Sport is made for betting

Ah, biathlon. A glorious sport for in-running trading :) Didn't have a big balance to play with today, most of my funds are tied up in cricket or SPOTY markets, but it wasn't too hard to generate a lovely green book with a fund of about £80.

(The Canadian women's biathlon team posing for a fundraising calendar in the lead-up to Vancouver. Image from CTV.ca , Rachel Boekel) Tomorrow marks the opening of the IBU Biathlon World Cup season, with the Women's Individual race at Ostersund in Sweden, the first of six events spread over five days. You may wonder why an Aussie who is not particularly fond of cold weather (or guns) loves the sport of biathlon so much. Read on.... "The combination of two very contradictory disciplines, skiing and shooting, in the same competition confronts an athlete with a very demanding challenge. Cross-country ski racing required intense, full out physical exertion over an extended period of time whereas shooting demands extremely fine control, stability and focus. When athletes arrive at the shooting range, they have to shoot at very small targets, with a racing heartbeat and heaving chest because the clock is running even while they are shooting and a missed target results in a p...

It's damn cold outside, so the best thing about that weather is that biathlon season must be starting soon! If you haven't read my blog in previous European winters, you'll have missed how excited I get about betting on this sport, particularly trading in-running on Betfair. It is a brilliant sport once you understand how the format works. Anyway, Russia had five competitors caught for doping last season, including three top 10 biathletes, and the International Biathlon Union (which can't be too harsh against them as Russia is the biggest nation in the sport) has handed out a rather lame $68,000 fine to the national body. Hardly a massive penalty given how endemic in the system it had become, and their past history... Biathlon union fines Russia $68,000 for doping BERLIN (AP)—The International Biathlon Union has fined Russia $68,000 for a series of doping violations. The IBU sanctioned the Russian national federation Monday after five of its athletes were caught...

Unfortunately it always seems that the positive tests don't seem to come out until AFTER their careers are finished. In the 80s it was still a Cold War thing and positive tests were swept under the carpet. It has only been the last 20 years that American athletes, the really good American athletes not just lower-ranked scapegoats, have started being busted for steroid abuse (or other banned substances). Yet the hysteria and suspicion still lies with the 'unknown' or the evil enemy, namely Russia or China. Former US Champion Clay banned for doping violations (Reuters) - Former U.S. 200 meters champion Ramon Clay has been suspended for two years for using steroids and other banned substances from 2000-04, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said Friday. So in recent years from the US, we've had Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, Antonio Pettigrew, C.J. Hunter, Tim Montgomery, Kelli White, Jerome Young.... For a full list of doping cases in athletics, visit Wikipedia ...

Two great events tonight for Laying the Field on Betfair - the mass start events in Biathlon. Unlike the other disciplines of biathlon, all the racers go at once, so the pressure is on from the start, and there is no early leader who can blow the field away as weather conditions change. Missed shots at crucial stages (20 shots overall, in four batches of five targets - two sets in the prone position, and two standing, can produce huge variations in the Betfair market. So place a series of offers to lay them all at odds-on, I'll let you choose your own price, but remember this, the lower you go, the less likely you are to get two selections matched. If you get two matched below 2.0 for level stakes, you will be all green - two for small profit, the rest for the jackpot. If you get three matched at less than 3.0, it's the same scenario. Make sure you select the 'Keep Bets' option because all the volatility will happen in-play. Last night's Cross-Country 2x15km Pursuit...

It mightn't be as exciting as the Summer Olympics for me, but I still get excited any time there's a five-ringed circus going. The downhill, the luge, the biathlon, the short-track speed skating, the bobsleigh, the ski jumping... I love all of it... well, except for the figure skating - that's not sport! Day 1 starts with men's downhill, women's 7.5km biathlon sprint, men's 1500m short track, men's 5000m speed skating, short hill ski jumping and women's moguls. Do your research and you will take money off the bookies.

That's what they call it at Ruhpolding , it's an amazing venue, with spectators arriving at 9am in subzero temperatures, just to get their prime viewing spots for the evening action. Amazing! Trading was OK, pinned my hopes too much on the glamour girl, Magdalena Neuner, but once again she bombed out on the standing shoot when she was way ahead. So I ended up chopping out... Men's event starts at 1720 CET tomorrow, coverage on Eurosport.

Now do you believe me that it's a great trading sport? Until the final round of shooting is finished, they should never be 1.01. Jonsson looked like she hit the front at the last round of shooting when Tora Berger started missing, but then Jonsson missed some too and Andrea Henkel shot clear to win. This Mass Start format is great, a mad rush and they're all out on the course together.

With so many football matches out of action, it's a perfect day to get into a true winter sport - biathlon! It's on Eurosport today, kicking off at 11.45am, but best of all, as it's a sprint race where competitors go out one-by-one (think cycling time trial), you won't miss anything by getting involved a bit later. Conditions in Oberhof yesterday were windy and foggy for the women's sprint, making shooting rather difficult - which is not a bad thing for traders. Uncertainty evens the field a little, increasing the chance of a big-priced winner, or at the very least, volatility in the winner market. Norwegian superman Ole Einar Bjorndalen is the favourite as per usual, and he warmed up on Thusday with a win in the realy for Norway. He missed one shot (of 10), you can see the stats from that race here . Ski times and shooting stats give a good guide to what you might expect in this race. When the guys who ski better than they shoot go too hard trying to establish a le...

Just three weeks left until boathlon season starts and long-time readers of my blog will know my fascination with the sport. It really is a brilliant sport for betting in-running, especially the sprint and individual disciplines (there are five different types of races). Once the season gets underway, I'll get into explaining more about it. Feel free to go back into my archives from last winter to read about it. The Winter Olympics are in February, so it's worth learning about it. The two female Russian drug cheats from last season, Albina Akhatova and Yekaterina Iourieva, have lost their appeal against two-year doping bans. CAS dismisses Russian biathletes' doping appeals And so they should have to.

They're at it again. After three leading Russian biathletes were busted for it back in February, now it''s the turn of the cross-country skiers to cheat the system and get caught. Three Russian skiers test positive for EPO Two of the three athletes were Olympic gold medallists as well, and conveniently, they will both now retire - probably to a hero's farewell. Winter sports need to take a hardline stance like weightlifting - multiple failed drug tests leads to that country being barred from major competitions. Until that happens, this ugly cycle will continue. And any athlete who tests positive to the more serious drugs, such as steroids and EPO, should all their previous achievements wiped from the record books.

Breaking story again in biathlon. The Russians are still in the news despite the season having just finished. Two more Russian biathletes are alleged to have failed drug tests, for the same substance which caught three of them back in February . This time it is believed to be one man and one woman, from testing at the Russian National Championships. According to Norwegian press sources, the positive tests have been confirmed by French testing officials. If this is true, will the Russians actually have anyone left to compete in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics? The sad fact is that biathlon needs Russia so even if the IBU had the power to kick them out completely, it's highly unlikely they would. But every Russian biathlete from here on is massively tainted by the actions of their peers and team entourage. The amazing part of this story is that the cheats were caught at a local event, and apparently, by a Russian agency. Perhaps they are getting serious after all. UPDATE - Named a...

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New story in the Norwegian press this morning - the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has sent a text message to Swedish biathlete Mattias Nilsson Jr (who commented on his blog about his disgust for the Russian drug cheats) promising that Russia would make a stance against doping in biathlon. As a follow-up to that, the heads of the Russian biathlon team have asked IBU president Besseberg for help in cleaning it up. Now I can believe a president making an effort to get things changed, it's highly unlikely he had any involvement in encouraging the cheating. But for the heads of an organisation with systematic drug-taking to call for assistance in cleaning up THEIR MESS, that's utter crap. The first (and only) step they can make to cleaning it up is resign in disgrace. These are the same people who screamed their athletes were innocent just a week ago and sent them to Pyeong Chang knowing full well the B-samples would be positive as well. And then wanted to take a petty protest a...

This is the most open of all the races at the World Champs, the Betfair market is currently 6.2 the field. The Individual discipline is slightly different to the other forms (sprint, pursuit and mass start). It's longer - 15km for the women, so they ski five x 3km laps, with four shooting rounds interspersed - two in the prone position (easier for most), two in the standing (very difficult to keep your heart rate down after skiing flat out for so long). But the killer part for trading - any misses in the shooting incur an automatic one minute penalty, not having to ski a penalty loop of about 25 secs as per the other events. So the shooters come to the fore here. Miss five targets out of 20, and you are automatically five minutes behind the clear shooter. There won't be too many (if any) shooting clear, but keeping those misses to an absolute minimum, even by taking an extra 15 seconds to shoot is vital. The cute choker Magdalena Neuner isn't competing, this event isn't...

So to all the Russian readers who sent me abuse for releasing the story before it was confirmed.... take your blinkers off and wake up to the real world. Russian newscentre VES believes that the testing in Lausanne has returned three positive B samples for a variety of EPO, initially believed to be CERA. The hall of shame: Albina Akhatova Ekaterina Iourieva Dmitry Yaroshenko The announcement from the International Biathlon Union is believed to be imminent. May they never grace a biathlon competition again. There is no place in professional sports for drug cheats. "We are facing systematic doping at the large scale in one of the strongest teams of the world," IBU President Anders Besseberg told reporters in the eastern resort town of Pyeongchang. "Either we have been able to catch them all, or we have only seen the top of the ice mountain," he said. "There is no, absolutely no, excuse for what the three doped Russian athletes and the people behind them have done...

Delusional, endemic or just plain corrupt? The Russian Federation's answer to the three positive tests in biathlon is "These drugs aren't on your banned list, so we can't be suspended". CERA is a new form of EPO, the biggest illegal drug in endurance sport which now has 10 varieties. This particular variety is not on the banned list yet, so the Russians have sent all their team to Korea for next week's World Championships, claiming they can't be banned. "Our scientists are better than your scientists!". This isn't a cough medicine or asthma medication, this is a drug developed purely to cheat. How many Russian athletes are going to end up dead before they turn 40 because their body has been systematically infested by man-made drugs? Virtually every women's world record in athletics has the massive tarnish of drugs cheat on it, certainly every record set more than 10 years ago, of which there are plenty. Why are none of these records remot...

Let's start by saying that no result is official, only the A-tests have come back positive and all athletes are entitled to have their B-sample analysed before being declared guilty. But it appears the Russians are in total denial that they are doing anything wrong. Swedish biathlete Matthias Nilsson Jr commented on his blog "why is anybody surprised? The rest of the team will just continue as usual" and was bombarded with threats such as 'We'll be waiting for you in Khanty Mansiysk' (Russian venue for Biathlon World Cup event next month, and 'I hope you die from cancer'. Charming chaps. Anything to justify serial cheating. The comments and abuse have been picked up by various Scandinavian media channels. I copped a bunch of anonymous comments in Russian which meant nothing to me, followed by some abuse in English as well. Hence comments are now moderated... Biathlon authorities are hopeful that the B-tests will be processed in time for the World Champ...

The Russians are at it again. Thinking it's 1981 and they can get away with whatever they like. Training camps being held at short notice in remote parts of Russia where WADA officials can't get visas without waiting for three months, almost no local testing etc. Shoddy, and they've been caught for it. No articles yet with the news in English, but numerous others in various languages via NewsNow The IBU aren't releasing names as yet, but reports link the failed tests to Akhatova, Iourieva and Yarochenko. It's a real shame the Russians have to stoop to such depths when some of their star athletes look like this! The World Championships start next weekend. Did they really think they could get away with it? It's time biathlon brought in a rule like weightlifting where repeated positive tests from the one nation kicks everyone from that country out. Otherwise biathlon will become as tarnished as cycling, and nobody wants to see that....

Really disappointed that Eurosport chose to run with Baghdatis v Fish instead of going to the advertised biathlon (why couldn't they have used Eurosport 2 then??), but it turned out ok in the end. The Biathlonworld website has a brilliant live data system, built in Silverlight, which keeps you up to date with everything - far better than what you can see on TV, especially with Eurosport always being at least SEVEN seconds behind on every sport. Good volume considering (realistically I'm probably one of five biathlon traders in the UK at most!), the Scandinavians no doubt had it live. Keep laying them all as they come into contention and never for a huge risk. The early guys set the pace, but then it was Emil Hegle Svendsen's turn and the super-smooth Norwegian justified favouritism (started around 3.5) as he shot clear and skied fast. Love the sport! Also, if you want bet matchups in biathlon, you'll find the tightest margins at Pinnacle Sports, my newest affiliate who ...