Ski Shoot Repeat

One of my favourite races ever was a Men’s Mass Start won by the guy in Bib 30, ie, starting at the back. Tomorrow that’s probably Jesper Nelin 🇸🇪 so let give him a cheer!!

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The Men’s Mass Start sets off at 14:15 Olympic time.

Watch out for the consistent guys: Perrot, Christiansen, Botn, Laegreid, even Hidensalo again

And some who will make for amazing scenes: Giacomel, Wright, Samuelsson

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Biathlon returns to our screens tomorrow - it’s the Men’s Mass Start: a head to head race among the Top 30 based on Olympic performance and World Cup points.

15km, 4 shoots, penalty loop per miss.

This one is for the tacticians: you need to where your rivals are and save something for the last lap

Ha ha, I just checked in for a sneaky look and Yeay Latvia!!!!!

🧵 everything you need to know about today’s Women’s Relay, courtesy of the lovely (and very tall) @penaltyloop.bsky.social

No commentary from me today but The Loop will keep you up to date!

I’m going a 🇸🇪 surprise, just ahead of 🇫🇷 with a joyful 🇮🇹 in third…

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Hello Biathlon Bluesky!! If you haven’t seen the Men’s Relay yet, go find it. It’s an incredible race, especially Leg 2 🏴‍☠️ ⛷️ 🤩

And we have the Women’s Relay to look forward to tomorrow!!

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If there are points for artistic impression, that yellow German sled is very sexy….

French gold medal energy

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If you know your biathlon, you’ll know why I’m about to start crying seeing who’s giving out the medals…!!!!!!!

Slight delay before the medal ceremony while Eric Perrot gets check by the doctors. He was exhausted at the end of that so needs some sugary goodness…

Meanwhile lovely tv shots of QFM saying hi to family. That’s yet another Olympic medal for QFM - he’s ridiculous!

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That prone shoot from Eric Perrot made so much difference. He shot first and he shot fast, and it out the pressure on Samuelsson and Christiansen. Mind games on the range!

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Uldal looked great - a good sign for the Mass Start.

Botn and Christiansen looked tired.

Sturla seems to still have a ton of energy and shot clean again. Someone with a daily podcast will have to remind us of his shooting stats this Games…

18th for Latvia in the end after some shooting issues late on… a really entertaining group with a ton of potential and now Olympic experience to build from. 🇱🇻 🇱🇻 🇱🇻

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Wow, Norway didn’t miss a standing shot today - that’s ridiculous!

Three teams tied with 6 misses: Norway, Sweden and Estonia

France did not take the easy road today!

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If anyone asks why I love biathlon, I’m going to point them to this race and, specifically, Emilien Jacquelin.

He took over 50 seconds off the lead, skied way too fast, took a ton of risks on the range and handed over with the lead. All in 7.5km.

That was just unbelievable!

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Eric Perrot has left everything out in the tracks- I’ve never seen him like that before. It just shows the absolute effort and determination required.

He’s getting team hugs but I think he needs a nap now…

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And here come France and Emilien Jacquelin is the absolute king of the world right now. INCROYABLE!!!!

Gold for Les Bleus!!!!

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Campbell Wright!!!! The USA ARE IN 5th!!!??!? How on earth!?!?

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two monsters are standing next to each other on a beach ALT: two monsters are standing next to each other on a beach

And the final shoot:

Perrot misses two…. Gets them with his spares…

Christiansen is re-energised and hits 5/5

It’s on!

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Perrot putting the hammer down on this lap to extend his lead. Christiansen solid in second but Samuelsson dropping back in 3rd…

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And on the final leg for Latvia we have Edgars Mise. He had a great shoot in the sprint, 9/10, so more of that could be a difference maker as other teams struggle.

One spare in the prone! Brilliant!!

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Shoot 7:

Oh my god we have another pirate!!! Eric Perrot! Where did that come from??

5/5 and fast as you like.

1 spare for Norway, 2 for Sweden.

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Everyone on the penalty loop and Slovenia nick the win??

We dream of relays like this… through the season, they are often won by large margins well before the end…

We have Sweden, Norway and France playing three-player tactical chess on skis, with guns, in front of 20,000+ fans.

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It’s all tactics right now: Ponsiluoma went hard on the big hill but is being caught again by QFM and Laegreid…

This is coming down to Christiansen, Perrot and Samuelsson. Oh my

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Poor old (not old) Lozbers… a horrible time in the standing shoot and some tours of the penalty loop to follow…

Latvia drop down to 17th but can still move up on the final leg

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Shoot 6:

QFM looked so good but missed the 4th shot

Norway and Sweden both 5/5

And all three come out together!!!!! We have a race!!!!

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Brilliant from Lozbers - the Latvian 16 YEAR OLD! 4/5 - missed his first shot but got all the rest and was quick with his spare round.

Latvia holding 9th right now!

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Shoot 5:

A miss for QFM but he’ll keep the lead. Laegreid brings Norway up to 2nd with 5/5 and we have a gathering of the clans in the race for bronze: Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland all making a claim

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