germany finishes a solid 4th - United States sets their best ever Olympic Men's Relay mark in 5th. Is Campbell ready for his Olympic moment in the Mass Start? - Finland continues to perform well - Shout out to the Canadians - A LONG preview of the Women's Relay tomorrow And more!

WHAT A DAY! It's the middle weekend of the Olympics which means Pursuit day! The Men's and Women's Pursuits delivered us an emotional day including: - Lisa Vittozzi's gorgeous gold medal - Suvi's emotional run to the bronze - Emilien Jacquelin racing to bronze in his own unique fashion - Martin Ponsiluoma changes the Swedish narrative - Maren Kirkeeide and Sturla Holm Laegreid have a double silver day for Norway - Polish women and Finnish men with big days - Dorothea Wierer doesn't give in And more!

A little later (because someone...RJ...overslept) we chatted about an action packed Women's Sprint including: - Maren Kirkeeide's amazing closing ability - Oceane Michelon's smile filled silver medal  - Lou Jeanmonnot keeps piling up medals - Bulgaria is a biathlon nation now - Great day for Latvia and Denmark!!! - Top biathlon cheerleader Ingrid Tandrevold with a solid day! - Rough day and Olympics for Sweden - Looking ahead to the Pursuit races tomorrow! And more!

Another day and another thrilling race at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics! As has become our custom we got on right after the end of the podium ceremony to discuss: - Emilien Jacquelin's heartbreaking 4th place - Quentin Fillon Maillet inscribing himself in biathlon history with his 7th Olympic medal - Vetle Christiansen's silver medal - Sturla Holm Laegreid takes home his 2nd bronze of these Games - Zachary Connelly and the Canadians with an excellent race - Finnish biathlon continues to show out - Swedish men continues to struggle - A solid day for the Swiss - Rihards Lozbers makes everybody take notice - A look ahead for the Women's Sprint tomorrow! And more!

The Women's Individual at the 2026 Milan Cortino Winter Olympics was absolute joyful chaos. We got together immediately after the conclusion of the podium ceremony to recap all of the action including: - A brief detour to Sturla Holm Laegreid's bizarre interview - Julia Simon's greatness - Lou Jeanmonnot's beautiful biathlon - Lora Hristova's unbelievable surprise podium - Heartbreak for several including Vanessa Voigt, Camille Bened, and Lotte Lie - Many great races from some surprising candidates including Lea Meier, Tereza Vinklarkova - Great day for North American biathlon with Pascale Paradis and Margie Freed And more!

What an absolutely emotional day. There were tears from many athletes today for...a lot of reasons. We had a ton to chat about including: - Johan-Olav Botn's sports movie moment - Eric Perrot continues to display magnificent maturity - Sturla Holm Laegreid wins his non-relay medal during what has proven to be an unexpectedly emotional week - The Finnish men with a major day - Philipp Nawrath with a great start to the Games - Swedes missing something - Quentin Fillon Maillet with amazing speed - Italy with a solid day - Many great performances - A look ahead to the Men's Sprint and Women's Individual And more!

One race in and already the action from Antholz has been absolutely sensational! A little later than normal (the rest of our Olympic recaps should be up within 1-2 hours) we got together to discuss: - French biathlon dominance - Italians get it done with silver - Germans hit their checkmarks for bronze - Maren Kirkeeide with a growth moment...but the rest of the team looked good? - Poor Sebastian Samuelsson - Kudos to Canada - We also discussed really good performances that didn't quite land on the podium! Andmore

Somehow the 2nd trimester of the 2025-2026 season has already come to a close. There were some athletes missing from Nove Mesto but that didn't take anything away from the action! We had a bunch to discuss including: - The absolutely pristine weekend for the French team specifically the maturity of Eric Perrot - Swiss women coming on strong - American biathlon continues it's terrific season - Who is this Ingrid Tandrevold?!? - The Lukas Hofer renaissance  - Even more adoration for the French team this weekend and trying to select their Olympic starters - Preuss saying goodbye? - Leo Pfund introduces himself to the World Cup stage - The magnificent crowd in Nove Mesto And more!

Ruhpolding started with an amazing Women's Relay on Wednesday and then gave us one amazing race after another. Frankly it was so amazing that it completely exhausted poor RJ so you'll unfortunately have to listen to a LOT of Jordan today. We soldiered on though and we covered almost everything including: - That amazing Women's Relay - Trying to figure out the remaining Olympic questions including the Norwegian and Swedish women - A fun battle of attrition in the Men's Relay and the Estonian men break through! - Great week for the Canadian women - The Swedes and their amazing second trimester continues - Dale-Skjevdal's emotional Pursuit win - Tommaso Giacomel's big boy Sprint - Sad Suvi but she goes to Nove Mesto still in second - Queen Lou in total control And of course much more!

The biathlon family reconvened in Oberhof after a difficult holiday break. There was something cathartic about the racing starting again. After sharing our thoughts and condolences for Sivert Bakken's passing and his family/friends we dove into the racing including: - Tommaso Giacomel's emotional week and the outstanding showing he put forward this week - The absolutely bonkers men's relay - The women's relay crushed by the French women - Elvira Öberg new strategy leading to immediate success - A very successful weekend for the Swedish squad - Overview of the status of the Overall races and making looking ahead - Looking at some great individual performances from several athletes including Martin Uldal, Regina Ermits, Lukas Hofer, Vanessa Voigt etc And more!

US Biathlon, and Wisconsin's own, Deedra Irwin joins us from Oberhof to talk about her classically American journey into biathlon all the way up to her greatest successes. This was so much fun and I hope you enjoy it too, especially: - Discussing small town Wisconsin and how important and great it is! - Finding biathlon later in her career than her European counterparts  - Early success and memories of her American biathlon best finish at the 2022 Winter Olympics - Her best buddy Joanne Reid and their special relationship - The great vibes, and more importantly great racing, coming out of US Biathlon right now - Support and evolution of US Biathlon - Her relationship with her rifle - Breakdown of the upcoming Packers-Bears showdown! And more!

RJ may be in Mexico but we won't let a little tropical vacation get in the way of a great week of biathlon! After a raucous week in le Grand Bornand we had a lot to chat about including: - This was Lou's weekend from start to finish - Justus' heartbreak but encouraging signs for Germany - Maren's incredible power - Good 1st trimester performances from USA and Canada especially Campbell Wright and Deedra Irwin - An endlessly entertaining Norwegian men's team and how their Olympic roster is shaping up - Can Botn continue this high level? And can Perrot and Giacomel challenge? - Celebrating Camille Bened and pondering the French women's team and their Olympic roster - A week of strong finishes from Eder, Burkhalter, Passler, and Ermits And more!

Another fun weekend of biathlon racing is completed and RJ and Jordan are back to discuss it all! On today's recap: - Starting with our complicated feelings seeing Julia Simon racing again - Nice weekends for our home federations of Canada and the USA! - Celebrating Anna Magnusson with her biggest fan - The cream of the crop rising on the men's side with Perrot and Giacomel trading wins - Lisa Vittozzi and her incredible shooting display in the Pursuit - A little Norway discussion including Maren Kirkeeide, Karoline Knotten, Sturla Holm Laegreid and Vetle Christiansen - The tricky corner in Hochfilzen claims several more athletes - Camille Bened keeps on rolling with 2 more finishes in the Flowers and a great relay leg - Anticipating French women lineup changes - Shout outs to a diverse weekend of good finishes including Estonia, Slovakia, Finland etc - IBU Cup corner - Looking ahead to Annecy And a ton more athletes discussed in there as well!

After a fun week in Östersund full of fan favorite performances we already have so much to talk about! In this episode we discuss: - The incredible women's Pursuit contested with our some of our personal favorite athletes - Suvi Minkkinen with a career weekend takes Yellow - Lisa Hauser looks better than she has in several years - Dorothea Wierer is ready for an Olympic capstone to her career - What to make of the preseason favorites easing their way into the season and a few athletes quietly flying under the radar - Norwegian men are still dominant even without the Boe brothers - Swedish women...how do they balance their talent? And more!

World Cup Biathlon is back and so are the weekly recaps! In this case we saw so much fun in the first two days of the season that we couldn't wait to start this next week. We had to start right away! It was a fantastic couple of days so we had a lot to discuss including: - Our favorite things including great races from our offseason guests! - Campbell Wright and the spunky Americans - Nice opening for the Canadians - Lou is Lou which is scary for everybody - Tandrevold and the shooting scaries - Relay change over excitement - Gandler, Davidova, and Suvi all showing good things - Czechia with a phenomenal opening weekend - Sebbe and Ponsi making their traditional late relay charge - Italian excitement and Germany up and down - Analyzing Norway's premier And more!

A week later than intended (solely due to Jordan's very slow editing) our interview with Polish Women's Head Coach Tobias Torgersen is up! This was recorded the week before the season began so it does not cover anything that happened in the first two days of racing in Östersund. But there is still tons of good stuff in this conversation including: - Review of Geilo races and assessment of team form - The process of picking rosters - Leadership within the team - Summer camps including Blink and Antholz - International Cooperation - Coaching from the bike - A lengthy discussion on coaching shooting/practice - Moments of pride and moments of fun - And more!

We did it! The 2025-2026 biathlon season starts this week! We got together for our first regular weekly episode of the season to get ourselves ready for all of the excitement. We covered: - Discussing how an Olympic season differs from a regular season - Discussed the events of the selection races in Idre Fjall, Geilo, Bessans, and Ruhpolding and how they affected team selections for the major squads - How key athletes looked in these races including: Hanna Oeberg's resurgence, the Swedish boys, Eric Perrot, Dorothea Wierer, Ingrid Tandrevold, Isak Frey, Vetle Christiansen, Camille Bened, Simon Eder, Franziska Preuss and many many more - Sorting out our thoughts on the chaos inside the French team - Brief looks at rosters and our thoughts including the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Latvia - As always you can be assured that there is a ton more in there too!

Karoline Knotten graciously joined us last week from her training in Livigno before the races took place in Geilo. It was a very friendly visit and we can't wait to have her on again soon! For now we covered: - Charting her own course outside the national training roster this summer - Updates on her personal fitness - Goals for 2025-2026 - Finding joy and training with new friends - Learning from competitors and personal role models - Loop One experience And a ton more!

Nik Hartweg joins the podcast once again for his first recorded episode with us in two seasons. There has been a LOT that has happened with Nik and biathlon in that period so we had a lot to discuss including: - Prep, current form, and plans for the 2025-2026 seasons - Goals and checkpoints for this season leading to the 2026 Olympics - Memories of the Lenzerheide Worlds and 2022 Olympics - Avoiding illness - Surfing - How he uses data during training - Loop One as a spectator on site and the new targets that were used - Swiss team success and explosion - And a TON more!

The most entertaining man in biathlon - Campbell Wright - returns for another preseason chat! As always he was an absolute blast as we covered a lot in a relatively short period including: - Loop One - his thoughts on the event and would he do it again? - Updates on summer training and how he's feeling with now less than 1 month until the 2025-2026 season - Racing tactics in Pursuits and Mass Starts - His dream chase pack in a big race - How high can the US men's team reach this season? - What it's like being one of the most recognized and cheered biathletes - And more!

Justus Strelow joins us again for another wonderful interview! He was coming to us from the team's Martello altitude camp and graciously gave us plenty of time to discuss a bunch of fun topics including: - Being a dad! - The new coaching staff and what the feeling in the team is as the 2025-2026 season nears - Team dynamics and fun with the German men - The narrow gap between top 20's and top 5's - Preparations for Antholz and favorite venues/ranges - And more!

2025 City Biathlon Champion Lotte Lie comes back for another interview! It's her 3rd interview with us and we had a LOT to catch up on including: - Her City Biathlon experience and the winning moment! - Beating her buddy Karoline Knotten - Summer training schedule and updates. Do the upcoming Olympics change the training plans? - Belgium's continued biathlon growth and success - And more!

We are honored to be joined by reigning IBU Cup champion Camille Bened for a wonderful interview. Our graceful guest was kind enough to chat with us about anything and everything including: - Her IBU Cup winning 2024-2025 season and experiences on the World Cup - Overcoming injuries from fall 2 seasons ago - Goals for 2025-2026 season and what she needs to do to accomplish them - Her home life and her tiny hometown in France - So much more!

We continue checking in with Team Canada with our first interview with up and coming talent Pascale Paradis! This was a true joy as we discussed: - Her journey in biathlon including her first big success at the 2018 Youth Worlds - Choosing her college career at University of Alaska vs IBU Cup - Her first season on the World Cup and what Emma Lunder meant to her and the team - Prep for the Olympic season - And a TON more!

Logan Pletz is back for more rifle talk! But before that we have a lot more to discuss: - In the intro: Ziggy Mazet announces his departure from Norwegian team after this season + Blink Festival action and Lisa Vittozzi's return! - Logan talks about his 2024-2025 season and what he learned from it - His summer training and dodging cows - Olympic hopes and what his aims for this season - Update on the rifle project including the launch of Project LP rifle biathlon rifle manufacturing, updates on rifle design, and everything he's learned about rifles in the last year! Find Logan's rifle company website here: https://projectlp.ca/ Jordan's piece on Laura's Dahlemier: https://penaltyloop.com/2025/07/30/the-comet/

Ukaleq and Sondre Slettemark joined us for a delightful conversation about Team Greenland! We discussed A LOT but maybe the most enjoyable aspect of the time we spent together was seeing them interact as brother and sister. In this interview we discussed: - Reflections on the Lenzerheide Worlds and looking ahead to Antholz 2026 - Their unique skills - What it takes to be a great shooter like Ukaleq - Sibling dynamics and racing together - Common waxing and the impact of waxxing - Sustainability, global warming, and summer biathlon growth - And more!

We were delighted to be rejoined by recently retired Biathlon Canada star Emma Lunder to catch up on her life since retirement and much more. We covered quite a bit in this friendly conversation including: - How she came to her decision to retire and enjoying her last weeks on the World Cup - Her reflections on her years with the Canadian National Team - Looking ahead to the future of Canadian biathlon - How she's enjoyed her retirement - Being a role model for young athletes

In part 2 of our excellent discussion with Canadian national team head coach Andrew Chisholm we touch on: - Changes he and Co-Head Coach Helene Jorgensen are making to the management of the team - Their coaching and training philosophies - Covering more race day responsibilities - What does success look like for Biathlon Canada in the 2025-2026 season?

Finally! We are interviewing one of the head coaches of the Canadian National Team. It should have happened long ago but we are happy to be joined by Andrew Chisholm for a 2 part interview. In part 1 we discuss: - Andrew's journey to this position - The daily responsibilities of a head coach - Olympic prep and team logistics - Deeeeeeeeeeeep dive into waxing

Part 2 of our interview with Matthias Ahrens. In this section we discuss: - Climate Change - What his athletes can learn from the current World Cup athletes - Changes in shooting techniques - The challenge and opportunities with the German women's depth - The best venue on the World Cup

Our dear friend Matthias Ahrens rejoins us for a wide ranging conversation! We discuss his move from Canada and the Biathlon Alberta Training Center back to his home in Germany where he now works training members of the German Youth/Junior teams. In part 1 we focus extensively on the differences between the two systems (North America vs. Europe primarily) and his adjustments back home.

Just a quick round up of the latest news from the world of biathlon including: - Coaching change for the Czech women and Austrian teams - Laegreid changing ski brands - Roster announcements from many teams including Norway, France, Sweden, and Germany - General chit chat - Trivia time for RJ *Apologies for Jordan's audio. He sounds like he's recording with a tin can. It was a last minute decision to record and he was at work without his mic!*

It's been one month since the thrilling conclusion to the 2024-2025 biathlon season in Oslo so it's the perfect time to catch up on all of the biathlon news of April 2025. We also discuss a couple of projects that we are working on right now and preview a few others. Let's have some fun!

It's our final look back at the 2024-2025 season. We take a look at the big stories, our favorite stories, some athletes that had magnificent seasons, some athletes that had relatively disappointing seasons. 24-25 was one of my favorite full seasons in awhile. Take one last look back with us!

We return to the hallowed grounds of Holmenkollen for one last visit before the offseason. We return once again to our brightest memories as well as things that we failed to mention in our first recap. This time we included our interviews: - Lou Jeanmonnot after the Mass Start - Franziska Preuss after the Mass Start - JT Boe after the Sprint - Isak Frey after the Pursuit - Sturla Holm Laegreid after both Sprint and the Pursuit - Sebbe Samuelsson after the Pursuit - Suvi Minkkinen after the Mass Start - 

We are back, the jet lag has worn off, and we're ready to chat....and chat...and chat! In this episode we ended up just sharing our memories from the weekend. Very little actual race or biathlon discussion. This is so much about just our time on the ground and how much fun we had. Included: - Our memories from the Women's Mass Start - Remembering the times we spent with athletes during the races - HUGE thank you to Tobias Torgersen - So many more memories!

Pokljuka was one heck of a ride. We had surprise performances galore and amazing Slovenian performances. This week we discussed: - Jakov Fak and Anamarija Lampic - Johannes Thingnes Boe's weekend and the state of the Men's Overall - Lou Jeanmonnot and Franziska Preuss separated by just 20 pts - The amazing young athletes in biathlon - A few athletes closing strong including Julia Simon, QFM, Hanna Oeberg, and Martin Ponsiluoma - A few predictions on the discipline globes And More

The final trimester of the 2024-2025 season kicked off in Nove Mesto this week. It was a warm but exciting week of racing! - We started the episode with a discussion of things that happened between Worlds and Nove Mesto including the German coaching change and the Latvian team incident - There were several fresh winners this week including Jacquelin, Tandrevold, and Samuelsson - The Overall Globe races tightened significantly and we discussed how we expect them to play out - We discussed some very good racing from several now regular top 10 finishes including Giacomel, Hartweg, Suvi, and Campbell - The tight race for the top 10 in the Women's Nations Cup for the 5 starting bibs And so much more!

Whew! The athletes are surely exhausted after a grueling nearly 2 weeks in Lenzerheide and so too are the viewers! What a feast of biathlon we've had! In this episode we discuss: - Overall take aways from these Worlds and a jump around of thoughts about the Worlds in general - The specific races from the Individuals through the Mass Starts - JT Boe's status as champion - The medal distributions - The schedule release for the 26-27 through 29-30 seasons And more!

Week 1 of the 2025 World Championships is complete and it was PACKED with excitement. With just a day off before the races return we had to quickly discuss the biggest moments before we get more drama! This includes: - Campbell Wright!!! - JT Boe makes history with two individual gold medals - Franziska Preuss continues to shine - Justine Braisaz-Bouchet's smile returns - The love of the biathlon family - Suvi Minkkinen's run continues - The ups and downs of the French men and women thus far And more!

The 2024-2025 World Championships are here!!! We do a full review of the IBU Cup races in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna before we dive into everything we're thinking about as the World Championships approach. This episode we discuss: - The continued dominance of the Norwegian men and the French women on the IBU Cup - Paul Schommer!! - Our 3 magical wishes for the World Championshps - Does the long gap benefit or help anybody in particular? - What to expect from JT Boe returning from a break with his family? - Does anybody have "momentum?" - Will Sweden surprise? - Our many hopes for these 2 weeks And more!

Initially recorded shortly after the European Championship concluded, but released late due to our schedules, it is still important to chat about! In this episode we covered the hot topics coming from Val Martel including: - Baiba Bendika's glorious Championships! - Out impressions of the Val Martel venue - The Norwegian men and the French women - Anna-Karin Heijdenberg earns her World Championship spot - The Canadian and American performances - Italians perform well at home! And More!

Sadly another trimester of World Cup biathlon has come to an end, but there was just so much to talk about this week both on and off the course!  - We led off with the Norwegian European Cup roster announcement - This was connected to the surprising yet not surprising Tarjei Boe retirement announcement - We discussed the incredible Women's Overall Race and who can win! - The French men win their 4th straight men's relay! - Sturla Holm Laegreid grabs the Yellow bib...can JT Boe rebound? - And a TON more

It's been another amazing week of biathlon as we hit the midpoint of the season. From off the course news to some truly amazing racing, Ruhpolding certainly kept us on our toes. This week we discuss: - JT Boe's surprise retirement announcement - The top women all racing like champions - Thoughts on the Swedes: Hanna Oeberg, Martin Ponsiluoma, and Samuelsson...trending up? - Switzerland on the upswing including Niklas Hartweg looking very very good - The "under the radar" athletes and nations keep performing! - Giacomel's incredible Mass Start win - Doro heading to a peak at Worlds? And as usual a ton more!

What a week it was! Oberhof was an absolutely jam packed weekend that showed us all of the emotions. Get ready because this is a LONG episode because we have a lot of thoughts about: - Weather and it's effects this week - Suvi Minkkinen and Julia Simon...the highs and the lows of biathlon in 2 days - Finland's glorious week - Elvira Oeberg's determination - Lou Jeanmonnot looking like Lou Jeanmonnot - Can Laegreid challenge JT Boe for the Overall? And an so so so much more!

Let's get ready for the 2nd trimester! We just had a few things to catch up on before the racing starts again including: - Quick Schalke biathlon review - Update on RJ's analysis of the new start positions and its effect on racing - Roster updates including Chloe Chevalier's retirement, Paula Botet, Sophie Chauveau, Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen - Checking in on state of the Overall Globe race

After a week of amazing racing in le Grand Bornand there is just one thing left to do...talk about it. A lot! This is looong episode but there is a lot to discuss including: - Leading off with Tandrevold's health update - Golden Girl Franziska Preuss - Grotian and Voigt round out the German weekend - Martin Uldal and Tarjei Boe "surprise" wins - JT Boe takes control of the Men's Overall - More underdogs competing - What happened to Jeanmonnot? And more!

A little later than normal, and a little under the weather, we discussed all of the action from the winter wonderland of Hochfilzen including: - Franziska Preuss vs. Lou Jeanmonnot all season? Who says no? - Underdog nations continue being competitive  - JT Boe is back on top - The Jacquelin Pursuit fall - Laegreid lurking And more!