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 Women's and Men's Pursuit Competitions (2nd December 2007)
Women’s 10 km and Men’s 12,5 km Pursuit were held today, on Sunday 2 December. In Pursuit, the athletes shoot four times, two times in prone and two times in standing position. The weather today was colder than the previous days and the wind was strong.
In women’s Pursuit the winner was Norwegian Tora Berger, who started the race from third position after Friday’s Sprint competition. She seemed very satisfied on her performance today. “I am satisfied and was focused all the way to the shooting range, except when I missed some shots. I didn’t really think of winning until the very last shooting, it wasn’t until then I thought I had the chance to win the race. I can’t really explain the kind of joy that I’m experiencing at the moment and I was a little bit surprised that I could win because I was sick some days ago.” Second place was taken by Andrea Henkel from Germany. “I made some personal mistakes in the second lap, but I am satisfied with my shooting all the way to the last lap. I am not surprised seeing Tora winning because I saw her training during spring and she was doing well.” Henkel’s team mate Martina Glagow was the third. She performed very well after a difficult night. “I had a restless night due to the party they had in my hotel. I also had problems in the first and second shooting range because I was tired. I am very happy about the tournament and also very happy to go straight home and not to work. I am not surprised to see Tora win.”
Finnish women experienced some troubles in the shootings. Kaisa Varis finished as 22. with 8 penalties. Kaisa Mäkäräinen shot slightly better, but had still 5 penalties. The result was 16th place.
Men’s Pursuit was exciting until the last shooting. The winner today, with no penalties, was Russian Ivan Tcherezov. “It was a great day today and I thank my team for my success. My performance on both the track and the shooting range was good. I knew how fast Ole Einar was on the tracks but I put him to the test and I was confident that I was going to win the race. Saturday’s winner, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, got two penalties in the last shooting and became second. “It wasn’t so bad on the shooting range, but Ivan was the winner. I never thought that I was going to win today but I am satisfied with my shooting.” The third place was taken by Dmitri Yaroshenko. “I guess everything was all right today only for that I had to concentrate on the last shooting. Ivan’s shooting was really good today and it encouraged me to do better in the world cup. I also hope that the victory would also come to me next time.”
It was the last day of the BiathlonWorld Cup in Kontiolahti this time. Next World Cup in Kontiolahti will be held in 2009. Next week the World Cup circus takes place in Hochfilzen, Austria.
Men' s Sprint Competition (1st December 2007)
The third day, 1st December 2007, of the Biathlon World Cup in Kontiolahti had only one event, 10 km Sprint for men. Sprint is one of the most difficult competitions in Biathlon. Sportsmen have to be as fast as possible on the track, and as sharp as possible on the shooting range. Today the weather was colder than yesterday and a bit snowing. Today’s winner was no surprise. Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen won the race, Dmitri Yaroshenko took the second place with the time difference of 12 seconds, and Carsten Pump was third.
Bjoerndalen wasn’t satisfied after Thursday’s Individual race. “I wasn’t doing so well at the shooting range but I was okay on the tracks. I was more focused today and made plans to do well from the start to finish. I wanted to challenge myself to go faster when I went to the cross country race. When it comes to the world cup you just have to be focused.”
Yaroshenko was satisfied after the competition. “I thought I was going to be in the third place when I didn’t hear any announcements about Bjoerndalen. While I approached the finish line I knew right there that I was doing well. I am happy today; I skied faster but didn’t do so well in the shooting range.”
Pump made the best result of his career in World Cup today. “I felt good on both days and I believe that the German team could still do better. I hope to be here for a very long time. For my challenges in life, I would say it’s best to take one step at a time.”
Women's Sprint Competition (30th November 2007)
As usual in biathlon, the results of the races are somewhat unexpected. The essentials of today’s Sprint ski track were several long-lasting ascends and few abrupt short descends. The dark time influenced the speed on the ski track. The participants notified that it was hard to control the speed while racing, because of unnatural electric light all over the track. The hardest part was in the forest area, where there was even a danger to get off the track. Ladies told that it was difficult to recognize if the speed was high or low. On the shooting range there were no problems since the lighting system was very good. The clear weather and good snow conditions on the tracks made it possible for sportswomen to show good results.
Women’s sprint competition was a tight race until the end. Like yesterday, the winner was Martina Glagow from Germany. “I had a good race today both on the tracks and at the shooting range and I guess my shooting was much faster today than yesterday”.
The second place was taken by her team mate Kati Wilhelm who didn’t expect so high speed in the Sprint. And she felt satisfied that yesterday’s Individual race helped her today as a good training. “I’m not really bothered by the misses I had during the shooting, because it is due to my change in position, and I was also fast on the tracks today. I wasn’t having good luck yesterday and thought if I could change my shooting positions today would make me faster, which I guess worked in a way. I tried catching Martina, but I couldn’t.”
Little surprise in the competition was Norwegian Tora Berger, who took the third place. “I had a very good race today, both on the tracks and at the shooting range. I have also been at the second position about 4 years ago and hope to do better this season.”
 See more photos
Men's Individual Competition (29th November 2007)
Individual competition 20 km for men was held today in Kontiolahti, 29.11., Thursday. It was a hard race and the results were unexpected .
The ski track for men’s Individual was very difficult for the first competition in this World Cup event. For the sportsmen it’s very hard to start the competitions with such kind of ski track. There are few high abrupt hills and long-lasting descend, so it makes it difficult to ski on the track. The sportsmen started 14:30, so it was sunset time already in North Karelia. While all men started their race it was getting dark, and the only light was the electric lamps all over the competition area. Because of that unusual condition in biathlon, men had more difficulties than women. The shooting range is well lit, but it took more time to do good shooting. Many of the biathletes also said it was a bit dark in the woods.
In Men’s 20 km Individual Competition, the winner was Vincent Defrasne from France, the second place by Halvard Hanevold from Norway, and the third by Maxim Tchoudov from Russia.
In the winner’s interview, Defrasne told he has a new rifle, and his shooting has improved. He didn’t 100% today, because he wanted to save his strength for the coming competitions. Halvard Hanevold, today’s number two, wasn’t surprised by his placing. “When everything goes well, anything can happen.” Hanevold said he will continue his biathlon career until the Winter Olympic games in 2010.
Maxim Tchoudov commented that today’s competition was very difficult. During the race he saw the faults on the snow of the others and he tried to avoid the same mistakes. And he managed it by becoming third. He also added that he will do his best to participate well in the next competitions, Sprint and Pursuit, to get ready for the World Championships.
Women's Individual Competition (29th November 2007)
Today, 29 th November 07, The World Cup of Biathlon in Kontiolahti has been opened by the Individual race 15 km for women. By the comments of the sportswomen it is obvious that the race was very difficult and unusual. The ski track was heavy by the hills and ski descents. Generally, the track in Kontiolahti is hard, and all women evaluate it as very difficult for biathlon competition.
The first and the third places were taken by Germany and Russia took the second place.
The winner of the competition, Martina Glagow, commented that it was easier to shoot today than it was in the official training yesterday, but it wasn't the fastest possible shooting.
Tatiana Moiseeva from Russia, who was second today, said that she didn't have enough energy to push on to the end, although the beginning was very good. She knew she was in the lead during the whole last lap of the competition, and she knew to expect a placing in top three. Therefore, she was satisfied with the result.
Today's third, Simone Denkinger from Germany , had a tight race against Sweden 's Anna Carin Olofsson. Denkinger had received help from Kathrin Hitzer, who was skiing in front of her. Denkinger sees today's result as a good start for the new season. Thursday's startlists (28th November 2007)
You will find startlists from IBU's web site.
The unique lightning system in Kontiolahti (28th November 2007)
The first time in Finland the huge lighting system is used. It is unique lighting process in sport field in Finland. The Angel Films company provides Biathlon World Cup’07 in Kontiolahti with soft-light-system to light the sport stadium by 100 kWh/hr lamps. Usually that kind of light is used in movies and commercials. This year three huge lamps, twenty meters high each, were brought from Norway and Sweden by ferry. It is the first experience for Finland to use that kind of great extra-lights. On Tuesday, 27.11, on the day of the unofficial training in Kontiolahti the lights have been set up with two generators. Three lamps are located around the main view-area near the shooting range, start and finish areas. Nowadays in the end of November in North Karelia of Finland sunset is around 3 p.m., so that kind extra light with such big power makes the main competition site bright enough.
Besides, those lights have the art history. It was used as a main lighting system in the production of “Terminal” movie with Tom Hanks and Cathrine Zeta-Jones, directed by Steven Spielberg in 2004.
Aki Karppinen, director of the light distribution company “Angel films”, said, that this experience of using huge soft lighting systems will be developed in Finland in different fields as international sport competitions. Check also new photos from the photogallery.
Ticket sale times (28th November 2007)
Ticket sale at the stadium is open:
Thursday 9.30-
Friday 12.45-
Saturday 12.45-
Sunday 10.00-
Info/ VIP Info-booth at the stadium is open:
Thursday 8.00-
Friday 9.00-
Saturday 9.00-
Sunday 9.00- All times are local
Kontiolahti is ready for the season opening (28th November 2007)
Today is 27th of November, and in Kontiolahti Biathlon stadium everything shows the coming of World Cup 2007-2008 competitions. The first day of racing will be the day after tomorrow, Thursday 29.11.
It will start by opening ceremony of the Biathlon season, and we are waiting for individual competitions of women (15 km) and men (20 km) as well. Tomorrow, 28.11., is official women`s and men's training.
Today, there already was unofficial training, and the biathletes were skiing, shooting, checking ski-tracks and getting used to the conditions here in Kontiolahti. The weather was pretty cold today. The temperature forecast was only -2, but it was windy and the weather felt even colder. And what is the forecast for the end of the week? It will be colder yet and the sun will hide somewhere behind clouds. The tracks are well prepared and there is enough snow to carry out a successful biathlon event.
You can tell the biathlon season is about to begin from the number of people all over the biathlon stadium. They are running, thinking about tv-technics and setting up the equipment for a great broadcast, catering the staff, and a lot of competitors are practising on the tracks by skiing and shooting. People here are not thinking about the weather. We are waiting for an exciting competition weekend!
Media crew is ready (28th November 2007)
Tuesday 27th of November, in Kontiolahti media center, five students from Outokumpu studying radio and tv communication together with three staff, are working as a team. We are trying our best to work in order to be a successful one.
What we understand about biathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made-up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross country skiing and rifle shooting. Another popular variant is summer biathlon, which combines cross country running with rifle. The competitions formats are individual, sprint, pursuit, mass start, relay, mixed relay and team.
Kontiolahti is preparing for the World Cup (8th November 2007)
Preparations for the World Cup opening are in good stage. Tracks are partly made and there is possibility to ski already.
Click here to download a video to see snow situation in Kontiolahti.
About video :
Produced by Raimo Määttä, mediamaatta@gmail.com
Music:
Ehrlingforlagen Mediamusic: Spots thru the times/variety pack
Compact Disc 9, 54-Hearts & Flowers 0:59"
Produced by Ole Georg
See also photos from stadium:
 
Photos taken 7th Nov © Kontiolahden Urheilijat
Tickets also available at Carelicum (7th November 2007)
Tickets to world cup is available also at Carelicum, Joensuu (Koskikatu 5). Opening hours:
Mon to Fri 9 am to 5 pm, Sat 11 am to 4 pm.
Tickets available also on our Online Ticket Shop. Price of tickets here.
TV-host broadcaster visited Kontiolahti (25th October 2007)
The Swedish company Prisma-ob will be the host broadcaster of Kontiolahti world cup event. Representatives of Prisma visited Kontiolahti October 23rd-24th and checked the competition area.
Markku Vainikka, EBU representative; Johan Bernhagen, director of races; Hans Öberg, managing director of Prisma; Wolfgang Braun, general manager of the german Digi-TV paid a visit to Kontiolahti. The representatives of Kontiolahti Sport Club in the meeting were TV-coordinator Markku Matikainen and project manager Esa Haapala.
Checking of competition area was successful and all needed preparations have been done.
Reserve tickets to BWC opening (10th September 2007)
You can reserve tickets to competition now. Click here to see prices. You can reserve tickets from our online ticket-shop.
Web pages opened (22nd August 2007)
World Cup opening competition for season 2007/2008 will be arranged in Kontiolahti starting at 28th November. The last day of the competition is December 2nd.
On this web site you can find all relevant information about IBU World Cup Kontiolahti.
English and Finnish sites are ready. German and Russian sites will be opened in the near future.
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