Biathlon World Championships 2015: Updated Schedule, Live Stream and More
The Biathlon World Championships begin in Kontiolahti, Finland, on Thursday as the strongest athletes around the globe gather to compete.
There will be 11 individual disciplines taking place, including sprint, pursuit, individual, mass start and full relay orientations.
Each event also counts toward the overall World Cup standings, which are affected throughout the biathlon season.
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Here is the full schedule, with the championships streamed live on Eurovision Sports:
| 5 March | 5:15 p.m. | 2 × 6 km + 2 × 7.5 km mixed relay |
| 7 March | 1 p.m. | Men's 10 km sprint |
| 4:30 p.m. | Women's 7.5 km sprint | |
| 8 March | 1:15 p.m. | Men's 12.5 km pursuit |
| 4 p.m. | Women's 10 km pursuit | |
| 11 March | 5:15 p.m. | Women's 15 km individual |
| 12 March | 5:15 p.m. | Men's 20 km individual |
| 13 March | 5:15 p.m. | Women's 4 × 6 km relay |
| 14 March | 4:30 p.m. | Men's 4 × 7.5 km relay |
| 15 March | 1:30 p.m. | Women's 12.5 km mass start |
| 4:15 p.m. | Men's 15 km mass start |
High Hopes For Team USA at World Championships
The USA biathlon squad has been deep in training for the World Championships in Finland, with the team based in Norway for the past two weeks.
The team is littered with high quality, with seven Olympians included.
Annelies Cook, Hannah Dreissigacker, Susan Dunklee and Clare Egan are all in attendance for the women's set-up, with Lowell Bailey, Tim Burke, Sean Doherty and Leif Nordgren making up the vital components of the men's squad.
The U.S. Biathlon organisation have followed their team's training as they get ready for Kontiolahti:
U.S. Biathlon Chief of Sport Bernd Eisenbichler has been pleased with his collective's work during the ongoing World Cup, and spoke about the in-depth organisational plans the team have put in place, per TeamUSA.org:
"The team had a very good camp in Sjusjoen, with perfect conditions and a calm environment for good, focused work, All the athletes were on individual training plans to work on different details after analysing the last World Cups and taking into account the needs for Kontiolahti.
Everybody is healthy right now, in good spirits and, of course, excited to get started on Thursday. As always, the World Championships are the highlight of the season and we will try to put together our best performances and results there.
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The men's team has huge experience within its ranks with Burke and Bailey appearing at three Olympic Games. Burke is the most decorated biathlete in American history, winning a silver medal at the 2013 World Championships in the 20-kilometre individual charge.
But all eyes will be on teenager Doherty, who is one of the genuine rising stars of the sport. He already has Olympic Games experience under his belt, and has finished in the top 20 of three separate World Cup events this year.
Dunklee will lead the charge for the American women after an impressive season, but Belarusian Darya Domracheva and Finland's Kaisa Makarainen are the big names at the championships, with both being this season's key female performers.
However, if the top two do not perform to their usual standard, Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic stands to take the World Cup crown if she can convincingly topple her two rivals.
Sergey Semenov of Ukraine is the current men's seasonal leader, but he has not won an event yet. However, he has accrued enough points to top the rankings.
Semenov's exceptional skills on the shooting range mean the World Championship is very much within his capabilities.
The USA will feel if they can produce their best effort, there could be medal opportunities for their athletes. But the dominance of Europe means the competition will be exceptionally fierce over the next two weeks.
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