Mr. Champion!!

YEAAAAA!

As you didn't already know...:D My super little brother was 4th in the JuniorWorldCHampionships Sprint in Nove Mesto! So little did he lost.. 0,3 seconds from the medal!! It's so close.. but only shows that he is fit!!! Beware-.- Pursuit wasn't that great but 13th place is still great!!:P Congrats!
(He also won in January the Cross-country Finnish Championships on 10km's skate race U23 and he's just 21. great potential..!=))


I had my own champange in the fridge^^' And it's been delighting a bit as I've been a bit sick since I came back home from the hard World Cup circus.. And also a lot of other disturbing things going on...

I'll be training (when I'm not sick..) two weeks from now on at home. And leaving to Ridnaun, Italy for preparationcamp for the European Championships at 14th.. probably:D
Can't wait for...:)) After the Ridnaun there's a chance that you may see me also in WOrld Championships.. But that's still a bit unsure:) Updating later!!
School...???? I'll take care of it! NOW:D

AND ABOUT THE SUCCESS AND BIATHLONLIFE;

All we can blame is firstly, our crazy big brother who was the first of us three to start this tricky sport called biathlon (I bet you've never heard!:D), then we must blame our parents who kicked us to go out rather than sit inside the house playing nintendo. ( I must be allergic to winter air..) As well we have to blame our grandmums taking care of energybalance when we have been "busy" (=lazy:D). Too delicious...yok.
Mostly we have to blame also the coach(es) on the way... Why on earth they were yelling there about technic and all the advice... horrible! And what if there were not our biathlonfriends and colleagues who were training with us, pushing us forward year by year.. (Don't they anything else to do?)
And about the sponsors and sport Club! Shame on you.. so much supporting and waste of money! And finally we are blaming the non-biathlon friends.. disturbing the focused, all-the-time-biathlon-in mind -living... shame shame on you!!

Shame on all..:D and This speech was not about to blame on you. It's all about thanking=)
Really:)

Yours, Laura

See you.. B)

ps. I am sure I saw the sun today!! 0_o

The Last from the triple blessed Cups!:D

So from rainy Ruhpolding to Suntholz. ANtholz is well-known from it's sunny windless weathers and perfect tracks! We didn't have sun every day but It was totally like a dream after the previous two weeks!:)

Four girls from FInland, actually all been representing Kontiolahti SportClub . Mari, Sarkku and me= the youngster super relay team( wiht tens of gold medals) and our yellow bib Kaisa. Couldn't be funnier:) Our Hotel was also like a heaven, awesome Italian food, swimmingpool, and luxorius rooms, and all girl together!:) It helped a lot to get a good atmosphere for the relay! I think that was the key---

First Sprint on Friday where I did a good performance. Though, 2 penalties from the standing is too much. But skiing time, loosing less than ever. (Yea yea. I fell down again, in the icy down-hill curve before the first splittime. I may have lost not only the whole speed to this uphill but maybe 15seconds at least^^' My poor ass... was hurting the next day, a lot!:DD hehheh, LOL



Anyways!!!!! It was OK in sprint but our relay was really GREAT!!=) Only 9 spare bullets, and no penalties. It must be ALso some kind of record during the previous years..
So 10th place alltogehter, just 23 seconds behing podium place and Norway!! WOW. We were (are still) very happy!:) We were smiling together with the sun and perfect -8..:)



so back to home.... =) Greetings for all the supporters and people on the track! I'm sorry that I couldn't always regonize or it was impossible to stop... maybe next time:))

Wolrd Cup 2. Ruhpolding!!

So early monday morning back to the road and we headed towards the Alps.. Actually the sun was shining:D First and Last time within a week^^'
The bustrip was long, thanks for our biathloncollegues from Kazakhstan. I suppose they jsut woke up at that time when the bus arrived to the hotel 0_o

I had never been to Ruhpolding so I cant' compare how was the track and things earlier, better or worse. Anyways I liked the track, even though these tricky down-hills were not really "skiable".. I think we saw tens of "fails" during the women's races...^^'

Mari left to Liberec and we were the only girls with Kaisa! On tuesday we got to celebrate Kaisa's birthday. Cake and something..:D lecker!
In the program we had individual race and sprint.. (+ pursuit)

At that day when we had individual race, I didn't make a morning running like usually. I looked out from the window, it was pouring rain, total heavy one:D Unbelievable. I think I changed clothes like 4times at that time... It didn't really help eh As you got wet after 2minutes..:P


I did a quite a good race anyways. Penalties 0+2+0+1 and the place 68th is my personal best. It was even near.. the top 60! the last shot cracking;)
Also the skiing felt a lot better than in Oberhof. Due to wide tracks and harder track it was easier to find my own natural racespeed and I even remembered to breathe.. (It was about time..:D)

In sprint I was a bit careless, that's why 2+2 misses. The skiing felt okey but I think I should have still started a bit faster.. Anyways, Like my coach said, Sometimes it's good not to survive so well. So I'll be much better later then:)
I think most of my friends have already seen me crossing the finish line... Must be some kind of record; I was FLYING to the finish. A small balance mistake, and I nearly fell down before the finish line, but somehow I survived with one ski just to above the line^^' Check out Youtube:DD
Some ruassian fan of mine had made marvellous videos of my falling..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH7Qeibzglk

As well I didn't survive to Pursuit with that performance, But still someone of the cameramen found me photoing with Kaisa's camera beside the track^^' And again some russian fan made a short video... ENJOY:D LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m3cCXHWVxQ or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmrHjrSHSNk&feature=related

The Saturday evening I spent with the team by pizza and git also one visitor. was great! =)

OFF to SUntholZ!!:D

ps. We got Sarkku from Altenberg to relay... jippii^^')

World Cup tournee starts. Oberhof!

Heyy! After a month abroad I'm back at home and have some time for writing...:) The blog is not only for you my fellows, but also for me:D Maybe I'll read these uppdatings a bit later, and find them nice.. when I have retired:D
Anyways our World Cup Tour started from Oberhof where we had at first time relay team starting, and for me also sprint! :) The second time in World Cup ever...

You know Oberhof, it was foggy like usually. From the training day's -10 it turned to +5 and total rain to the relay. So we had all kind of weathers:D Above all a horrible wind in Men's relay.. I read from the local newspaper, 100 penalty loops and 324 reserv bullets, must be some kind of record:D

Finland's team Kaisa, Mari, Maija and me got also a lot of penalties 7 or 9 I don't wanna remember:D Anyways it wasn't easy to shoot, the fogg was so heavy that it was nearly impossible the find the black spots^^' We were over a loop after the leading team before I even started so I knew it would be only 4km's race.. finally we got the place 18th = we can do better...

In sprint the huge amount of people, cigarettes, smoke, fireworks, soft snow and the horrible Birx-steig.. and the result was something like 81th and 1+2 penalties. It felt like a heavy ring around my legs cause of the pressing athmosphere on the tracks! sorry people, thanks people that you were cheering me. eh:D But that all felt like a bit stressy at first time...
We had the best skies at this rainy evening, though. Kaisa was 5th with 3 penalties and our Mari got her first WC points this year.. 31th with 3 penalties! so great:))) So from rainy Oberhof we headed to ....Super Rainy Ruhpolding!!:DDD

ps. in photo we girls on sprint night and our physiotherapeut Juhani:) (as you know the starting times in oberhof were like nightmare, literally. in relay my starttime was about 20.30p, so 21.30 finnish time;))

Happy New Year 2011!

New Year, new tricks and experiences. Hopefully the bad things will stay in the year 2010, but may all thee good things follow us to this year!!=) That was said by a dear friend of mine from Sweden. And it really sounds great if would be so easy... Let's hope the "troubles" will be sweeped away soon anyways!:)

I spent Christmas time at home in Polvijärvi, taking it easy! The temperature stayed around -25c, even -32c so there were not much training outside.. Once we were walking with snowshoes in our nationalpark Koli! You can check out some pics from Facebook. Very pretty, but a bit cold and frozen white eyeflashes:P But it was fun! I think it was my first time in the winter when I was there:)



Otherwise I had been very nice and kind during the year as I got so many presents. One of the best, a big PINK bag of tools... very handy!:D As you know the best at Christmas is when you are allowed to eat delicious food! hour-long-dinners together with family.. :) Just have to be careful with "over-weight" as there were not so much training^^D

I gave to my Dad an English- phrasebook, He has to learn a bit more!!:D As I said him, you never know from which country my boyfriend will come!:p hehe. Above that a guidebook to Austria was included to the present... ;)

On Monday I got the a kick-start to the training by a boxing lesson. It was great!!:D I guarantee that you wil feel your upperbody the following day...
The training continues this week, as I couldn't even celebrate new year that much! Anyways hope you had fun and the next year even funnier!:))

Well, tomorrow off we go to Helsinki and on Monday we are already in Oberhof, Germany!!=)
The first World Cup of this year, and the second one in my career! Wish me luck and check out www.biathlonworld.com and liveresults!!:)

The relay will start 6th of January at 19.30 german time, also 20.30 finland's time!!! very late I think.. and Sprint will follow then on Saturday!

Off to lovely winter weather and then packing.. BIS BALD!!;)

An early X-Mas present!

Arrivederci!

Sunny Martell, I will miss you! =)
From warm Italy we headed back to Obertilliach where the last races of this year were held. Sprint on Friday and pursuit on Saturday! For our tiny team (4 men and 2 women) Sprint wasn't so brilliant as it could be. Maybe recovery from the high-altitude Martell wasn't so ideal, anyways, only the "youngsters" Sami and me survived to pursuit. For me the cold weather and new snow was a bad combination and the "easy feeling" (skiing only shorts underneath in Martell) was away. In sprint I got 0+2 penalties but lost seems-like-a-calenderyear at the track! puuh. It didn't really help that we had a bit bad glide under the skies. (Fischer never lets me down!)



On Saturday it was even more horrible underneath the skis. Our lonely waxman couldn't conjure the glide as the russians for example. But somehow i fought my way to Finish, getting 1+0+2+2 penalties and the low rang 50th! That sounds like a nightmare, but as I checked last years results I had lost over a loop to the winner at that time. And in Sprint I had the same position, but last year 1 penalty! I hope it's getting better now--- I'm finally at home!!:D no more spaghetti and minced meat sauce.^^'

So back to the track. After races we headed straight to München... Eagerly waiting for flight back home. As the rest of Europe was fighting against snowheaps we managed to get home... Nice. Only missing my baggage, rifle and skies. Luckily a day after my arrival I got them. :)

One good race and a couple of okey races and lot of experience, again. That's the result from the latest three weeks! Not good, not bad. Anyways I think after this Christmas pause and training I'll be more fit and locker. : )

On Monday I was Christmas shopping and I got some perfect presents for my beloved ones:) Daddy will get something really awesome!:DD I'll tell you later... heh.

BUT one of the best Christmas presents I got already!! A phonecall from the coach. I'll be starting in WorldCup in January! So Biathlon WorldCup in Oberhof at first, then maybe Ruhpolding and Anterselva!!=) So Come on everybody and cheers!! See you hopefully on the track!:)))

Still, One of my merriest X-mas wishes is that I would get a kind note from a vip person... Looking forward to January... =) Maybe my wish comes true..

Now time for Christmas Holidays! Tomorrow I'll head to our Nationalpark Koli and take my snowshoes and take a round:) -30c degrees and sunshine. And the shortest day of the year! Luckily it's spring soon!=)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2011! God Jul och gott nytt år! Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr! С Рождеством Христовым и с Новым годом!

xox,

Laura

ps. A warning for naughty kids (and adults). In Martell we had a team dinner on Thursday. During the funny evening we got a visit from 5 Krampus. Check out from Google what they are for. Anyways these hairy monsters slapped (specially) girls with their "brooms". I was hanging out with austrian boys, and the boys tried to get them on me. This one in the picture came afterwards to me.. Me yealling " Ich bin nicht böse"..( I'm not naughty) and he just laughed like a naughty Santa.. "Ich glaub dir nicht.." (I don't believe you) :DD Crazyyyyy. Auf Wiedersehen!:)

Back on the track in Italy and Austria!

So,
not having any world Cups during december. That meant we had a preparationcamp for Martell Ibu-cup starting already 4th of Dec. One week in Obertilliach, and we were NOT alone there!:DD So many teams training there, so many competitions during Sunday. ÖSV had some qualiraces for european xc-cup, germans their own sprint for IBU-cup, as well as austrian biathletes had their pursuits then.

3 days training at home before rushing to the train again. Finnair had cancelled all flights during that week, I got a phonecall from the headcoach only two hours before the last train left:D eh. a bit stressy packing and off to Helsinki... really really nice:D

Anyways we got a lot of luck during the flights, from Helsinki- Düsseldorf- München. And all in!=) Amazing luck, we got all our stuff and also the way to Obertilliach was smooth. Our world Cup-team otherwise didn't had that luck as their baggages and rifles were a long time somewhere between Östersund-Stockholm- Copenhagen-München..
Funny story from the airport:D ; A mixed group of men were having a bachelor- party, on the way to somewhere and sitting in the same plane. "the husband" was selling some "items" for our guys.. and wanted to give me some xs strings... but I didn't take them;) hehe. but we got a lot of laugh:D

Preparation for Martell was brilliant as the sun was shining and the temperature comfortable +1 - -6c =) I was skiing more classic, maybe that's why my body is getting better all the time.
When we got to Martell then it was perfect sunny weather and predicted -2c! perfect.. Only the next days skiing up there changed the perfect "imaginations":P. YEP. 1750meters above the sea level, the feeling a bit "weird":D Also the sight to the track. Steap long upphills and tricky, curvy downhills.. Kontiolahti is like a toyfield compared to that:D And I know what I'm talking about!

The races were as tough as they could be. Individual race, 15km's and very extreme wind conditions.. Miss Fortuna was a bit mixing the results as we saw some 0+5+4+1 or that kind of funny results at the range:p For me it was a bit "Pech"... 1+2+3+1, and also 7minutes extra. wiuh, I found myself on the place 38 on the resultlists. The feeling on the last loop, and the last 700meters. Pure uphill, wind against and all in... heh. And the curvy down hill to the finish. I barely stood on my skies^^' highest lactat ever!!:o

Living in a hotel where we had a swimmingpool and sauna (but no internet) recovered me quite a well from the long race. Max puls in the race was still low, 181... a bit afraid of the high altitude? But still I skied my legs "off"..:D oh lovely. On Sunday's sprint, though, I made my best result this season.
2+0 penalties in a tricky wind again and a nice 18th place! I was really near by top ten after the last shooting, but my tired legs dropped me down 6 places during the last hard 2,5 kms..

Anyways I'm quite a happy with the results, I even won the the winner from Beitostölen (Kalina)... as she had 4 penalties. The feeling, it's getting better. Only 3 weeks and good training I've reached a bit the top! makes sence!:)

Now out to run and then sauna=) As well waiting for a guest later then...
Races on Friday and Saturday, sprint and pursuit, predicted weather around -15c. hrrr,nice. Thumbs up and GO!=)

xox