November 17, 2025
Winter knocked, the wax room door creaked open, and out stepped a cast of characters who swear it all “starts from zero” — which is a handy way to forget last March and focus on Friday.
First to tip his helmet is Austria’s calmest eagle, Daniel Tschofenig, who says being the hunted is fine, but being the hunter sounds fun too. He expects friendly fire from teammates Jan Hörl and a certain expectant father named Kraft. Nothing like internal rivalry to keep the takeoff table warm.
Meanwhile, Norway looked into its mighty ski-jumping cupboard and, for Lillehammer, found… five jumpers. Just five. A national group on a diet adds spice to an opener already humming with comebacks; Halvor Egner Granerud says rehab taught him to feel his body again, which is a good policy in flight sports. Over in Germany, the new hope has a familiar name: Philipp Raimund pocketed the Summer GP crown and would like winter to notice.
On the cross-country side, Sweden’s Frida Karlsson is chasing one Olympic gold in particular and, to prepare, has embraced the revolutionary method of not skiing. She’s been living on roller skis and Tenerife climbs; asked about switching to biathlon, she laughed and said it would be dangerous if she had a rifle. We concur. Keep the poles, Frida.
Biathlon ran its annual early-season talent show, where the wind signs the results sheet in big cursive letters. In Norway’s Geilo, France’s Eric Perrot spoiled the home party with steady shooting, while in Sweden’s Idre, the Öberg sisters turned the family reunion into a podium plan and Elvira shot a perfect ten and ran off with the sprint.
Germany, meanwhile, held trials with the drama of a Saturday night show — and then cut two World Cup winners. Yes, really: Kühn and Rees miss Östersund, while Lucas Fratzscher and friends got the tickets. In Sweden, comeback stories bloomed like early snow: Linn Gestblom returned from double shoulder surgeries to finish third, and Ella Halvarsson found herself surprised on live TV with a Sports Gala nod. Not everyone’s start is rosy: Norway’s Ida Lien faces a slipped disc and an uncertain timeline. 💛
And then there are the headlines you wish were fiction: France’s national team is juggling courtrooms and team meetings after the Julia Simon credit-card case and an alleged teammate rifle tweak that pundits called “as close to treason as it gets.” Pick your recap — the saga is sadly real: version one or version two. May the winter races be cleaner than the news crawl.
Finally, a tip of the toque to the sport’s long arc: in Austria, a new women’s head coach leads a smaller, steelier group after injuries and retirements — Thomas Diethart calls it a rebuild — and in Finland, one Ahonen quietly steps away as dad nods to a sport that gives and takes in gusts: Mico retires. The hills are open, the ranges are windy, and the season has that first-day-of-school smell: new pencils, fresh bases, and the faint promise that this might be the year.