This article has been submitted by the debuting Alex Jackson.

“I think my favorite sport in the Olympics is the one in which you make your way through the snow, you stop, you shoot a gun, and then you continue on. In most of the world, it is known as the biathlon, except in New York City, where it is known as winter.” – Michael Ventre, L.A. Daily News

I like sports. There was a time when I used to watch TSN all day long, and when I say “all day,” I actually mean all day. I would wake up a 7am, and watch the Sports Desk (now SportsCentre) on loop for five hours until a different program would air. Sometimes it would be a golf show, other times it would be the Caribbean Workout, there once was a time that both WWF and WCE were (re)broadcast throughout Tuesday afternoons. From an early age, I was hooked! My thirst for sports and sports related content could not be quenched. When specialty channels exploded into Canada’s mainstream in the mid-to-late 90s, and channels such as The Score and CTV (now Rogers’) Sportsnet were introduced, I was in heaven. An endless stream of highlights, banter, and sports!

As I’ve aged, and arguably, matured, my love of sports has remained, though my interests have diversified – I now read books about sports too. This is all part of the reason I am having a hard time coping right now.

You see, I am on the other side of the Atlantic now, in Austria. While there is still a 24/7 sports network, it’s just not in the same mold as the North American versions. There’s no NBA, NHL, or MLB Spring Training coverage. There’s no Gino Reda, Tony Kornheiser or Chris Berman. What I do get is a steady stream of niche sports; live coverage of biathlons, table tennis, ski jumping, show jumping and sailing.

Yesterday I decided to be open minded and give it a chance. I had the pleasure of watching recently crowned individual and mass start world champion Emil Hegle Svendsen narrowly edge out his Norwegian compatriot Halvard Hanevold to win the biathlon Sprint at Pyeong Chang. And boy, did I learn a bunch!

Firstly, Pyeong Chang is in South Korea, about 180 km East of Seoul. Not only is there plenty of snow there, but the city has twice been runner-up to host the Winter Olympics, losing out to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi, Russia for 2014.

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying, before yesterday at least, I have never once considered watching a World Cup biathlon event. Maybe during the Olympics I’ve watched 10 minute segments of it; I’m sure during the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994 I praised, ad nauseam, the feats of Canadian biathlete Myriam Bedard; but as a 10 year old, I likely had no idea what she actually did to earn those two Gold medals.

The biathlon combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting and actually has its origins as an exercise for Norwegian soldiers, making me think athletes from Norway have an inherent, unfair advantage. Essentially the biathlon consists of a cross-country ski race around a track, broken up by shooting rounds, alternating between prone and standing positions.

In the Sprint competition, men must complete 3 laps around the track, travelling a total of 10 km. The competitors compete in intervals, similar to Bobsled competitions or downhill skiing. The laps are broken up with two shooting rounds where the competitor must shoot at five circular targets 50 meters away. The targets are “self-indicating,” in that they flip from black to white when hit, giving the biathlete instant visual feedback for each shot fired. Competitors are penalized for poor shooting performance. In the Sprint, a competitor is forced to make additional laps around a 150 meter penalty loop for each miss, adding an additional 20-30 seconds for each lap.

In the Pyeon Chang event I watched, Svendsen won with a blazing skiing performance, despite having to make up for one missed shot on the opening range. Despite the miss, Svendsen dominated Hanevold by 29.9 seconds. In third, just 0.3 seconds behind Hanevold, was Austrian Friedrich Pinter. German Daniel Graf and Swede Bjorn Ferry finished fourth and fifth respectively, despite perfect shooting performances.

This was Emil Hegle Svendsen’s third consecutive victory, and he remains fourth in the overall Sprint standings. Fellow Norweigan Ole Einar Bjoerndalen remains the leader, despite not participating at the Pyeong Chang event.

This article has been submitted by the debuting Alex Jackson.