The Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast

Join Jordan Gottschalk and regular guest RJ Weise in a discussion on the world of biathlon

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About Us

Jordan Gottschalk from Penalty Loop and RJ Weise from Biathlon Analytics break down the world of biathlon, focusing primarily on the IBU World Cup, but touching on a few other important areas as well. In the summer months we interview athletes, coaches and other people related to biathlon, with a main focus on understanding life of an athlete, coach, etc. in the IBU World.

All this with a little structure, but mostly our own unique spin based on the history and data of biathlon.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy it! If there is anything in particular you would like us to talk about or you have any help critiques we would love to hear it on social media (Jordan on Twitter - Jordan on Instagram -  RJ on Twitter - RJ on Instagram

Episodes

Monday Jun 03, 2024

We were so fortunate to be joined by the author of one of the truly unique stories in biathlon: Tara Geraghty-Moats. Sure, you might know that she was once a Nordic Combiner, but what else do you know about her journey? We discuss her start in Nordic sports at a very young age and the winding path that has brought her here to the IBU Biathlon World Cup. 
We also learn about how passionate she is about truly improving the experience of athletes including her work for Nordic Combined. We have a truly enlightening and gratifying discussion about healthcare for athletes and recovery from injury and illness.
We discuss her ability to strategize for her races and how that has impacted her ability to race her best on the biggest stages. 
If you love biathlon and the biathlon family you're going to love this. 

Monday May 27, 2024

Surprise! We are back after just 1 week! This was actually a surprise for us as well as we didn't know we were recording it until we started. Today we discuss:
- RJ's recent deep dive on if any national wax teams or ski brands were particularly successful in this most recent season
- Coaching carousel including the Ricco Gross update, the Swiss coaching restructure, and a few other changes
- The Italian team set their roster
- Congratulations to Sebbe Samuelsson!

May Biathlon Catch Up

Monday May 20, 2024

Monday May 20, 2024

It's time to catch up on all of the biathlon news from May 2024 including:
- Dorothea Wierer continues through 2026 Olympics
- Stina Nilsson back to XC skiing
- Discussion of Rico Gross going to the Bulgarian team (this was recorded just hours before it was announced that he's not going to the Bulgarian team)
- Czech team coaching changes
- Early reactions to team announcements from a few nations including Germany, Canada, Austria, and USA
- Summer biathlon schedule for North America announced

Monday Apr 22, 2024

It's time to talk more biathlon! Let be honest it's always time to talk more biathlon. We reconvened to discuss:
- French, Swiss, Swedish, and Norwegian national championships
- A little bit of biathlon news
- Was there a connection between ski brand and ski speed this season
- Jordan's connection with Tarjei Boe
- A preview/overview of some breakthroughs this season 

Monday Apr 08, 2024

It's time to recap the 2023-2024 Biathlon World Cup season! Here in part 2 we discuss the women including:
- Lou Jeanmonnot announcing herself as a contender now and in the future
- Lisa Vittozzi finishing off one of the most remarkable career comebacks in biathlon history
- Lena Haecki-Gross in year 10 of her career becomes the best Swiss woman in biathlon history
- Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold just misses out on the Globe
- Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon are in it for the long haul
- What happened to Hanna and Elvira this season?
- And much more!

Monday Apr 08, 2024

It's our 100th Episode! We recap our journey of where we started and everything that has happened over the last 100 episodes. A big THANK YOU! To everybody who has listened and joined us along the way!
We also cover 2 pieces of big news:
1) Christian Gow, Biathlon Canada mainstay, announced his retirement
2) Tarjei Boe is back! Please check out my very personal thoughts on this here: https://penaltyloop.com/2024/04/08/tarjei-boe-my-living-memory/

Wednesday Apr 03, 2024

It's time to recap the 2023-2024 Biathlon World Cup season! We broke our recap up in 2 parts rather than giving you one massive nearly 3 hour podcast. Here in part 1 we discuss the men including:
- JT Boe's 5th Overall title was better than you may have thought
- Some young men showing off including Eric Perrot, Tommaso Giacomel, and Campbell Wright
- Tarjei Boe completes the 2nd best season of his illustrious career
- Emilien Jacquelin finds himself
- Sturla Holm Laegreid with the year's most "interesting" season
- The German men were...actually good?
- Where is QFM heading
- And much more!

Monday Mar 25, 2024

We head back to Canmore for one more episode! This time around we do our normal discussion about the racing but this time we have interviews! We discuss:
- Exhausted athletes
- JT Boe winning the Globe in style
- Anna Gandler continues to shine
- The French and Italians close out the season very strong
- Lisa Vittozzi and Lou Jeanmonnot giving us a preview of next season?
- Late season redemption for Hanna Oeberg and Marketa Davidova
- And More!

Monday Mar 18, 2024

In part 1 of our recap of the conclusion of the World Cup biathlon season in Canmore we have story time with RJ! He shares the tales of his weekend mixing and mingling with fans, athletes and coaches and gives us the sense of what it was like on the ground as the greatest biathletes in the world converged on Canada. In this episode we hear:
- His day by day and race by race memories
- Hear about some of the athletes that he was able to interview (interviews will be included in part 2). 
This episode is far more about the general feel of the weekend and less discussion and analysis of the racing. But it was an absolutely joy to record so I hope you give it a listen!

Monday Mar 11, 2024

Biathlon returns to North America and the racing was absolutely electric. It absolutely left us breathless so we had to wait and record a little later so we can recover! This week we discussed:
- The epic Men's Pursuit race including JT Boe and the Emilien Jacquelin experience
- The Lou Jeanmonnot weekend and what would have to happen for her to win the Overall
- US Biathlon on an upswing
- Justine Braisaz-Bouchet appreciation 
- Eric Perrot is the now of French men's biathlon
- Overview of the Women's Overall race especially focused on can Tandrevold hang on by her fingernails?
- And more!

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Welcome to the Penalty Loop Podcast

The brilliant RJ Weise of BiathlonAnalytics and I have launched what will eventually be a weekly podcast! We'll do our best to break down the world of biathlon, focusing primarily on the IBU World Cup, but touching on a few other important areas as well. Our hope is to try to discuss the important topics of the day but to do so with our own unique spin. Hopefully you'll enjoy it! If there is anything in particular you would like us to talk about or you have any help critiques we would love to hear it. 

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