Biathlon stories from Martell

By Luis Mahlknecht Recently, biathlon events in Martell usually have an uninvited guest: strong winds. Nevertheless, this time too we managed to put on a great day of competition. Also because the volunteers were on site from 5 a.m., clearing the route of fallen branches and otherwise making sure that the competition could take place as planned. The banner for the award ceremonies was also taken down and rebuilt elsewhere at short notice.

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This time the starter list reads very, very exotic. Not only Argentinians were there this time, but also - once again after a long time - biathletes from Mongolia. The athletes from the Asian country not only caused a lot of problems for the announcer with their long names, the marshals also had to intervene to help a few times because the biathletes didn't give the safest impression on the descents. After his surrender, a fallen Mongolian dragged his rifle in two parts to the exit checkpoint.

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Victoria Padial Hernandez is a Spanish individual biathlon competitor. With her two-person team, she commutes from the IBU Cup to the World Cup and back again. The extremely hard-working Andalusian (in the summer she tackled the climb to the Sierra Nevada on roller skis, dragging a car tire in tow) also finances her sporting passion with a nice calendar, which she also offered for sale in Martell.

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Where Martell scores highly is in the care of athletes, coaches, employees and VIPs. Both in the Family Club and in the “more classy area” you can enjoy hot and cold food and drinks to your heart’s content, prepared by professional chefs. You are then spoiled for choice between pasta in a variety of sauces, white sausages and bratwursts, soups, meatless dishes or heartier fare. And South Tyrolean bacon is emblazoned on a ski. For comparison: In some other biathlon locations there is just bread with a slice of cheese.

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They always like to come back. That was the tenor of two strong athletes after the first day of competition in Martell. Svetlana Sleptsova was one of the leading actresses at the Junior World Championships here in 2007, even though she was ultimately excluded from the Russian relay team. And Andreas Dahloe Waernes finished on an IBU Cup podium for the first time in Martell in March 2016. “Martell just brings me luck,” smiled the Siberian from Khanty-Mansiysk after her second place in the sprint, and the Norwegian said: “I like the place, I like the people, I like the route. I did everything I could to be allowed to start here. And it was worth it.” Statements that leave Georg Altstätter’s OK team on cloud nine.

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Biathlon stories from Martell

A stage of the IBU Cup is taking place in Martell these days. There are always one or two strange stories.

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