Preseason started for real last weekend.
At the Muonio, Finland opener — three big names looked weak: Niskanen, Pärmäkoski, and Hennig were all well behind Matintalo, who went on to win. It’s not what you’d expect from them at this stage, but maybe they’ll build into a better form as the season progresses. Actually when I think about it they tend to be quite poor here.
In the freestyle race, Gismondi made a strong impression by finishing second behind Hoffman. On the men’s side, the field was unusually tight, with no standout. Even Preben Horven, a young Norwegian first‑year senior usually nowhere near the best, was up second on Sunday’s skate race — something that suggests the level in that field may not have been very high.
In Idre, the season-opening biathlon races revealed a sharp contrast between speed and shooting for the Swedish men. Samuelsson and Ponsiluoma clearly ski very fast — they have strong legs — but their shooting remains wildly inconsistent. Ponsiluoma struggled on both days, and Samuelsson was brilliant on Saturday but fell apart Sunday. Behind them, the other Swedish men were weak, and the top‑10 was dominated by a large number of German biathletes.
On the women’s side, the Öberg sisters looked very strong: solid on skis and decent on the range. Vitozzi seemed a little off — perhaps not optimal equipment — but Gestblom (formerly Persson) made a really encouraging return after her long injury break and looked legitimately competitive again.
At Geilo, . The male athletes already expected to race in the World Cup looked almost too relaxed — both their skiing and shooting were underwhelming. Sorum in particular had a very poor showing. Botn impressed in the sprint, though he lost momentum in the mass start because of too many misses. Frey had a very good sprint and held on reasonably well during the first half of the mass start, before fading. He’s still clearly earned his spot for the World Cup. Vettle Christansen also looked fast and sharp — good to see. The three of them earned World Cup spots in Östersund. Perrot looked really good winning convingly in the masstart with clean shooting.
On the women’s side, Kirkeide won the sprint with fast skiing. In the mass start, she dropped back after bad shooting, and Tandrevold claimed the victory. Also notable: Dorotea Wierer looked quite fast in the skate — she may be finding strong form again, which would be a great story if this is her final season.
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