The Penalty Loop Biathlon Podcast

It was the busiest week of the biathlon season with the World Cup in Kontiolahti, the IBU Cup concluding in Lake Placid, and the Youth/Junior World Championships finishing up in Arber. We had a lot to discuss tonight including:

- Sturla Holm Laegreid is competing like Sturla Holm Laegreid again

- Eric Perrot is no slouch though!

- Lou Jeanmonnot looks exhausted physically and mentally

- Long discussion on the state of Swedish biath...

Jordan and RJ reconvened multiple times over several days to catch up on all of the latest in the biathlon world including:

- Opening with recent news including: Tommaso Giacomel health updates, Retirements, Coaching changes

- One more look back at the 2026 Olympic Games. What surprised us in our reassessment?

- Preview of the Third Trimester and what we think might happen including looking at a few Globe races

- Checking in on the...

The final race at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games is yet another thrilling one.

- We say goodbye to two absolute legends: Dorothea Wierer and Franziska Preuss

- Oceane Michelon wins another medal and many more hearts with a brilliant gold

- Julia Simon digs deep to find the strength to chase down silver

- Tereza Vobornikova wins a beautiful bronze medal

- Anna Magnusson comes up just short once again for Sweden

- We celebrate s...

Last race of the men for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics and it was another special (and history making!) one

- Johannes Dale-Skjevdal gives us all the feels with his first career 20/20 and the gold

- Quentin Fillon Maillet another fantastic skiing day brings him his 1st career bronze and moves him to 2nd in career Olympic medals

- Sturla Holm Laegreid ties for the most medals in a single Olympic Games with another silver

- Hard lu...

The French women are inevitable, and so is another post-race recap from Jordan and RJ. This was one for the underdogs and we had a lot to celebrate including:

- The Polish women with a magnificent 6th place the best ever for the Polish women at the Olympics

- Celebrating Baiba Bendika, the Belgian women, and the Bulgarian relay

- The French with another early penalty loop come back for the gold sparking an emotional celebration

- T...

This was the type of Olympic relay you dream of. The drama wasn't decided until the very end with plenty of fun stories along the way!

- The French men finally have their Relay gold medal. Presented by none other than national hero Martin Fourcade

- The Norwegians have a solid day in silver position. But what happened to Johan-Olav Botn?

- The Swedish men pleased with their bronze medal

- Germany finishes a solid 4th

- United State...

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 ...

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 th...

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 Canadi...

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 Ben...

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...

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 a...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...