When everything went downhill and didn’t go their way this autumn, the supremely best biathletes of recent years managed to find a new area to develop in. Because when she herself wasn’t running World Cup races, she sat like the rest of us and watched the races on TV. From the sofa at Lillehammer, she realized that she could save a few seconds on the stand. Simply by spending less time from the time she sets her feet on the mat until she fires the first shot. With that, she has given herself a few seconds lead, but enough to decide a potential medal match. – I was sitting at home before Christmas and saw that here I can take a few seconds. Knowing that I wasn’t going to be in my best shape when I went to the World Cup again. Then I would take a few seconds and it was there. It has worked, says Røiseland. And it really has, because Røiseland has already secured gold in the mixed relay, bronze in the pursuit start and gold in the pairs relay in the WC in Oberhof. ADVANCE: The change has given Røiseland a 2.5 second lead per series on the competitors so far this season. Photo: Matthias Schrader / AP Expert surprised Because the numbers speak for themselves, Røiseland this season takes 2.5 seconds less time to the first shot than the competitors in the normal distance and sprint. In the first exercise, this means that Røiseland has a lead of 10 seconds just by using a shorter time to the first shot – and 5 seconds in the sprint. – When we know that the distance between first and second place in a sprint is an average of 11.6 seconds, we understand that this can help decide the podium places in the WC, explains news’s expert Harri Luchsinger. And the tendency has continued in the WC and at the start of the chase she saved three and 5.5 seconds to her closest competitors for the podium, Denise Herrmann-Wick and Ingrid Tandrevold. Also in the pairs relay, Røiseland gained seconds from the competitors before the first shot when she gave Johannes Thingnes Bø a perfect starting point before the final stage. The news expert has researched the area and found that there is little difference between the top runners and the rest of the field at shooting time. – Here there is potential to move away and gain a head start. We now see that Wierer and the French biathletes have some focus on shooting time. When we see that you can earn almost half a penalty round on the first shot, it is surprising that more people have not done this before, says Luchsinger. Røiseland is well satisfied that she has managed to squeeze in time at the stand. – Earlier in my career I was perhaps a slightly faster shooter than I have been in recent years. Especially last year I shot with very good safety and also had a yellow jersey to defend. There was a bit of that in the shooting. I missed that offensiveness a bit this year, says Røiseland. Admitting risk Behind the improvement are not major changes and lots of training hours, but a focus on being more efficient. And as the numbers show, simply using less time from when she enters the stand until the first shot is fired. – There is a place I saw last year that was where I lost the most time, so it is a motivation that has been there all year. I’ve really only been a little more efficient at the stand throughout the summer and autumn, explains Røiseland. But there is also a risk in that, according to coach Grubben. – It’s about making the first shot without so much of a margin of safety. She needs to shoot with more pulse and movement in the stock market. It has to be practiced so that you are comfortable with it in competition, but is mostly a mental move to be confident enough to shoot without the margin, explains the long-time personal trainer. – Then she has to shoot well enough technically to hit the mark anyway, if it’s not in the middle, then at least safe enough to hit, adds Grubben. On Saturday, Røiseland will try to secure Norwegian cheers for the women’s relay from 15.00 on news 1, but the biathlon day starts with the men’s relay at 11.45 on the same channel.
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