Enlarge image Andrea Henkel, the nearest shooter here, committed only one error with her gun during her victory in the mass start. (© picture alliance / Rolf Kosecki) Even as much of Europe braces itself against a brutal cold snap, there are those who play in the snow. Take the German biathlon team, which, in front of fans bundled to the teeth, bestrode the podium in each event at the World Cup event held in Oslo over the weekend.

Four of those podium appearances were for first-place finishes, including Andrea Henkel's gold in Sunday's mass start. Henkel, who missed only once in her shooting rounds, beat Belarus's Dorya Domracheva by 26.6 seconds; Teja Gregorin of Slovenia was third. On the men's side, Andreas Birnbacher finished 6.3 seconds behind Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen to take silver in Sunday's mass start, while Russia's Evgeniy Ustyugov took third.

Enlarge image Magdalena Neuner took two golds before missing the final competition in Oslo, having taken sick. (© picture alliance / dpa) Magdalena Neuner sat out Sunday's mass start due to a cold. Before succumbing to injury, though, she dominated the sprint on February 2. Two days later, she struck gold again at Oslo, on this occasion in a convincing win in the pursuit. Arnd Peiffer almost matched Neuner's successive golds, winning the pursuit on Saturday and coming in second in Thursday's sprint.

Neuner was already a little bit under the minus-12 C weather, but she did not let it hinder her, saying that she was “focused on my race … the running and the shooting, not about my nose,” after the race at the International Biathlon Union's press conference.

Enlarge image Arnd Peiffer after winning the pursuit. (© picture alliance / dpa) Although illness did eventually sideline her, the skiing and shooting queen had the opportunity to meet some real royalty. King Harald V of Norway was in attendance. The king and Ms. Neuner exchanged some “small talk,” in which, according to an interview on ZDF after the race, King Harald said it was a “shame” that Neuner will retire at the end of this year.

But that retirement will have to wait a bit. For Neuner and the rest of the German team, the next stop on the World Cup tour comes in Kontiolahti, Finland at the end of this week. Until then, Neuner sits atop the overall points standings on the ladies' side, and Andreas Birnbacher, after his second-place finish over the weekend in Oslo, is in third for the men.