After examining changes in skiing speed, let’s also look at a comparison of overall shooting quality between the 2019–20 and the 2020–21 seasons for all regular Biathlon World Cup athletes. To do that, I came up with the concept of Shooting Efficiency, an attempt to combine shooting accuracy and shooting time into one metric. For more details how it’s calculated, see here.
If you can’t find a specific athlete, you can look up the complete World Cup field (also available per trimester) for latest season (as well as all previous seasons) here:
- 2020–21 Shooting Efficiency: Men | Women
Note: Only athletes with at least 4 non-team races last season and 16 non-team races this winter are included in the tables below. Shooting Efficiency is an overall shooting score, combining shooting accuracy and shooting time. It is the theoretical average time an athlete loses through shooting (based on hit rate, range time and potential penalty loops). For more details, see here.
Men
Lukas Hofer improved his non-team hit rate by 7.1% and managed his quickest shooting times (avg. 29.1s) since the 2009–10 season – which makes him the most improved among regular starters in the men’s field. The overall most efficient shooter, Simon Eder, also improved significantly over last season: he set his career best hit rate (93.3%) and his average theoretical time loss of 1:48.9 is the fastest ever for this Shooting Efficiency score.
If you have been wondering why Johannes Thingnes Bø had to fight so hard to defend his title (despite being close to his best ever ski speed), this stat gives the answer: in a sprint he loses the time equivalent of almost an entire additional penalty loop (roughly 2 penalty loops in pursuits/mass starts) compared to last winter (-6.9% hit rate). Sturla Holm Lægreid was the overall 2nd best shooter, thanks to outstanding hit rate (92.6%) and great range times (46.8s). Interestingly, Lægreid’s range time is faster than Eder’s, even though Eder’s shooting time is 0.6s better; apparently Lægreid’s shooting preparation is close to one second quicker.
Changes in Shooting Efficiency | 2019–20 vs. 2020–21
Women
Janina Hettich was the most improved shooter on the women’s side. In her 9 races in 2019–20, she had only managed to hit 70.9% of her targets – she was 17.7% better this winter. Dzinara Alimbekava wasn’t just the most improved skier, she was also the 2nd-best in terms of shooting improvements (further highlighting her incredible breakout year). Karoline Offigstad Knotten and Dorothea Wierer were the overall most efficient female shooters; they did however lose roughly 20s more on the range compared to Eder/Lægreid (maybe 4-5s of that is down to skiing, the rest is due to slower and less accurate shooting).
Overall World Cup winner, Tiril Eckhoff, improved her shooting somewhat, thanks to a slightly higher hit rate (+1.4%) and a lower shooting time (-1.8s). In general, Eckhoff’s performance stats, in terms of neither skiing nor shooting, improved dramatically; however, her Overall Performance Score nudged 0.1 higher (even with two horrendous races at the season opener). Hanna Öberg‘s shooting closely followed her skiing form: she was the top shooter in trimester 1 (90.0% hit rate), but it completely fell apart by the end of the season (trimester 3 hit rate: 70.9%).
Changes in Shooting Efficiency | 2019–20 vs. 2020–21