The Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast

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!

Annecy-le Grand Bornand Recap - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 156

RJ may be in Mexico but we won't let a little tropical vacation get in the way of a great week of biathlon! After a raucous week in le Grand Bornand we had a lot to chat about including:
- This was Lou's weekend from start to finish
- Justus' heartbreak but encouraging signs for Germany
- Maren's incredible power
- Good 1st trimester performances from USA and Canada especially Campbell Wright and Deedra Irwin
- An endlessly entertaining Norwegian men's team and how their Olympic roster is shaping up
- Can Botn continue this high level? And can Perrot and Giacomel challenge?
- Celebrating Camille Bened and pondering the French women's team and their Olympic roster
- A week of strong finishes from Eder, Burkhalter, Passler, and Ermits
And more!

Hochfilzen 2025-2026 Recap - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 155

Another fun weekend of biathlon racing is completed and RJ and Jordan are back to discuss it all! On today's recap:
- Starting with our complicated feelings seeing Julia Simon racing again
- Nice weekends for our home federations of Canada and the USA!
- Celebrating Anna Magnusson with her biggest fan
- The cream of the crop rising on the men's side with Perrot and Giacomel trading wins
- Lisa Vittozzi and her incredible shooting display in the Pursuit
- A little Norway discussion including Maren Kirkeeide, Karoline Knotten, Sturla Holm Laegreid and Vetle Christiansen
- The tricky corner in Hochfilzen claims several more athletes
- Camille Bened keeps on rolling with 2 more finishes in the Flowers and a great relay leg
- Anticipating French women lineup changes
- Shout outs to a diverse weekend of good finishes including Estonia, Slovakia, Finland etc
- IBU Cup corner
- Looking ahead to Annecy
And a ton more athletes discussed in there as well!

Östersund 25-26 Week 2 - Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast Episode 154

After a fun week in Östersund full of fan favorite performances we already have so much to talk about! In this episode we discuss:
- The incredible women's Pursuit contested with our some of our personal favorite athletes
- Suvi Minkkinen with a career weekend takes Yellow
- Lisa Hauser looks better than she has in several years
- Dorothea Wierer is ready for an Olympic capstone to her career
- What to make of the preseason favorites easing their way into the season and a few athletes quietly flying under the radar
- Norwegian men are still dominant even without the Boe brothers
- Swedish women...how do they balance their talent?
And more!

Östersund Week 1 - Penalty Loop Podcast Episode 153

World Cup Biathlon is back and so are the weekly recaps! In this case we saw so much fun in the first two days of the season that we couldn't wait to start this next week. We had to start right away! It was a fantastic couple of days so we had a lot to discuss including:
- Our favorite things including great races from our offseason guests!
- Campbell Wright and the spunky Americans
- Nice opening for the Canadians
- Lou is Lou which is scary for everybody
- Tandrevold and the shooting scaries
- Relay change over excitement
- Gandler, Davidova, and Suvi all showing good things
- Czechia with a phenomenal opening weekend
- Sebbe and Ponsi making their traditional late relay charge
- Italian excitement and Germany up and down
- Analyzing Norway's premier
And more!