The Penalty Loop Podcast

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!

The first competitions of the biathlon season are in the books! It's time to get together and chat about all of the amazing action from Kontiolahti and a little news/speculation as welli! This includes: - A week of underdogs, fan favorites, and fun stories! - A trip to the doctor's office to discuss the Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold heart situation - The great weeks by the Swedish and French women, and the French men! - Elvira's rocket legs - Franziska Preuss reclaiming her place near the top of the sport? - Suvi Minkkinen! - More!

We just couldn't wait for a full week of competition to end before we had to start talking biathlon again! We got together, initially on Sunday, but then again on Monday to discuss all of the relay action and the Men's Short Individual including: - Julia Simon's injury and what we know as of recording time - The Soerum Mixed Relay sprint and the Fabien Claude/Sturla Holm Laegreid relay battle giving us relay drama - Initial impressions of the women including rocket ship Elvira, very strong Tandrevold, and surprisingly solid Wierer - Ella Halvarsson and Jesper Nelin surprising us early - Short Individual immediate impressions  - IBU Cup brief check in - And much more!

Just barely before the season starts we reconvened to discuss the recent racing in Sjusojoen and Idre Fjaell and discuss the upcoming season! A few of the highlights: - Over view of the selection races - Discussing the Norwegian depth - Overview of the rosters and any surprises that we saw - Discussing the current state of Canadian biathlon - A few predictions!

While battling illness at the final training camp in Finland, American/New Zealand biathlete Campbell Wright joined us for our final preseason interview! Campbell is a hilarious interview and we had an immensely good time. Of course we discussed his unique journey into biathlon from New Zealand, his transfer to the American team, his successes along the way, and where the journey is headed this season!

This week on the pod Czechia biathlete Jakub Stvrtecky joins us! He was so gracious to share his time from training camp in Finland to share his story! This week we discussed: - His story coming up alongside his teammates in Czechia biathlon - His summer of training and how he feels coming into the 2024-2025 season - Shooting prone vs. standing - How already having over 100 World Cup races at his young age impacts his biathlon - Czechia team nickname lesson and uniform designs

In our latest interview in the leadup to the 2024-2025 biathlon season, Hanna Kebinger returns! Always a fun interview this episode involves more laughing than we have done in a bit! It includes: - Discussion on her unfortunate 23-24 season - Dealing with health struggles, both physical and mental - Her road to recovery this summer including finding joy again - Year 2 under Sverre Røiseland's leadership  - The importance of dogs and belly rubs - Travels in Venice

Jacques Jefferies graciously and bravely battled through a sinus infection and a bloody nose to join us for an interview! Jacques is a really valuable mind for the biathlon community as he has a very good grasp of the big issues biathlon will be grappling with in the coming years. As Jacques battled through we discussed: - His young biathlon career and his plans for the 2024-2025 season including an update on his summer training - The experience of establishing a position on the national team in such a crowded and competitive biathlon federation - His thoughts on the future of summer biathlon and what the biathlon calendar may look like in the future - Professional athlete mental health awareness and his program MindsMelt - And so much more! Please check out his personal website https://jacquesjeff.substack.com/

As the 2024-2025 season rapidly approaches Polish Women's Head Coach Tobias Torgersen joined us from team training camp in Lenzerheide! In this interview we discuss: - Thoughts on Lenzerheide and particularly the potential trickiness on the range - Coaching anxiety as the season approaches - What led to the Polish women having a surge in the 2023-2024 season - How he coaches his team - Summer progress and looking ahead towards 2024-2025!

Justus Strelow, coming off of a very exciting City Biathlon race in Dresden, joined us from the German training camp in the French Alps for a wonderful interview. He as an amazing guest and gave us tremendous insight into: - His intro into biathlon and his journey to the top level of the sport - His lifelong affinity for shooting and how fast and how accurate can biathletes get? - The one missed shot that sticks with him from last season - The current status of his training and goals for the upcoming season - How he met his the love of his life and the secret to the best mattress for a couple. 

The first of our preseason interviews is here and it's Regina Ermits! This was a joy! With Regina we discussed: - Regina vs. Kalev in the battle of the Ermits - How is she so good at standing shooting? - A new training regimen and "finding her voice" leading to 7 of the 9 best finishes of her career in 2023-2024 - Her amazing 2024 Nove Mesto Worlds - And more!

The IBU has floated changes to how start bibs are allocated for Sprint and Individual races and it's generating some great conversation. We do our best to lay out what the changes would be as well as the perspectives of various athletes, coaches, and media members. We also share our own thoughts. Then we talk about the phenomenal Czechia summer national championships event and the different directions roller biathlon could go. Thank you go Jacques Jefferies for the social media conversation. We hit a few other news pieces before getting into the Italian, German, Czech, and Finnish national championships.

It's a touch late but we needed to catch up about the first half of the summer biathlon racing. We primarily focused on the recently completed 2024 Summer Worlds in Otepää but also briefly discussed Blink, as well as the Swedish, Belgian, and US Summer biathlon National Championships. Tune in soon for interviews and discussions on Martin Fourcade Festival and more national championships!

It is truly a quiet time in the world of biathlon but we still found a few things to chat about including: - It's wedding season! - RJ's EXTENSIVE breakdown of Emilien Jacquelin's shooting which is now published: https://biathlonanalytics.com/would-changing-high-risk-high-reward-strategy-pay-off-for-emilien-jacquelin/ - A preview of Jordan's Ultimate Biathlon Timeline which will be up very soon. - Biathlon story time: Have You Ever Heard of Kari Swenson? 

This one is for the rifle nerds out there! We had on Logan Pletz and after a short discussion on his background in biathlon it turned into a deep deep deeeeeeeeep dive on rifle construction, particularly with 3D printing. Logan was so generous sharing his adventures in rifle construction including the not so successful trials. Even if you're not a rifle nerd, any biathlon fan is really going to have fun with this one! Then we close with a short bit about what next season is going to look like for Canadian biathlon. Enjoy!

We were so fortunate to be joined by the author of one of the truly unique stories in biathlon: Tara Geraghty-Moats. Sure, you might know that she was once a Nordic Combiner, but what else do you know about her journey? We discuss her start in Nordic sports at a very young age and the winding path that has brought her here to the IBU Biathlon World Cup.  We also learn about how passionate she is about truly improving the experience of athletes including her work for Nordic Combined. We have a truly enlightening and gratifying discussion about healthcare for athletes and recovery from injury and illness. We discuss her ability to strategize for her races and how that has impacted her ability to race her best on the biggest stages.  If you love biathlon and the biathlon family you're going to love this. 

Surprise! We are back after just 1 week! This was actually a surprise for us as well as we didn't know we were recording it until we started. Today we discuss: - RJ's recent deep dive on if any national wax teams or ski brands were particularly successful in this most recent season - Coaching carousel including the Ricco Gross update, the Swiss coaching restructure, and a few other changes - The Italian team set their roster - Congratulations to Sebbe Samuelsson!

It's time to catch up on all of the biathlon news from May 2024 including: - Dorothea Wierer continues through 2026 Olympics - Stina Nilsson back to XC skiing - Discussion of Rico Gross going to the Bulgarian team (this was recorded just hours before it was announced that he's not going to the Bulgarian team) - Czech team coaching changes - Early reactions to team announcements from a few nations including Germany, Canada, Austria, and USA - Summer biathlon schedule for North America announced - 

It's time to talk more biathlon! Let be honest it's always time to talk more biathlon. We reconvened to discuss: - French, Swiss, Swedish, and Norwegian national championships - A little bit of biathlon news - Was there a connection between ski brand and ski speed this season - Jordan's connection with Tarjei Boe - A preview/overview of some breakthroughs this season 

It's time to recap the 2023-2024 Biathlon World Cup season! Here in part 2 we discuss the women including: - Lou Jeanmonnot announcing herself as a contender now and in the future - Lisa Vittozzi finishing off one of the most remarkable career comebacks in biathlon history - Lena Haecki-Gross in year 10 of her career becomes the best Swiss woman in biathlon history - Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold just misses out on the Globe - Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon are in it for the long haul - What happened to Hanna and Elvira this season? - And much more!

It's our 100th Episode! We recap our journey of where we started and everything that has happened over the last 100 episodes. A big THANK YOU! To everybody who has listened and joined us along the way! We also cover 2 pieces of big news: 1) Christian Gow, Biathlon Canada mainstay, announced his retirement 2) Tarjei Boe is back! Please check out my very personal thoughts on this here: https://penaltyloop.com/2024/04/08/tarjei-boe-my-living-memory/

It's time to recap the 2023-2024 Biathlon World Cup season! We broke our recap up in 2 parts rather than giving you one massive nearly 3 hour podcast. Here in part 1 we discuss the men including: - JT Boe's 5th Overall title was better than you may have thought - Some young men showing off including Eric Perrot, Tommaso Giacomel, and Campbell Wright - Tarjei Boe completes the 2nd best season of his illustrious career - Emilien Jacquelin finds himself - Sturla Holm Laegreid with the year's most "interesting" season - The German men were...actually good? - Where is QFM heading - And much more!

We head back to Canmore for one more episode! This time around we do our normal discussion about the racing but this time we have interviews! We discuss: - Exhausted athletes - JT Boe winning the Globe in style - Anna Gandler continues to shine - The French and Italians close out the season very strong - Lisa Vittozzi and Lou Jeanmonnot giving us a preview of next season? - Late season redemption for Hanna Oeberg and Marketa Davidova - And More!

In part 1 of our recap of the conclusion of the World Cup biathlon season in Canmore we have story time with RJ! He shares the tales of his weekend mixing and mingling with fans, athletes and coaches and gives us the sense of what it was like on the ground as the greatest biathletes in the world converged on Canada. In this episode we hear: - His day by day and race by race memories - Hear about some of the athletes that he was able to interview (interviews will be included in part 2).  This episode is far more about the general feel of the weekend and less discussion and analysis of the racing. But it was an absolutely joy to record so I hope you give it a listen!

Biathlon returns to North America and the racing was absolutely electric. It absolutely left us breathless so we had to wait and record a little later so we can recover! This week we discussed: - The epic Men's Pursuit race including JT Boe and the Emilien Jacquelin experience - The Lou Jeanmonnot weekend and what would have to happen for her to win the Overall - US Biathlon on an upswing - Justine Braisaz-Bouchet appreciation  - Eric Perrot is the now of French men's biathlon - Overview of the Women's Overall race especially focused on can Tandrevold hang on by her fingernails? - And more!

It was a rainy and fairly gross weekend in Oslo, but it was another thrilling weekend of racing! This week on the pod we discussed all of the action including: - The really exciting state of the Overall races with it being completely undecided with 2 weekends to go - Did Tandrevold fix her shooting and is she now the prohibitive favorite? If not her who is the top challenger? - Will Tarjei Boe topple his brother? - Christiansen's epic chase down of Sebastian Samuelsson - Finland makes a podium! - A HUGE thank you to all of the fans braving the weather - And more!

Anna Gandler was so kind to grace us with her time this week! We covered many fun topics with the up and coming Austrian biathlete including: - Her spectacular 2024 World Championships in Nove Mesto by every aspect of racing. - Getting a new rifle this season and learning to adapt to it. - A delicious discussion on German/Austrian snacks - Running a successful social media account as an athlete - Discussing new ski technology - What movies do she and Emilien watch when they have time off? - Which woman on the biathlon World Cup is secretly jacked! - And much more fun! - 

After a thrilling conclusion to the 2023-2024 Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto our heads were absolutely spinning. As we covered the first half of the events on part 1, after covering some big picture take aways we tried to focus on the races and stories from the 2nd half starting with the Individual races. Some of the items discussed included: - JT Boe is still the boss - Julia Simon's lightning shooting gives her a super power - The Germans had a much better 2nd half of Worlds - More diversity with Latvia, USA, Poland, and Estonia showing well - What happened with Tandrevold and the Norwegian women - So so so much more!

The Nove Mesto World Championships are here and we couldn't be more excited. There were already so many stories and things to discussed so this is an absolutely jam packed episode including: - Waxing once again taking center stage - Julia Simon is absolutely unbeatable right now - Sturla Holm Laegreid's emotional gold medal - JT Boe's comeback in the Pursuit - Baiba Bendika!!!!! - Franziska Preuss and the German ski situation - Belgium, Poland, Chauveau, Vittozzi, Christiansen, and so so so much more!

Come take a lap with us on our most unusual (and hopefully fun!) episode to date.  - We start out by discussing the actual racing that occurred this week on the IBU Cup and Junior Cup including Johan-Olav Botn, Simon Kaiser, and the dominant Austrians on the Juniors level. - We discuss the sad news of the Trevor Kiers retirement - We do some preview work on the impending World Championships in Nove Mesto with some really intriguing stats and trends.  - In between all of this we do some "interviews" with people from around the world and get their "thoughts" on biathlon!  This is quite a strange journey so we hope you enjoy it!

During what was supposed to be a bit of a quiet time in biathlon there was simply too much news! We dusted off the mics and got together to discuss the really important news of the week including: - The heartbreaking and infuriating story of Joanne Reid's sexual abuse and harassment by a member of the US Biathlon wax tech team - The Youth Olympic Games and some great Canadian performances - A new ski/binding technology from Madshus and how it might change the game - An exciting European Championships including the introduction of some new exciting talent to a wider audience - More discussions about Madshus!  - Minor predictions for Worlds

Shortly following the completion of the racing in Antholz we got together to chat about all of the action from the week including: - Lena Haecki-Gross getting her first win! - Julia Simon is coming on really strong - But don't lose sight of Lou Jeanmonnot! - Johannes Dale-Skjevdal's insane last lap in the Mass Start - A bit of  Norwegian men's team discussion including JT Boe looking more like JT Boe, Christiansen looking really great, and Laegreid looking...lost? - The state of the Overall Globe races - Some special shout outs to some really good weekends including Baiba Bendika, Otto Invenius, Adam Runnalls and more! **We went on a discussion about who the Norwegians should start in the World Champs races. Turns out we were wrong! Based on new rules from last season they can start all 6 in the Sprint and the Individual and 5 in the Mass Start**  

After one of the thrilling complete weekends of biathlon racing in the last several years we of course put together our longest podcast of the season. There was just so much to talk about! Breaking from what has become our normal back and forth we decided to go race by race to make sure we didn't miss any of the big moments incuding: - Simon vs. Elvira in the Women's Relay - The chaotic 3rd leg of the Men's Relay and Jordan's rant about it - Tandrevold's perfect race in the Women's Sprint - Christiansen getting "sweet revenge" in the Men's Sprint - Lisa Vittozzi emerging late in the Women's Pursuit  - A 5 man final lap and Johannes Dale-Skjvedal's punishing sprint in the Men's Pursuit - Plus plenty more including the Canadian women setting personal bests, Campbell Wright soaring to new highs in the Stars and Stripes, Julia Tannheimer's debut, Giacomel's podium, Jacquelin's return, Mona Brorsson, JT Boe and more!  This was without a doubt the most full pod we've down outside of World Championships or the Olympics!