The Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast

The Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast

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

Episodes

January 19, 2026 88 mins

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...

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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 ...

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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 fi...

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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 enterta...

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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 d...

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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 favorit...

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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 whi...

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A week later than intended (solely due to Jordan's very slow editing) our interview with Polish Women's Head Coach Tobias Torgersen is up! This was recorded the week before the season began so it does not cover anything that happened in the first two days of racing in Östersund. But there is still tons of good stuff in this conversation including:

- Review of Geilo races and assessment of team form

- The process of picking rosters

...

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We did it! The 2025-2026 biathlon season starts this week! We got together for our first regular weekly episode of the season to get ourselves ready for all of the excitement. We covered:

- Discussing how an Olympic season differs from a regular season

- Discussed the events of the selection races in Idre Fjall, Geilo, Bessans, and Ruhpolding and how they affected team selections for the major squads

- How key athletes looked in th...

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Karoline Knotten graciously joined us last week from her training in Livigno before the races took place in Geilo. It was a very friendly visit and we can't wait to have her on again soon! For now we covered:

- Charting her own course outside the national training roster this summer

- Updates on her personal fitness

- Goals for 2025-2026

- Finding joy and training with new friends

- Learning from competitors and personal role model...

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Nik Hartweg joins the podcast once again for his first recorded episode with us in two seasons. There has been a LOT that has happened with Nik and biathlon in that period so we had a lot to discuss including:

- Prep, current form, and plans for the 2025-2026 seasons

- Goals and checkpoints for this season leading to the 2026 Olympics

- Memories of the Lenzerheide Worlds and 2022 Olympics

- Avoiding illness

- Surfing

- How he uses ...

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The most entertaining man in biathlon - Campbell Wright - returns for another preseason chat! As always he was an absolute blast as we covered a lot in a relatively short period including:

- Loop One - his thoughts on the event and would he do it again?

- Updates on summer training and how he's feeling with now less than 1 month until the 2025-2026 season

- Racing tactics in Pursuits and Mass Starts

- His dream chase pack in a big ...

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Justus Strelow joins us again for another wonderful interview! He was coming to us from the team's Martello altitude camp and graciously gave us plenty of time to discuss a bunch of fun topics including:

- Being a dad!

- The new coaching staff and what the feeling in the team is as the 2025-2026 season nears

- Team dynamics and fun with the German men

- The narrow gap between top 20's and top 5's

- Preparations for Antholz and favo...

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2025 City Biathlon Champion Lotte Lie comes back for another interview! It's her 3rd interview with us and we had a LOT to catch up on including:

- Her City Biathlon experience and the winning moment!

- Beating her buddy Karoline Knotten

- Summer training schedule and updates. Do the upcoming Olympics change the training plans?

- Belgium's continued biathlon growth and success

- And more!

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We are honored to be joined by reigning IBU Cup champion Camille Bened for a wonderful interview. Our graceful guest was kind enough to chat with us about anything and everything including:

- Her IBU Cup winning 2024-2025 season and experiences on the World Cup

- Overcoming injuries from fall 2 seasons ago

- Goals for 2025-2026 season and what she needs to do to accomplish them

- Her home life and her tiny hometown in France

- So m...

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We continue checking in with Team Canada with our first interview with up and coming talent Pascale Paradis! This was a true joy as we discussed:

- Her journey in biathlon including her first big success at the 2018 Youth Worlds

- Choosing her college career at University of Alaska vs IBU Cup

- Her first season on the World Cup and what Emma Lunder meant to her and the team

- Prep for the Olympic season

- And a TON more!

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Logan Pletz is back for more rifle talk! But before that we have a lot more to discuss:

- In the intro: Ziggy Mazet announces his departure from Norwegian team after this season + Blink Festival action and Lisa Vittozzi's return!

- Logan talks about his 2024-2025 season and what he learned from it

- His summer training and dodging cows

- Olympic hopes and what his aims for this season

- Update on the rifle project including the lau...

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Ukaleq and Sondre Slettemark joined us for a delightful conversation about Team Greenland! We discussed A LOT but maybe the most enjoyable aspect of the time we spent together was seeing them interact as brother and sister. In this interview we discussed:

- Reflections on the Lenzerheide Worlds and looking ahead to Antholz 2026

- Their unique skills

- What it takes to be a great shooter like Ukaleq

- Sibling dynamics and racing tog...

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We were delighted to be rejoined by recently retired Biathlon Canada star Emma Lunder to catch up on her life since retirement and much more. We covered quite a bit in this friendly conversation including:

- How she came to her decision to retire and enjoying her last weeks on the World Cup

- Her reflections on her years with the Canadian National Team

- Looking ahead to the future of Canadian biathlon

- How she's enjoyed her retir...

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In part 2 of our excellent discussion with Canadian national team head coach Andrew Chisholm we touch on:

- Changes he and Co-Head Coach Helene Jorgensen are making to the management of the team

- Their coaching and training philosophies

- Covering more race day responsibilities

- What does success look like for Biathlon Canada in the 2025-2026 season?

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