News Season 2001 - 2002
GBR MEN FINISH SEASON IN WORLD TOP HALF
GBR men have finished the season in 19th from 41 in the Nations' Cup. This is exactly the same as last season. USA were 20th and the top 20 teams will all have more than one start place per race next season. Whether that gives GBR 3 places at as present or possibly only 2 will be decided at the IBU Congress at the end of June.
In the Men's Relay Cup, we admit to having underperformed this season, only once not being last. Nevertheless, GBR finished the season in 17th place out of 20.
Sadly all the athletes missed the cut for the Holmenkollen Pursuit on Saturday with Jason Sklenar finishing 73rd, Marc Walker 74th and Hugh Pritchard 78th in the Sprint today. Results
In the women's race Gillian Sowden came in 62nd, which resulted in a final position of 25th from 35 in the Women's Nations' Cup.
19 March 2002
NORWAY HOSTS FINAL WORLD CUP
The traditional closing venue of Holmenkollen in Oslo NOR will host the 9th and final World Cup this week. Gillian Sowden will make her second WC appearance of the season for the GBR women's team.
Jason Sklenar and Marc Walker are expected to start in the Pursuit on Thursday with either Mark Gee or Hugh Pritchard making up the team.
13 March 2002
HOW TO START IN THIS GREAT SPORT?
Many thanks to many viewers who contacted us during and after the Olympics. To see this new feature:
13 March 2002
AGM - RUHPOLDING 2 FEB 02
As promised last month, the Minutes of the 5th AGM are at last available!
10 March 2002
JASON SHOOTS CLEAR IN SWEDEN
For the first time ever a GBR athlete shot clear in a World Cup Pursuit. Congratulations Jason Sklenar! He shot from 55th to 40th in his finest WC performance in Ostersund SWE.
10 March 2002
MAGDALENA RETIRES WITH HOME VICTORY
Swedish super-star Magdalena Forsberg wrapped up her career with an emotional victory in front of her home crowd in the Ostersund WC Pursuit today.
10 March 2002
EUROPEAN CUP TEAM WRAP UP SEASON
Sadly, the European Championships in Kontiolahti FIN ended with a disappointing relay for GBR. Marc Walker now moves on to join the World Cup team, whilst it's back to the drawing board and summer training for the rest of the squad
5 March 2002
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM SELECTED
Marc Walker leads the GBR team to compete in the European Championships in Kontiolahti FIN from 6 -10 March. Also making their Championship debut will be Joe Brooks, Kurt Sumner, Lee Jackson, Lance Hodgkins and Emma Fowler. This is the first time that GBR has sent a full team to these Championships. Tom Kay is team manager, before he and Marc join the World Cup team for the final two WC events in Lahti FIN and Holmenkollen NOR.
5 March 2002
POST OLYMPIC WORLD CUP SAYS FAREWELL TO MAGDALENA
World Cup 7 in Ostersund SWE, 8 - 10 Mar, will be the farewell venue for Sweden's own biathlon superstar Magdalena Forsberg. GBR men will be represented by Mark Gee, Hugh Pritchard and Jason Sklenar. ^^ Back to top
22 February 2002
VICKY GRAY ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
One time GB No 1, Vicky Gray has announced her immediate retirement from the GBR squad. A Corporal in 3 CS Med Regt, she will be considering her long term future during the summer.
22 February 2002
BBU CLUB CHAMPIONS
1992 Olympian, Paul Ryan (35 Engr Regt) was the winner of the 2002 BBU Club Championship. This award, which is not open to current members of the GBR squads, was also won by Rachel Thomson (40 Regt RA) - Women, Scott Cassidy (1 GS Regt RLC) - Junior Men and Matt Pittman (1 Green Howards) - Novice Men. The best 4 from 5 races at the RAC, RE, Div / HQ Land, and British Championships are scored.
20 February 2002 - Salt Lake City
RELAY TEAM COMPLETE DISAPPOINTING GAMES
Sadly, GBR could only finish in 19th and last place in the 4 x 7.5 km Relay at Soldier Hollow. There are no excuses and we apologise to our supporters, well-wishers and biathlon friends for not having better news. After Jason Sklenar's excellent run in the 20 km Individual Race, it has been a disappointing time for the biathletes, and, with a couple of exceptions for Team GB as a whole.
Stay with us, and hope for a real result at Turin 2006!
19 February 2002 - Salt Lake City
FOUR GOLDS FOR OLE EINAR More
The greatest biathlete of all time?
Yes ...
with 4 Gold Medals, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen NOR confirmed his place in history, and perhaps confounded his critics with an anchor leg Gold Medal in the Men's Relay. Germany were second.
14 February 2002 - Salt Lake City
OLE EINAR'S DOUBLE GOLD More
DIXIE BOWS OUT More
GERMAN WOMEN'S SECOND GOLD More
13 February 2002
SKLENAR RETAINS OLYMPIC START PLACE
Following his best ever Olympic Result on Monday, Jason Sklenar starts 61st in the 10 km Sprint tonight (18:00 GMT). Mark Gee goes at 7 and Mike Dixon 53.
13 February 2002
MARC WALKER & EMMA FOWLER TAKE THE HONOURS AT BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS
1 GS Regt RLC athletes Marc Walker and Emma Fowler won all the major honours at the British Championships in Ruhpolding. Team mate Scott Cassidy shared the junior spoils with Steve Jones from 1 HLDRS.
45 Cdo RM were the top Service team, although the Army won the Inter Service Cup. 1 Green Howards became Army Nordic Champions, but 1 GS Regt RLC retained the Princess Marina Cup.
12 February 2002
NORMAL SERVICE HAS BEEN RESUMED!
We are sorry that a number of our regular features have not been available or updated during the past month. This was due to an onerous work load in the build up to The Games and the British Championships, and also to a major systems failure which resulted in the loss of our entire Email list! The missing and final results from the British Championships will be uploaded later today!
If you wish to be included in our regular Email bulletins, please send your details to: info@britishbiathlon.com (This service will resume in early March, until then please keep checking this main site for all Olympic and other biathlon news).
12 February 2002
MIXED START IN SOLDIER HOLLOW
Jason Sklenar recorded his best ever Olympic result with a 48th place in the Men's 20 km. Mike Dixon was 79th and Mark Gee 81st.
Click below for Race Result
8 February 2002
3 NEW NAMES JOIN THE GBR SQUAD
New European Cup Squad announced after British Championships. Nigel MacGillivray, Scott Cassidy and Steve Jones earn call-up. More
7 February 2002
ANOTHER HONOUR FOR DIXIE
Mike Dixon to carry GB flag for third time in Opening Ceremony. More
18 January 2002
FOUR NAMED FOR OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Mike Dixon for the sixth time, Mark Gee for the third, Jason Sklenar for the second, and Hugh Pritchard for the first, have been selected to represent Great Britain in the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City from 8 - 24 February 2002. More
31December 2001
The World Cup squad, less Mike Dixon, Mark Gee and Gillian Sowden reassemble in Ruhpolding today, in excellent snow conditions. Mike and Mark are the only two athletes guaranteed of Olympic selection and will be self-training until World Cup 5 in Ruhpolding. Gillian found the step up from Junior level to be too great and although she is shooting better than almost anyone else, her ski times have not been as good as hoped. Her goal for the season will now be the European Championships in March.
With a guaranteed start place in the Sprint at World Cup 5 in Oberhof (9 - 13 Jan), Tom Clemens, Hugh Pritchard, Jason Sklenar, Emma Fowler and Vicky Gray have one final chance to catch the selectors' eye before the team for Salt Lake City is announced.
WEB AND RESULTS UPDATES
Until 21 Jan, our support staff will all be "on the road" and we may not always be able to update the web page and provide our own GBR results service as timely as we would wish! You can still see all the races on Eurosport and click on the Oberhof or Ruhpolding link above to get the results.
21 December 2001
SPRINT SURPRISES IN SLOVAKIA
There were major surprises in both Sprint races today at Brezno-Osrblie. Christoph Summann AUT recorded his first ever podium position with a victory, as did Katja Holanti FIN in the Women's race. An even bigger surprise was when super-star Magdalena Forsberg shot on the wrong standing target and incurred a 10 minute penalty.
Neither Emma Fowler nor Vicky Gray were able to yake advantage of Forsberg's misfortune and although they bettered their season's average percentage, their shooting let them down. There was a little more hope for the men as Hugh Pritchard registered his best ever World Cup percentage with 13.06%, but together with Jason Sklenar and Mark Gee was in the bottom third of the field.
With only the Oberhof Sprints(9 and 10 Jan) left for Olympic qualifying, all the athletes, apart from Mike Dixon and Mark Gee, will have much to think about and keep fit for during the Festive Season.
20 December 2001
FEMALES FLOP IN DISAPPOINTING 15 KM
After the euphoria of Mike Dixon's great result yesterday, the women's team came down to earth with a bump to record their worst performance of the season. Gillian Sowden missed 5, which wasn't bad in the windy and snowy conditions, but could only finish in 85th out of 94. Emma Fowler skied fast but had a nightmare on the range, and her 90th place was sealed when she missed 12 targets. Magdalena Forsberg SWE posted her 5th win in succession by an amazing margin of just under 3 minutes. GBR is 22 / 34 in the Women's Nations' Cup.
The next races are the Men's Sprint at 0945 (UK time) and the Women's sprint at 1245 tomorrow, Fri 21 Dec. Both are live on Eurosport. The Men's team will be Mark Gee, Hugh Pritchard and Jason Sklenar.
Today's women's result poses quite a dilemma for the selectors, as there are only 2 races left before final Olympic selection is made. However, Emma Fowler and Vicky Gray will both start in the Sprint tomorrow.
19 December 2001
DIXON RECORDS SEASON'S BEST RESULT
Mike Dixon rolled back the years to record his best result for a couple of seasons, when he finished 41st from a starting line up of 112 in the 20 km Individual in Brezno-Osrblie today. Not only was his top half of the field an Olympic qualifier, but his percentage of 8.70% was the best of any GBR racer this winter and was also an Olympic qualifier. Mike missed only one of his 20 targets, which was sadly not the case for the other two British Starters, Mark Gee and Hugh Pritchard. Gee was in 89th place, 10 ahead of Pritchard, however the trio's Nations' Cup points keep GBR comfortably in 19th place, from 38.
17th December 2001
RELAY TEAM FAIL TO MAKE FIRST OLYMPIC QUALIFIER
Sadly, the information given out on Sat 15 Dec was wrong. We had gremlins in our system, or maybe it was just overwork, but we miscalculated the top 3 times. We apologise for raising your hopes due to our oversight.
The Relay team did not make an Olympic qualifier as the quartet of Mark Gee, Hugh Pritchard, Jason Sklenar and Mike Dixon could only finish 18th from 19 starters and their time of 1:33:30.6 was 11.18% behind the top three average.
The team now moves on to Brezno-Osrblie SVK for the final World Cup before Christmas. See it live on Eurosport or ZDF from Wed 19 Dec.
We are still waiting for the Pursuit result from EC 2!
15th December 2001
EUROPEAN CUP STARTS NEW SEASON
Like you, we are waiting for the link to the full results for the Sprint at the first European Cup of the new season in Windischgarsten-Rosenau AUT today!. The winner was Alexander Wolf GER 28:08.7 (00). A large field of 69 started the men's race in temperature of -15, with GBR placings:
| 49 | Jo Brookes | 32:51.1 | (02) |
| 53 | Tom Clemens | 34:12.6 | (32) |
| 58 | Marc Walker | 34:47.3 | (23) |
| 59 | Lance Hodgkins | 34:52.0 | (10) |
| 60 | Kurt Sumner | 34:57.7 | (13) |
| 61 | Scott Banes | 35:01.7 | (21) |
Tom incurred a 2 minute penalty; they will all race in the Pursuit on Sunday, except for Scott.
13th December 2001
INDIVIDUAL STRUGGLE IN SNOWY SLOVENIA
The most severe conditions of the winter so far with heavy falling snow and temperatures of -10 greeted the men in the 20 km Individual race today in Bled-Pokljuka. Mark Gee was again the fastest for GBR coming in 69th. He would have been in the top 40 with a very respectable 7.4%, had he not missed the three targets in his final shoot ...
Mike Dixon began his individual season with a 75th place in spite of uncharacteristically missing 5 targets. Jason Sklenar was 89th out of the 121 starters. The team are 19th out of 38 in the Nations Cup.
Next race is the Relay on Sat 15 Dec.
12th December 2001
SLIP UP FOR WOMEN IN 15 KM
Following an Olympic Qualifier at Hochfilzen, Emma Fowler was disappointed with her 87th place in the first 15 km Individual race of the new season today in Bled-Pokljuka. This was two places ahead of Gillian Sowden who made her seasonal debut in what was her first ever World Cup race. Both athletes missed the cut for the Pursuit on Sunday but Gillian can be well pleased with her shooting, missing only 2 targets out of the 20.
MIKE DIXON STARTS QUEST FOR 6th OLYMPICS
After the squad's final selection races yesterday, Mike Dixon has reclaimed a start place for the 20 km Individual on Thursday 13 Dec. Also in the line up will be Mark Gee and Jason Sklenar, with Hugh Pritchard joining them for the Relay on Saturday. The below par Tom Clemens has joined the European Cup team in order to have some guaranteed racing before Christmas, with the hope of making a late bid for Olympic selection in the New Year.
9th December 2001
PURSUIT MIXED FORTUNES
In spite of shooting clear in her first two visits to the range, Emma Fowler was lapped and pulled out of the race, under the rather bizarre rule which insists that this be done in a Pursuit. Better luck for Mark Gee in the men's race. Although he slipped down the field he still finished in 57th place. An extraordinary performance by Ricco Gross GER saw him climb from 25th to 3rd. One day can we do that ...
8th December 2001
DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE RELAY
After an excellent start which saw Jason Sklenar handover to Hugh Pritchard in 14th place in the Hochfilzen Relay the team was unable to maintain the momentum. Although Hugh shot clear and skied the 2nd fastest of the quartet he slipped down to 18th and Mike Dixon then handed over to Tom Clemens in 19th and last spot. Tom had a nightmare, missing 6 targets in all; let's just hope it was one of those days.
6th December 2001
EMMA HITS HOCHFILZEN WITH OLYMPIC QUALIFIER
Emma Fowler recorded her best ever World Cup position today by finishing 52nd from 108 starters in the Sprint at Hochfilzen. This top half of the field placing gives her her first of the necessary two Olympic Qualifying places for Salt Lake City.
FRED CONFIRMS OLYMPIC FORM
Mark Gee (aka "Fred") confirmed his Olympic Qualifying form of last season with a 47th place in today's Hochfilzen Sprint out of a field of 125. This excellent start to the season was mirrored by his time of 30:51.5, which was also a qualifier as it was 9.75% behind the average of the first three athletes.
25th November 2001
TEAMS CONFIRMED FOR 2001 - 2002 SEASON
Selection races for the two squads (Olympic / World Cup and European Cup) were held in Kontiolahti FIN, 21 - 25 Nov. The following athletes were selected for the teams:
World Cup Team & Olympic Squad
1st Jason Sklenar, 2nd Mark Gee, 3rd Hugh Pritchard, 4th Mike Dixon, 5th Tom Clemens
1st= Emma Fowler, Vicky Gray, 3rd Gillian Sowden (reserve)
European Cup Team
Marc Walker, Joe Brookes, Kurt Sumner, Scott Baines, Lance Hodgkins
See GBR Teams for more details of the athletes!
21st November 2001
The two squads (Olympic / World Cup and European Cup) are training in Scandinavia prior to final British selection races in Kontiolahti FIN between 21 - 25 November. The athletes will then be selected into the World Cup and European Cup teams, but final selection for the Olympic Winter Games will not be made until early Jan 02.
The Olympic / World Cup squad went to Voukatti FIN on 5 Nov and moved to Kontiolahti on 18 Nov, They trained three times during the summer in Tignes FRA and at the BOA Centre in Lofer AUT, as well as at the National Olympic Biathlon Centre at Glenmore Lodge SCO.
The European Cup squad moved to Kiruna SWE on 28 October and joined the World Cup squad in Kontiolahti on 21 Nov. They also went once to Tignes and to Lofer, but most of their summer training has been home based at Glenmore Lodge.