The Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast

2026 Olympics Pursuit Day - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 166

WHAT A DAY! It's the middle weekend of the Olympics which means Pursuit day! The Men's and Women's Pursuits delivered us an emotional day including:
- Lisa Vittozzi's gorgeous gold medal
- Suvi's emotional run to the bronze
- Emilien Jacquelin racing to bronze in his own unique fashion
- Martin Ponsiluoma changes the Swedish narrative
- Maren Kirkeeide and Sturla Holm Laegreid have a double silver day for Norway
- Polish women and Finnish men with big days
- Dorothea Wierer doesn't give in
And more!

2026 Milan Olympics Women's Sprint - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 165

A little later (because someone...RJ...overslept) we chatted about an action packed Women's Sprint including:
- Maren Kirkeeide's amazing closing ability
- Oceane Michelon's smile filled silver medal 
- Lou Jeanmonnot keeps piling up medals
- Bulgaria is a biathlon nation now
- Great day for Latvia and Denmark!!!
- Top biathlon cheerleader Ingrid Tandrevold with a solid day!
- Rough day and Olympics for Sweden
- Looking ahead to the Pursuit races tomorrow!
And more!

2026 Olympics Men's Sprint - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 164

Another day and another thrilling race at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics! As has become our custom we got on right after the end of the podium ceremony to discuss:
- Emilien Jacquelin's heartbreaking 4th place
- Quentin Fillon Maillet inscribing himself in biathlon history with his 7th Olympic medal
- Vetle Christiansen's silver medal
- Sturla Holm Laegreid takes home his 2nd bronze of these Games
- Zachary Connelly and the Canadians with an excellent race
- Finnish biathlon continues to show out
- Swedish men continues to struggle
- A solid day for the Swiss
- Rihards Lozbers makes everybody take notice
- A look ahead for the Women's Sprint tomorrow!
And more!

2026 Olympics Women's Individual - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 163

The Women's Individual at the 2026 Milan Cortino Winter Olympics was absolute joyful chaos. We got together immediately after the conclusion of the podium ceremony to recap all of the action including:
- A brief detour to Sturla Holm Laegreid's bizarre interview
- Julia Simon's greatness
- Lou Jeanmonnot's beautiful biathlon
- Lora Hristova's unbelievable surprise podium
- Heartbreak for several including Vanessa Voigt, Camille Bened, and Lotte Lie
- Many great races from some surprising candidates including Lea Meier, Tereza Vinklarkova
- Great day for North American biathlon with Pascale Paradis and Margie Freed
And more!

2026 Olympics Men's Individual - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 162

What an absolutely emotional day. There were tears from many athletes today for...a lot of reasons. We had a ton to chat about including:
- Johan-Olav Botn's sports movie moment
- Eric Perrot continues to display magnificent maturity
- Sturla Holm Laegreid wins his non-relay medal during what has proven to be an unexpectedly emotional week
- The Finnish men with a major day
- Philipp Nawrath with a great start to the Games
- Swedes missing something
- Quentin Fillon Maillet with amazing speed
- Italy with a solid day
- Many great performances
- A look ahead to the Men's Sprint and Women's Individual
And more!

2026 Olympic Mixed Relay - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 161

One race in and already the action from Antholz has been absolutely sensational! A little later than normal (the rest of our Olympic recaps should be up within 1-2 hours) we got together to discuss:
- French biathlon dominance
- Italians get it done with silver
- Germans hit their checkmarks for bronze
- Maren Kirkeeide with a growth moment...but the rest of the team looked good?
- Poor Sebastian Samuelsson
- Kudos to Canada
- We also discussed really good performances that didn't quite land on the podium!
Andmore

Nove Mesto 2025-2026 Recap - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 160

Somehow the 2nd trimester of the 2025-2026 season has already come to a close. There were some athletes missing from Nove Mesto but that didn't take anything away from the action! We had a bunch to discuss including:
- The absolutely pristine weekend for the French team specifically the maturity of Eric Perrot
- Swiss women coming on strong
- American biathlon continues it's terrific season
- Who is this Ingrid Tandrevold?!?
- The Lukas Hofer renaissance 
- Even more adoration for the French team this weekend and trying to select their Olympic starters
- Preuss saying goodbye?
- Leo Pfund introduces himself to the World Cup stage
- The magnificent crowd in Nove Mesto
And more!

Ruhpolding 2025-2026 - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 159

Ruhpolding started with an amazing Women's Relay on Wednesday and then gave us one amazing race after another. Frankly it was so amazing that it completely exhausted poor RJ so you'll unfortunately have to listen to a LOT of Jordan today. We soldiered on though and we covered almost everything including:
- That amazing Women's Relay
- Trying to figure out the remaining Olympic questions including the Norwegian and Swedish women
- A fun battle of attrition in the Men's Relay and the Estonian men break through!
- Great week for the Canadian women
- The Swedes and their amazing second trimester continues
- Dale-Skjevdal's emotional Pursuit win
- Tommaso Giacomel's big boy Sprint
- Sad Suvi but she goes to Nove Mesto still in second
- Queen Lou in total control
And of course much more!

Oberhof 2025-2026 Recap - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 158

The biathlon family reconvened in Oberhof after a difficult holiday break. There was something cathartic about the racing starting again. After sharing our thoughts and condolences for Sivert Bakken's passing and his family/friends we dove into the racing including:
- Tommaso Giacomel's emotional week and the outstanding showing he put forward this week
- The absolutely bonkers men's relay
- The women's relay crushed by the French women
- Elvira Öberg new strategy leading to immediate success
- A very successful weekend for the Swedish squad
- Overview of the status of the Overall races and making looking ahead
- Looking at some great individual performances from several athletes including Martin Uldal, Regina Ermits, Lukas Hofer, Vanessa Voigt etc
And more!

Deedra Irwin Interview - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 157

US Biathlon, and Wisconsin's own, Deedra Irwin joins us from Oberhof to talk about her classically American journey into biathlon all the way up to her greatest successes. This was so much fun and I hope you enjoy it too, especially:
- Discussing small town Wisconsin and how important and great it is!
- Finding biathlon later in her career than her European counterparts 
- Early success and memories of her American biathlon best finish at the 2022 Winter Olympics
- Her best buddy Joanne Reid and their special relationship
- The great vibes, and more importantly great racing, coming out of US Biathlon right now
- Support and evolution of US Biathlon
- Her relationship with her rifle
- Breakdown of the upcoming Packers-Bears showdown!
And more!