German biathlete Kati Wilhelm (sporting some delightful red hair, I might add) is the last (finally!) in my list of retiring athletes to cover. Â That Wikipedia link tells me that she was actually dubbed “Little Red Riding Hood” by the German press due to both her hair and a red hat she wore for all […]
Also tagged biathlon, kati wilhelm, retrospectiveVincent Defrasne is a French biathlete who retired this year (only one more of these after this one, I promise!).  I can find nine podium finishes throughout his career, including a gold at the Turin Olympics (12.5km pursuit) and a bronze at the 2007 World Biathlon Championships.  In addition to these individual accomplishments, he’s been a […]
Also tagged biathlon, retrospective, vincent defrasneNext up among biathlon retirements is French star Sandrine Bailly. Â She has numerous Biathlon World Cup victories to her name and has been an integral part of the French biathlon relay team. One notable victory links her to another retiring skier, Martina Beck. Â These women actually shared the gold medal at the 2003 Biathlon World […]
Also tagged biathlon, retrospective, sandrine baillyI’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I enjoy writing posts about skiing is that I learn stuff about my sport. Â Writing up a career retrospective post for German biathlete Simone Hauswald was one of those experiences. Simone Hauswald has competed internationally since 2000-2001, although she only did a handful of World Cups until […]
Also tagged biathlon, retrospective, simone hauswaldAnother helpful commenter reminded me that Norwegian Tore Ruud Hofstad also retired this past July. Â My results for Hofstad stretch back to World Junior races in 1998 up to his retirement in 2010. Â I think one of the reasons I may have overlooked him is that he didn’t really race much last season. Â In fact, […]
Also tagged retrospective, tore ruud hofstadI can’t believe I forgot about the dominant Estonian skier Kristina Smigun-Vaehi. Â For individual events (distance and sprint), her stats are amazing: three Olympic medals (2 Gold), four World Championship medals and forty-nine World Cup podiums. Â 106 of her 161 World Cup results were top ten finishes. Â She might not have as much Olympic hardware […]
Also tagged kristina smigun-vaehi, retrospectiveI thought it would be nice to collect all the cross-country skier retirement posts in one place, in case you missed some along the way. Â So here they are… Rene Sommerfeldt (GER) Sabina Valbusa (ITA) Anna Olson (SWE) Sara Renner (CAN) Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) Claudia Nystad (GER) Reto Burgermeister (SUI) Milan Sperl (CZE) Laurence Rochat […]
Also tagged retrospective