Belgium

Biathlon

Big Opening Weekend of our new Cross-Country and Biathlon Centre in Herzebösch-Elsenborn!

With International Biathlon Races in different Categories with guests from Germany, France and Norway!

& Après-Ski Party

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1087713638443625

Some impressions from the first training sessions 🙂 We are ready for the sprint races on Saturday 🙂 You can watch the live stream on biathlonworld.com or in the app! 💪

We are back from the #OlympicWinterGames!

Not the results we had hoped for, but proud to have been a big part of @teambelgium 🖤💛❤️

Thank you 🙏

Our Belgium Biathlon Team arrived well in Beijing and has already completed the first warm-up runs 🙂 Here are some impressions from the Training

All our team is in the plane, big step is done.

BEIJING 2022 here we are !

In the men’s individual race over 20 km with 4 shooting stages Marek Mackels (SC Elsenborn) reached an excellent 78th place among 115 participants. He got 5 penalty minutes at the shooting range (0-2-1-2) and in the end he was 8:57 behind the winner, who was clear. In a strong field of participants, Norway’s Sverre Dahlen Aspens secured victory ahead of Russia’s Anton Babikov, who won the individual race at the World Cup in Antholz a week ago. Third went to Germany’s Mathias Dorfer, who also shot clear but was already 1:08 behind the winner.

In the women’s individual race over 15 km Rieke de Maeyer (SC Elsenborn) started among 95 participants. With a good shooting result (0-2-0-1), she also placed 74th in the midfield. The winner was Evgeniia Burtasova from Russia ahead of Alina Stremus from Moldova (previously RUS) and Natalia Gebrulova (RUS).

In stormy weather accompanied by snow showers, the women’s and men’s sprint race took place on Friday. Marek started well into the race with only one mistake when lying down and a strong run time. But then he made 5 mistakes in the standing position, which of course set him far back. He finished the race in 105th place out of 120 participants. The winner was Erlend Bjoentegaard (NOR), Nikita Porshnev (RUS) and Lucas Fratscher (D). Rieke’s performance was similar. She started very well with 0 faults in prone shooting, then made 3 faults in standing and finished on 89th place. The winner was Ragnhild Femsteinevik (NOR) ahead of Franziska Hildebrand (D) and Janina Hettich (D).

The two had to cancel the single mixed relay at short notice due to illness.

Men’s 20km individual race

In the difficult race at the altitude of Antholz (ITA) the Belgian athletes were all still well in the race until the 4th shooting. They only had 2 misses and were well placed in the midfield. But then, like so many athletes, they had to pay tribute due to the altitude (1600m). Florent Claude shot 2 more misses in the last shooting, but had a good final round and was 45th. Tom Lahaye Goffart shot 3 more misses and Beauvais Cesar even 5. In the end this meant 99th place for Tom and one place behind Cesar. The winner was Anton Babikov from Russia, who, somewhat surprisingly, was not nominated by the Russian federation for the Olympics. Second went to Tarjei Boe (NOR) ahead of Said Khalili (RUS).

15 km women’s individual

Lotte Lie went into this race with great ambitions, as it is very important to achieve a good shooting result in the individual. As one of the best shooters in the World Cup, she had a good chance of a top result. Unfortunately, she crashed right in the first round, which certainly threw her off her game. Not only the lost time, but also the two first shootings (2-1) threw her back in the ranking from the beginning. However, the last two shootings (0-0) and the strong last round enabled her to achieve a very good result (35th place). This means that she remains in 21st place in the world rankings and is therefore allowed to compete in the mass start on Sunday. The first 25 of the World Cup + the 5 best of the current World Cup week qualify for the mass start.
The victory went to Justin Braisaz-Bouchet from France ahead of her compatriot Julia Simon and Mona Brorsson (SWE).

Mass Start Men

Florent Claude was able to qualify for the massstart because some skiers did not start. In the first shooting he had 2 faults, but afterwards it went better at the shooting range (0-1-1). With a total of 4 faults he reached the finish line in 20th place with a gap of 3:23 minutes to the winner Benedikt Doll(D). “With this I finish a very good month of January before I go to the Olympic Games” was Florent’s conclusion. For Doll it was the victory of this season and looking at his last results he seems to find his form in time for the Olympics. Second with a gap of 31 seconds was Johannes Thinges Boe (NOR) ahead of Sturla Holm Laegreid (gap 1;28 minutes).

Mass Start Women

On Sunday in Antholz the last race before the Olympic Games started. A 12.5 km mass start of the women. Lotte Lie , who was on rank 21 in the overall World Cup ranking so far, was part of the team for Belgium. Again an excellent shooting result (1-0-0-0) for Lotte, who finally finished 18th in a very strong field of participants. The frequent races were certainly one of the reasons why things didn’t go so well on the track in the last few races. So far, however, Lotte can look back on a very successful season and go to the Olympic Games with a positive attitude. Winner was Dorothea Wierer (ITA) with the best result of her season and on her home track, second was Dzinara Alimbekava (BLR) ahead of Anais Chevalier-Bouchet (FRA).