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Tag: 2018 IBU Youth/Junior World Championships

  • Opening Doors: Biathlon Canada’s All-Female Coaching Staff at Youth/Junior Worlds

    Opening Doors: Biathlon Canada’s All-Female Coaching Staff at Youth/Junior Worlds

    Biathlon Canada’s all-female coaching staff at 2018 IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. From left to right: Kathy Davies, Jessica Blenkarn and Jacqueline Akerman. (Photo: Emily Dickson)

    Think about all of the exceptional female biathletes out there. Too many to count, right?

    Now, if you watch biathlon at the World Cup level, think about how many women you’ve seen coaching there. None? One?

    There are at least a couple, according to Biathlon Canada’s High Performance Director Roddy Ward, who’s been coaching biathlon internationally since 2011. The Slovakian women’s coach is one and the Austrian team also has a female coach, he wrote in an email to FasterSkier.

    When it comes to wax techs, Ward wasn’t aware of any at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup level. The number of female race officials in that arena is similarly low.

    Biathlon Canada is trying to change that. Not by consciously developing female wax techs or officials, but by presenting women with career opportunities after they retire as an athlete or if they show promise as a budding coach.

    That emphasis on female leadership and coaching development is taking place in sports across Canada, Ward explained. Biathlon Canada is fully onboard with that movement and sent a clear message at this year’s IBU Youth/Junior World Championships — which took place last week from Feb. 26-March 4 — sending three female coaches to head up its team in Otepää, Estonia.

    Last fall, Ward and Jacqueline Akerman, Biathlon Canada’s athlete and coach development manager, decided on their coaching staff for Otepää Youth/Junior World Championships. Akerman would be the head coach and trip leader, as she had for the previous two years, and joined by Kathy Davies, head coach of the Biathlon Alberta Training Center, and Jessica Blenkarn, who coaches at Sea to Sky Nordics.

    The three women would make up the coaching staff and work with two male wax techs: head wax tech Andrew Chisholm and assistant tech David Bradley.

    While the coaches were selected because of their qualifications (“we have these three great coaches who happened to be female,” Ward wrote), he also liked that female-to-male staffing ratio. It sent a message.

    “Roddy and I went, ‘Oh, that would be cool, to be able to take an all-female staff,’ ”  Akerman recalled of their conversation last fall. “… He said, ‘This is a really good thing for people to see, that we have three strong women coaching.’ ”

    “It’s definitely important for us to have strong female leadership in our program,” Ward wrote to FasterSkier. “Truthfully, these are three great coaches who just showed up at my front door.”

    Akerman had previously worked with Davies and Blenkarn on other international racing trips; Davies has been to several Youth/Junior Worlds and Blenkarn has coached at Open European Championships, the IBU Cup and IBU Junior Cup.

    Asked if they’ve ever encountered an all-female or mostly female coaching staff in their sport, Akerman was quick to respond: “That’s an easier answer, two letters: NO.”

    Jacqueline Akerman (l) and Jessica Blenkarn on the range at 2018 IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Emily Dickson)

    At last year’s Open European Championships, Akerman and Blenkarn experienced some reaction from their peers when they were working together on the range.

    “The amount of second glances that we got was incredible, and comments saying, ‘Oh, two female coaches! Two women coaches!’ ” Akerman said during a joint phone interview with Davies and Blenkarn in Otepää a few days before the championships began.

    “We were a bit of a spectacle,” Blenkarn added.

    “And we got lots of TV time,” Akerman continued. “The TV’s haven’t come out yet and not all the teams have arrived yet so we’re waiting to what kind of spectacle this will be with three of us.”

    FasterSkier had yet to hear how the three coaches were received throughout the championships, but they stated they were off to a good start from an internal perspective.

    “We’re all good communicators, and we’re all complimenting each other really well,” Akerman said. “For me, it seemed to just really flow nicely, maybe more so than other times.”

    “I’ve been on a number of trips similar to this and it’s the first time I’ve have even another woman on a trip, except for athletes,” Davies said. “Those trips can be very, very isolated and very hard to sometimes fit in or even feel like part of the coaching staff when you’re the only female.

    “It’s not a conscious thing on the men’s part necessarily, but it sometimes feels very isolating, so it’s just absolutely amazing to be with other women in the coaching position,” Davies continued. “What I love about it is it actually gives female athletes and idea that there’s more that they can do. It’s not just athletes, whereas most World Cup races, the women, that’s all they see is an athlete, because you see very few in the coaches’ world, you see next to none in the techs’ world and you also see a rare few in the officials’ realm as well, so it’s really nice to [show] women and athletes that there’s something else they can do as well.”

    “I think we just support each other really well,” Blenkarn noted. “We have a good understanding of what female coaches go through and what kind of unique challenges they might face at an event like this so it’s nice to have other people around you to support you.”

    Biathlon Canada’s all-female coaching staff at 2018 IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. From left to right: Kathy Davies, Jacqueline Akerman and Jessica Blenkarn. (Photo: Terri Dickson)

    Asked more specifically about those challenges, Akerman referred to the term Davies used: “isolating.”

    “It’s really hard to find your space in the room,” Akerman said. “It’s really easy for me right now to find my confidence with these other two that are here and sharing and supporting. Just them physically being here I feel more confident. So I can find my voice better. There’s just more space for you.

    “Your space can sometimes get beaten up in a male-dominated place, so I feel that we need to be encouraged … and open and invited,” she continued. “I met Jess about three years ago and I just saw her skill and her ability and I was like, OK, we need her to be invited into this because she’s excellent. … Someone has to be opening the doors and allowing that space to happen, otherwise it won’t happen for women. I think when we see potential and, not just potential, when we see people who are experienced and they’re very good at what they do, we have to open the door for them. For the men, it’s already open, they just walk through. We need top open it. … I think that’s partly what Roddy’s doing … some men get it and they open the doors, but I think as women we can do it even more because we can understand what it’s like.”

    At the Olympic level, biathlon dates back to 1924 when it was known in its ancient form as “military patrol”. A more modern form of biathlon debuted at the 1960 Olympics, but women’s biathlon didn’t become an Olympic sport until 1992. The sport’s military background paired with the relatively recent participation of women has led to some inherent challenges for women in the sport’s leadership roles.

    “I can find my voice better. There’s just more space…” — Jacqueline Akerman, Biathlon Canada’s head coach and trip leader for the last three Youth/Junior Worlds, on having two other women on her coaching staff in Otepää

    “2003 was the first time I worked the World Cup for biathlon and that was on the range with one of our male coaches and I was the only woman there,” Akerman recalled. “And people looked at me like I was an alien. Slowly over the years you see a few women. On the IBU Cup last year, actually, there was a fair amount of female coaches. I mean, the percentage is still ridiculously low, but you do see them now, and on the Junior IBU Cup as well…”

    So the trend is in the right direction, and Biathlon Canada is more than happy to be at the forefront of that progression.

    “It’s important for female athletes to have good role models,” Ward wrote. “I have seen firsthand what a good female coach can do for a female athlete and I see that is important for three reasons.

    “1) to help athletes navigate life/struggles to turn into healthy and successful adults.

    “2) I want our athletes to kick butt internationally and I believe strong female leadership can help us achieve this goal.

    “3) I believe female athletes are more likely to give back to the sport (coaching, waxing, officiating etc) if they had female role models through their career that had a positive impact on their life.”

    Last week in Otepää, outside of relays, Canada notched five top-10 results, five top-20’s and seven top-30’s, which were achieved by five different women and three different men.

    “We’re building, practicing, focusing, training to be a well-oiled machine as a large group and as individuals,” Akerman said before the races began. “And we’re very confident in our ability to utilize those skills and abilities to our potential.”

  • Levins 6th, Bankes 8th in Pursuit to Cap Off Youth/Junior World Champs

    Levins 6th, Bankes 8th in Pursuit to Cap Off Youth/Junior World Champs

    Some of the top-six finishers in the junior women’s 10 k pursuit at the post-race flower ceremony at 2018 IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia, including the Czech Republic’s Markéta Davidová (top) and American Chloe Levins (bottom), who finished first and sixth, respectively. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    (Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Leo Grandbois.)

    The 2018 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth/Junior World Championships went out with a bang on Sunday, with four pursuit races in Otepää, Estonia.

    Several North Americans had banner days, with American Chloe Levins racing up one spot to sixth place in the junior women’s 10-kilometer pursuit and Canada’s Megan Bankes and Nadia Moser placing eighth and 11th, respectively, in that same race.

    In the youth men’s 10 k pursuit, Canada’s Leo Grandbois had his best result of the week, placing 15th (up from 33rd) at the start.

    Starting with the junior women’s pursuit: 

    Levins started the race 1:32 minutes back in seventh, based on her sprint result on Saturday. She went on to clean three-consecutive shooting stages, working her way up to fourth after leaving the range for the third time, then missed two targets on the final standing to end the race in sixth. Levins finished 1:51.4 behind the winner, Markéta Davidová of the Czech Republic, who finished first in 32:52.6 with four penalties (1+0+2+1).

    Chloe Levins racing to seventh in the junior women’s 7.5 k sprint on Saturday at IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Courtesy photo)

    “In pursuit races in the past, I’ve come from behind,” Levins, who placed fourth in last year’s Youth Worlds pursuit, wrote in an email to FasterSkier on Sunday. “Today, it was a new learning experience for me to be in the mix for the duration of the race. My plan was simple from the start: enjoy being in the mix and trust your preparation.

    “I found the zone today, which is what you dream about,” she continued. “I don’t remember much about the last stage. All I know for sure is that I went for it today…and I have no regrets.”

    Asked what she’ll remember most about these championships, Levins explained that the U.S. team’s “happy and dedicated staff” made for a fun week.

    “We are always joking and laughing in the wax room which helps keep the mood light during potentially stressful races,” she wrote. “It was really special and important for me to have this experience with my coach, Algis Shalna, behind the scope. We’ve worked together for a long time. I will cherish the competitions we get to share forever.”

    While the championships didn’t turn out exactly as she’d hoped, Levins explained that she had a lot of positive takeaways for her final biathlon races of the season.

    “Now, it’s time to go back to school and start preparing for golf season at Middlebury!” she wrote. “… I can’t wait to start training again.”

    Megan Bankes racing to eighth in the junior women’s 10 k pursuit at IBU Junior World Championships on Sunday in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Bryan Dickson)

    Bankes started ninth on Sunday and made up one place to finish eighth (+2:52.6) after placing ninth in three previous races at Junior Worlds. She had two penalties in both the first and the last shooting stages (2+0+0+2) and posted the ninth-fastest shooting time and ninth-fastest overall course time.

    “Heading into today’s race, my goal was to try and shoot well and make up places. It was also my last international junior race so i wanted to try and have a good one!” Bankes, 20, wrote in an email. “To start, I knew that I could catch the Norwegian girl who started in front of me, and after I caught her, my goal was to make up time on everyone else in front of me.”

    She described the wind on the range as “pretty strong” and variable.

    “I was zeroed for a decent left to right wind, but when I came in for my first prone the wind had died and was blowing towards me for my first shot, and then it picked up again to be a little more than my zero wind, and I corrected back but didn’t correct enough for it,” Bankes wrote. “After cleaning the middle 2 bouts I really wanted to clean my last bout and there was definitely a little pressure going in with the Russian girl [Emma Timerbulatova, who was skiing just ahead of Bankes]. I actually thought that she had only missed one, so I was a little disappointed in myself when we went into the penalty loop, but when she didn’t leave after the first loop, I was determined to pass her and beat her to the finish.”

    Like Bankes, Timerbulatova had two penalties in the last standing. She started the final loop just 0.1 seconds ahead of Bankes, and Bankes passed her to finish eighth.

    “I’m overall super happy with my performance this week,” Bankes, a 2017 Youth Worlds gold medalist in the 10 k individual, concluded. “Definitely my most consistent European racing ever! I would have liked to have shot better overall this week though, I did give up some stupid shots, but I was super stoked with how I felt skiing. I’m also pleased that I was able to have consistently good races over the course of the week, which is something I definitely could not have done in the past.”

    Nadia Moser racing to 11th in the junior women’s 10 k pursuit at IBU Junior World Championships on Sunday in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Bryan Dickson)

    Moser picked off 10 places to finish 11th (+3:45.4). She started the pursuit in 21st and shot 18-for-20, cleaning the first two stages (0+0+1+1) and contending for the top 10 before finishing about 12 seconds out of 10th place. It was her second-best result of the week after placing eighth in the junior women’s 12.5 k individual.

    “A top 10 finish was definitely the big goal for the pursuit, but I knew that was only possible if I shot really well and skiied well,” Moser wrote in an email. “Unfortunately, I missed my goal by one place.

    “There were some pretty large time gaps in the starters today so it was a challenge to pick up places for me,” she continued. “For the most part I just tried to catch up with the people in front of me, or keep up with the people who passed me. I knew my best chance to move up was in the shooting range. … I was focused and trusting in my skills on the range today, and that is how I was able to hit most of my targets.”

    She knew she was in 10th for her third shooting when she was shooting in lane 10.

    “I was really happy that I had moved up as many places as I did, although slightly dissapointed that I was not able to reach the top ten,” Moser added. “I am satisfied with today’s pursuit. Moving up 10 positions is better than I’ve ever done before. Some things could have gone slightly better this week, but overall I am content with what I was able to achieve.”

    Emily Dickson scored her first non-relay top 30 of the week in 26th (+5:31.6), up from 36th at the start, after missing just two targets (1+0+0+1). She had previously placed 36th in both the sprint and individual races, and ninth with Bankes and Moser in the 3 x 6 k relay.

    After starting 26 seconds ahead of Davidová, Poland’s Kamila Żuk finished second in the pursuit, 28.1 seconds behind Davidová, after incurring six penalties (1+2+3+0). France’s Myrtille Begue placed third (+53.8) for the second-straight day after shooting 17-for-20 (0+1+1+1).

    Onto the junior men’s 12.5 pursuit: 

    A day after placing third in the sprint, Norway’s Sverre Dahlen Aspenes shot clean in Sunday’s four-stage pursuit to take the win in 34:16.7. He finished 1:21.1 minutes ahead of France’s Martin Perrillat Bottonet, who placed second with one penalty (0+0+1+0). Norway’s Johannes Dale scored his first non-relay podium in third place (+1:46.4) with four misses (0+0+2+2).

    Canada’s Adam Runnalls tallied his third individual top 30 of the week, placing 29th (+6:04.7) with six penalties (2+1+1+2). He had started the pursuit in 26th, based on his sprint result, and had previously finished 29th in the junior men’s 15 k individual.

    His teammate Trevor Kiers started the pursuit in 16th and slipped to 34th (+6:44.4) with 10 penalties. Canada’s third man in the race, Teo Sanchez finished 57th (+10:32.5) with five misses (1+0+1+3) after starting 54th.

    Cody Johnson was the lone U.S. skier in the junior men’s pursuit, racing to 48th (+7:40.0), after starting 37th, with five misses (2+0+2+1).

    In the youth men’s 10 k pursuit:

    Leo Grandbois racing to 15th in the youth men’s 10 k pursuit on Sunday at IBU Youth World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Terri Dickson)

    Grandbois, a gold medalist at last year’s Youth Worlds in the 12.5 k individual, had his best race of the 2018 championships in 15th. After starting 33rd, he cleaned the first two stages to put himself in 16th halfway through the race, then missed two on each of the final two shooting bouts (0+0+2+2). But he didn’t lose much ground, leaving the range in 17th after the last shooting and passing two competitors to end up 15th (+3:37.2). Grandbois had previously raced to 24th in the 12.5 k individual this week and 16th with Canada’s youth men’s 3 x 7.5 k relay team.

    “For the first bouts the wind was calm but for the second prone the wind picked up,” Grandbois explained in an email. “So I had to do some corrections that worked perfectly. I am really happy about it. First standing I came way too hard in the range and I could not manage to be precise. The last shooting was going well but the pressure to go faster made me miss again.

    “I think that with a better standing shooting I could have done a top 10, but I was starting pretty far away so I am satisfied with my 15th,” he wrote.

    “What I take back from those championships is that my ski speed is good but I will have to work hard next summer to keep it that way and to get it even better, for sure,” Grandbois added. “It wasn’t a good week for me in the range. I will have to work on my shooting speed and constancy. Those two things are my biggest weakness.”

    Leading the U.S. men was Vasek Cervenka in 24th (+4:20.8). Cervenka had started the race in 24th and held his position despite six penalties (0+3+1+2) with the 19th-fastest course time. It was his third individual top 30 of the week after placing 27th in the 12.5 k (as well as ninth with his relay team).

    Canada’s Rory Gilliland moved up 11 places to finish 41st (+6:12.2) with two penalties (0+0+1+1). His teammates Thomas Hulsman and Ryan Elden followed in 45th (+6:45.9) and 49th (+6:56.8) after starting 35th and 59th, respectively. Hulsman had six penalties while Elden had five (1+0+2+2).

    For the U.S., Garrett Beckrich and Eli Nielsen finished 46th (+6:48.7) and 47th (+6:54.7), respectively. Beckrich had started 46th and incurred five penalties (1+1+1+2) while Nielsen slipped five places after starting 42nd and missing six targets.

    After winning gold in the relay, Russia’s Andrei Viukhin notched his first individual podium and gold medal at his first Youth Worlds, winning the pursuit in 29:31.2. He had started seventh and missed four targets (1+1+1+1) yet led his teammates in a Russian podium sweep.

    Viukhin handed his teammate Mikhail Pervushin his first loss of the week, as Pervushin settled for second, 16.8 seconds back, with four penalties as well (1+0+2+1). Aleksei Ogorelkov, who had not raced in Russia’s 3 x 7.5 k relay, finished third (+1:12.1) with two late penalties (0+0+0+2) for his first Youth Worlds podium.

    Last but not least, the youth women’s 7.5 k pursuit:

    Canada had three women finish in the top 40 of this race, with Benita Peiffer leading them in 30th (+4:28.2). She had started 51st and skied the 21st-fastest course time to pick off 21 places. Peiffer shot 17-for-20 (1+0+1+1).

    Her teammate, Pascale Paradis slipped from 15th to 35th (+5:05.8) with eight penalties, while Jenna Sherrington improved from 46th to 39th (+5:28.1) with four misses (2+0+2+0).

    For the U.S., Emma Stertz finished 48th (+5:58.0), up from 52nd at the start, with four penalties (1+0+2+1), and Grace Gilliland placed 57th (+7:21.0), after starting 55th, with four misses as well (1+1+1+1).

    Russia’s Anastasiia Goreeva won her first individual gold at Youth Worlds, racing up from fourth at the start to cross the finish line first in 24:24.0 with three penalties (0+0+1+2). Germany’s Franziska Pfnür placed second for her first Youth Worlds podium, 17.5 seconds behind Goreeva, with just one penalty (0+1+0+0). In her second Youth Worlds, Switzerland’s Amy Baserga achieved her first podium as well, placing third (+29.0) with two penalties (0+0+1+1).

    Results:

    Junior women | Junior men

    Youth men | Youth women

  • 20-for-20 with Eli Nielsen

    20-for-20 with Eli Nielsen

    Eli Nielsen racing at 2018 IBU Youth World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Courtesy photo)

    In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this past week’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) 2018 Youth and Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 18-year-old Eli Nielsen, of Washington state, who represented the U.S. at his second Youth World Championships.

    In his last race of the week, Nielsen placed 47th in the youth men’s 10 k pursuit. He also finished 42nd in the 7.5 k sprint, 64th in the 12.5 k individual and ninth in the youth men’s 3 x 7.5 k relay.

    ***

    “My full name is Camren Eli Nielsen but you can call me Caspian.

    I was born and raised in Stehekin, Washington, and I learned to ski with the Bob Scouts.

    I spent the time between World Youth/Junior trials and Worlds racing biathlon in the Czech Republic and Slovenia and thinking about how I should probably be doing homework.

    The funnest workout I did in the last training year to prepare for this was pretty much every workout with the Methow Team.

    One thing I’m working on this season to improve my biathlon is hitting more targets faster.

    This is my first time in Estonia and fourth time racing internationally, and so far it’s been absolutely amazing.

    One difference I’ve noticed between Estonia and the United States is it only takes three hours to drive across the entire country.

    One of the things I’m most excited about for World Youth/Junior Championships in Otepää is the relay. It’ll be fun to throw down with the boys in a head to head race.

    One race I’m especially targeting there is the sprint. Less shooting is usually a good thing.

    Watching the Olympics in the leadup to my own races was exciting. One of my favorite moments of the Games was Kikkan and Jessie’s gold in the team sprint. I want to be more like Erik Bjornsen because he’s such a bro.

    At Worlds, I really hope I can make friends with someone from Norway and ask them if I can come live with them.

    My favorite thing at the breakfast where we are staying is the cucumber water… jk Garrett’s the only one who can stand that stuff.

    Before this trip, if you said “Estonia”, the first thing I’d think of would have been “North eastern Europe?”

    Now that I’m here, I’m pretty sure something I’ll always remember will be doing homework… take note teachers.

    If I had a totally free day here and didn’t have to worry about race fitness or training, I’d spend it in the sauna.

    The best way to follow me on social media is on Instagram @eels_niels.”

  • 20-for-20 with Jenna Sherrington

    20-for-20 with Jenna Sherrington

    Jenna Sherrington racing at Biathlon Canada’s Youth World Trials in Valcartier, Quebec. (Photo: Jenna Sherrington/Instagram)

    In an effort to showcase the North Americans competing at this week’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) 2018 Youth and Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia, we asked those qualifying athletes several questions about themselves — actually, we had them fill in the blanks. Here we have 16-year-old Jenna Sherrington, of Calgary, who is representing Canada at her first Youth World Championships.

    In her last race of Youth Worlds, the youth women’s 7.5 k pursuit, Sherrington placed 39th (+5:28.1 with four penalties). She also finished 40th in the 10 k individual on Monday and 46th in the 6 k sprint on Friday.

    ***

    “My full name is Jenna Sherrington but you can call me Jenna.

    I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, and I learned to ski at age 2.

    Jenna Sherrington getting some sunny training in on the Haig glacier near Canmore, Alberta. (Courtesy photo)

    I spent the time between World Youth/Junior trials and Worlds training, preparing, going to school and coaching cross-country skiing to 5 year olds.

    The hardest and most fun workout I did in the last training year to prepare for this was bicycle 1100 kilometers from Quebec City to Charlottetown with my Dad.

    One thing I’m working on this season to improve my biathlon is being able to completely focus during a race. Last year I had quite a bit of trouble getting out of my own head while racing so I’ve been trying to improve that.

    This is my first time in Estonia and first time racing internationally, and so far it’s been an incredible learning opportunity and experience.

    One difference I’ve noticed between Estonia and Canada is the language is very different and they eat lots of potatoes.

    One of the things I’m most excited about for World Youth/Junior Championships in Otepää is travelling to a new country and competing against the best youth biathletes in the world.

    One race I’m especially targeting there is the sprint.

    Watching the Olympics in the lead up to my own races was really inspiring to see the best biathletes in the world race as hard as they could for their country. One of my favourite moments of the Olympics was when Martin Fourcade won in the 15km mass start with a photo finish against Simon Schempp. I want to be like Laura Dahlmeier because she always has a smile on her face and it looks like she has a genuine love for the sport of biathlon.

    At Worlds, I really hope I can chat/make friends with someone from Norway and ask them what it’s like to live in Norway and what the Norwegian culture is like.

    My favorite thing at the breakfast where we are staying is the fruit, there’s always oranges or grapes, which is fantastic.

    Before this trip, if you said “Estonia”, the first thing I’d think of would have been “sorry, where?”.

    Now that I’m here, I’m pretty sure something I’ll always remember will be the people I meet and how incredibly sparkly the snow is.

    If I had a totally free day here and didn’t have to worry about race fitness or training, I’d spend it skiing around on the absolutely breath taking trails that intertwine and surround the town.

    The best way to follow me on social media is on Instagram @jennasherrington.”

  • Levins 7th, Bankes 9th, Kiers 16th in IBU Junior Worlds Sprint

    Levins 7th, Bankes 9th, Kiers 16th in IBU Junior Worlds Sprint

    American Chloe Levins racing to seventh in the junior women’s 7.5 k sprint on Saturday at IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Terri Dickson)

    “There’s almost nothing I love more than being in the hunt during a pursuit,” American Chloe Levins wrote in an email to FasterSkier on Saturday. “I’m prepared. I’m hungry.”

    Two days after placing sixth in the junior women’s 12.5-kilometer individual on Thursday, Levins, 19, raced to seventh place in Saturday’s 7.5 k sprint, which will put her in seventh (and within 10 seconds of fourth place) for the start of Sunday’s 10 k pursuit at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia.

    Last year, Levins raced to fourth in the 7.5 k pursuit at 2017 IBU Youth World Championships. So it’s safe to say she has fond memories of that race format.

    On Saturday, Levins, a Middlebury College sophomore, started the 7.5 k sprint in 20th out of 70 women. She missed one of her prone targets, having to ski a penalty lap, and cleaned standing to cross the finish line in second place, just 1.5 seconds behind Russia’s Emma Timerbulatova in first. While both were ultimately bumped to sixth and seventh, respectively, by the time all 70 racers had finished, Levins’s course time still held up as the eighth fastest. Her shooting was among the best, too, with only five women cleaning the two-stage race.

    “There’s been a consistent stream of wind on this range all week long,” Levins explained in the email. “It didn’t fail to show up today either.  Ski conditions were perfect. The snow was cold but fast, and it got faster throughout the day.”

    When asked about the course, she recalled a term her coach Algis Shalna used to describe it: “workhorse”.

    “That’s exactly what it is,” she wrote. “It’s a traditional course with long hills and few transitions. I don’t really have a course profile preference, but working over the top of these hills pushes me past my limits every time.”

    Levins described being able to handle the “steady and relatively calm” wind conditions without many technical adjustments. After hitting all five targets in her standing stage, all she could do was smile as she returned to the course, she wrote.

    “It was a very rhythmic shooting that gave me some momentum leading into the last loop,” Levins recalled. “Our staff and even some of the youth athletes were everywhere on course today, which really helped me gain time on a Russian athlete who left the range 15sec ahead of me at the split.

    “I had the biggest support system in the entire field today,” she added. “I hope they had as much fun during the competition as I did.”

    At the finish, Levins tried to process any time she lost on the course and the time gap between her and first place at the time.

    “My brain immediately went to analyzing the race in search of 1.5 lost seconds,” Levins wrote. “Since the temperatures have been so cold this week, they made all the races 20 second intervals. It was unfortunate that I had to maneuver my way around two groups of at least four competitors along the track on my last loop.”

    In the end, she ended up seventh, 1:31.7 minutes behind Poland’s Kamila Żuk, who won in 22:32.5 with one standing penalty (0+1). Żuk also won Thursday’s 12.5 k individual.

    On Sunday, Levins will start the pursuit 1:32 behind Żuk and just 10 seconds behind Russia’s Valeriia Vasnetcova in fourth place. Markéta Davidová of the Czech Republic will head out of the gate second, 26 seconds behind Żuk, and France’s Myrtille Begue will start third, 52 seconds back. While Davidová made up for two penalties in Saturday’s sprint with the second-fastest course time (behind Żuk in first), Begue shot clean and skied the fifth-fastest course time.

    Canada’s Megan Bankes racing to ninth in the junior women’s 7.5 k sprint on Saturday at IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Terri Dickson)

    Canada’s Megan Bankes placed ninth for her third-straight race of the championships, after finishing ninth in the junior women’s 3 x 6 k relay and ninth in the 12.5 k individual. On Saturday, she had two penalties, one in each stage (1+1), and finished 1:49.5 minutes out of first with the (you guessed it) ninth-fastest course time.

    Bankes will start the pursuit 1:50 back and just 4 seconds behind Norway’s Marit Ishol Skogan in eighth.

    Her teammate Nadia Moser finished 21st (+2:46.2), also with two penalties (0+2), Emily Dickson finished 36th (+3:50.5) with two penalties (1+1), and Canada’s fourth woman Zoë Pekos narrowly missed the pursuit cutoff in 66th (+6:22.4) with four misses (3+1).

    In the junior men’s 10 k sprint that followed, Canada’s Trevor Kiers achieved his best result at his second Junior Worlds in 16th (+1:34.9) with two penalties (2+0). Kiers, 20, previously broke through in 10th and 11th this season in IBU Junior Cup sprints. Last year at Junior World Championships, his best non-relay result was 39th in the pursuit.

    So far in Otepää, Kiers had finished 77th in the 15 k individual and 17th with his team in the 4 x 7.5 k relay.

    “I found it really hard mentally after the relay and individual,” Kiers wrote in an email. “But after a ton of self-reflection, I realised that I put too much pressure on myself to shoot well and perform. I simply didn’t trust myself. After the individual, I had one training session to regain my confidence, and I was able to do just that. I took 60 very focused shots, and only missed 1 prone and 3 standing over the whole session, and the last 30 were clean! I came into today’s race feeling very confident in my shooting, and knew that I could perform, and not allow that pressure to reach me. To go out and have a fun time, and my instincts would kick in, and the shooting would fall into place.”

    On the range, Kiers’s shooting and range times ranked 13th and 14th overall, respectively. As he entered his first prone shooting stage, he recalled that he consciously freed his mind of any expectations.

    “After I shot off my first, the casing got stuck in my chamber and I feel it through off my relaxed sort of focus, but I know that my last two shots were just me being silly,” Kiers wrote. “I knew that the next bout would be good, I had convinced myself that standing would be a breeze, just let my body do what it knows how to do.”

    His next time in the range, he cleaned his standing bout.

    Canada’s Trevor Kiers racing in the junior men’s 15 k individual at 2018 IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. He placed 77th in that race and went on to finish 16th in the junior men’s 10 k sprint on Saturday. (Photo: Bryan Dickson)

    “Not only did I clean it, but quickly too!” Kiers wrote. “I was one of the fastest shooters of the day, and can reflect back knowing that I didn’t rush, just that it felt good. Heading out on skis, I knew that I still had a shot at a good result, when I went up one of the first long climbs, out wax tech was yelling at me that I was definitely still in it, that I was still skiing on par, and that I could pull this back together! Having that near the beginning of the loop definitely set me up well mentally for the second loop, to keep the grind on, and that I wouldn’t give up any seconds.”

    Based on his shooting, he was confident he could be in the top 20. As the 16th starter, Kiers crossed the finish line in sixth, but some 72 men were still on course. Ultimately, he finished 16th, 1:34.9 behind Russia’s Vasilii Tomshin, who shot clean to win in 25:01.8.

    “When I heard that I got 16th I was super happy!” Kiers wrote. “From the previous races I’ve done this year, I knew that cleaning a race could land me in the top 10, and once I finished with 2 misses, I reckoned that it would probably be a top 25, maybe a top 20, but I apparently skied faster than I thought possible! … Today, I held my own on skis, and proved that I deserve to be up here with the big guns!”

    Looking back on his progression in the sport, he described it as “insane”.

    “… Before two years ago (May of 2016) I had never had a biathlon coach, and did all my training on my own in my backyard range that I built,” he explained. “But I was able to prove myself at the 2016 nationals that February and landed a spot on [Biathlon Alberta Training Center]. BATC has changed a lot about how I had gone about things before, and I think that last year was the time to get used to a full time training lifestyle, and this was the year to start performing, and showing what it has done for me.”

    Kiers will start Sunday’s 12.5 k pursuit in 16th, 1:35 behind Tomshin and seven seconds behind Germany’s Tim Grotian in 15th. France’s Martin Perrillat Bottonet (who had one penalty in the sprint) will start second, 21 seconds back, and Norway’s Sverre Dahlen Aspenes (who missed two) will head out third, eight seconds later.

    “I am super excited to see what I can do tomorrow, but to be truthful, I don’t have any expectations as far as results go,” Kiers wrote. “My expectations are to simply go out there, have some fun, dance to a few songs during warm-up, and see where that takes me. I am really looking forward to leaving everything I’ve got out on the track, being the last race of the championships, no holding back, have no regrets after I finish.”

    Canada had two in the top 30 with Adam Runnalls in 26th (+2:08.3) with three penalties (1+2). Teo Sanchez also qualified for the pursuit by tying for 53rd (+3:19.2) with one penalty (1+0), while Angus Tweedie placed 69th (+4:41.3) with three misses (+4:41.3).

    Cody Johnson shot clean to lead the Americans in 37th (+2:31.1). Tim Cunningham finished 71st (+5:13.5) with seven misses, Jacob Pearson was 79th (+6:24.2) with two penalties (1+1) and Cam Christiansen in 86th (+7:52.5) with three penalties (1+2).

    Results: Junior women | Junior men

    Pursuit start lists: Junior women | Junior men

  • Friday Rundown: Paradis Leads Canada in 15th in IBU Youth Worlds Sprint

    Friday Rundown: Paradis Leads Canada in 15th in IBU Youth Worlds Sprint

    The youth men’s 7.5 k sprint podium at IBU Youth World Championships in Otepää, Estonia, with Russia’s Mikhail Pervushin (c) continuing his undefeated streak at the championships in first, Italy’s Tommaso Giacomel (l) in second, and the Czech Republic’s Vítězslav Hornig (r) in third. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    IBU Youth World Championships (Otepää, Estonia): Youth women’s and men’s sprints

    Sweden’s Karin Elvira Öberg raced to her third-straight win of the week at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth World Championships in Otepää, and Pascale Paradis led Canada in 15th in the youth women’s 6-kilometer sprint on Friday.

    Paradis started 36th out of 92 women and shot 18-for-20, missing one on each stage (1+1), on a day when the top-two finishers had misses as well. With the ninth-fastest overall course time, Paradis, 15, finished 1:04.3 minutes off of Öberg’s winning time of 19:46.7.

    Sweden’s Karin Elvira Öberg after winning her third-straight race at 2018 IBU Youth World Championships in Otepää, Estonia, with a win in the youth women’s 6 k sprint on Friday. (Photo: IBU/Biathlonworld)

    Meanwhile, the 19-year-old Öberg started 65th and claimed the win with one penalty (0+1), continuing her undefeated streak at Youth Worlds after winning the 10 k individual and relay as well. She was joined on the podium by her teammate Amanda Lundström, who also raced to gold in the 3 x 6 k relay on Wednesday, and shot clean on Friday to finish 16.7 seconds back in third.

    Between them, Finland’s Heidi Nikkinen placed second (+13.1), with one penalty (1+0).

    In the first race of her first Youth World Championships, Paradis placed sixth to earn recognition at the post-race flower ceremony.

    “After being shocked with the result I got for the individual it got me pretty excited,” Paradis recalled in an email on Friday. “But I knew that if I put too much pressure on myself I would get too nervous. But it really boosted my confidence to know that I had a chance to do well here!

    “So I went into this race not expecting too much,” she continued. “This season I’ve been doing well in individuals so I was hoping for a good result but in sprints I haven’t been shooting great so I was super happy to see myself knock 8 targets down and I skied as fast as I possibly could, so overall I am super happy about my race!”

    Pascale Paradis racing the first leg of Canada’s youth women’s 3 x 6 k relay team on Wednesday at IBU Youth World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. Her team finished 10th.  (Photo: Bill Gilliland)

    Paradis described the conditions as “perfect”, not too cold and with relatively calm winds.

    “I was happy about my shooting just because it’s the best I’ve shot in a sprint race this year,” she wrote. “Skiing I felt really tired but my coach Andrew was on the hill cheering super loud and I dug deep and pushed myself to the max in this race and was extremely happy too see that I had skied one of my fastest races ever!”

    In Sunday’s 7.5 k pursuit, the last day of the championships, she’ll start about 1 minute and 4 seconds back in 15th, just 2 or 3 seconds out of 12th place.

    “I’m excited to be started really close to a few other girls right out of the gates for the pursuit,” Paradis wrote. “We don’t do many pursuits back home so this will be my second one ever and I’m super excited to see what it’s like on the international level. I really like doing pursuits even though they get me the most nervous, it’s just super fun to know where you are in the race the whole time and to just make up as many spots as you can during the course of the race.”

    Two other Canadian women finished in the top 60 of the sprint to qualify for the pursuit, with Jenna Sherrington placing 46th (+2:25.3) with two penalties (1+1), and Benita Peiffer placing 51st (+2:40.4) with three misses (1+2). Shilo Rousseau missed the cutoff in 66th (+3:04.8) with four penalties (1+3).

    Two American women qualified, with Emma Stertz in 52nd (+2:44.2) with two misses (1+1), and Grace Gilliland in 55th (+2:50.1) with one miss (0+1). Lexie Madigan finished 70th (+3:28.1) with four penalties (4+0) and Helen Wilson followed in 72nd (+3:28.9) with three misses (1+2).

    In the youth men’s 7.5 k sprint on Friday afternoon, Russia’s Mikhail Pervushin won his third-straight race of the championships, shooting clean and finishing in 20:17.3. Italy’s Tommaso Giacomel also shot a perfect 10-for-10 to finish second (+21.9) for his first Youth Worlds medal. The Czech Republic’s Vítězslav Hornig rounded out the podium in third (+38.6) with one miss (0+1).

    American Vasek Cervenka improved on his 27th place in the 12.5 k individual by finishing 24th on Friday (+1:59.2) with three penalties (1+2). He and two teammates qualified for Sunday’s 10 k pursuit, with Eli Nielsen placing 42nd (+2:51.2) with one miss (0+1), and Garrett Beckrich following in 46th (+3:01.3) with four penalties (1+3). Maxime Germain missed the top 60 in 74th (+4:33.9) with three misses (1+2).

    Leo Grandbois led Canada in 33rd (+2:33.4) with three penalties (1+2). All four Canadian men qualified for the pursuit with Thomas Hulsman shooting clean for 35th (+2:35.3), Rory Gilliland finishing 52nd (+3:19.8) with one miss (0+1), and Ryan Elden placing 59th (+3:30.0) with one miss as well (1+0).

    The junior women’s and men’s sprints are scheduled for Saturday, followed by the youth and junior pursuits on Sunday.

    Results: Youth women’s 6 k sprint | Youth men’s 7.5 k sprint

  • Thursday Rundown: Levins 6th, Moser 8th, Bankes 9th in Junior Worlds Individual

    Thursday Rundown: Levins 6th, Moser 8th, Bankes 9th in Junior Worlds Individual

    The top-six finishers at the junior women’s 12.5 k individual flower ceremony on Thursday at IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia, with Poland’s Kamila Żuk (second from l) in first, Ukraines’s Anna Kryvonos (l) in second place, Russia’s Irina Kazakevich (third from l) in third, and American Chloe Levins (r) in sixth. (Photo: Erik Lewish)

    IBU Junior World Championships (Otepää, Estonia): Junior women’s and men’s individual

    Three North Americans in the top 10, top nine even. That’s what happened in a single race at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Junior World Championships on Thursday in Otepää, with American Chloe Levins placing sixth, and Canada’s Nadia Moser and Megan Bankes claiming eighth and ninth, respectively, in junior women’s 12.5-kilometer individual.

    According to the three racers, it was another beautiful day in Otepää with steady, sometimes even gusting, wind.

    Levins was the earliest starter of the three, starting in the middle of the field in bib 37 (out of 70). Bankes headed out of the gate 45th and Moser started near last in 67th.

    Canada’s Nadia Moser racing to eighth in the junior women’s 12.5 k individual at IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Bryan Dickson)

    Despite the late start, Moser, 20 years old and in her second Junior Worlds, explained in an email that she wasn’t nervous. With temperatures rising to a high of -10 degrees Celsius (14 Fahrenheit) on Thursday morning, she almost preferred it.

    “There were also 20 second start intervals which are shorter than the usual 30, so all of the competitors were out of the gate in a shorter amount of time than normal,” Moser wrote.

    In neither Thursday’s women’s race nor the men’s 15 k individual that followed, nobody shot clean. In fact, only one woman shot 19-for-20: Slovakia’s Veronika Machyniakova, who ended up 11th. The top-two finishers in the women’s 12.5 k, Poland’s Kamila Żuk (who placed first in 41:36.1 minutes) and Ukraine’s Anna Kryvonos (who finished 3:04.7 minutes back in second place), both had two penalties. Russia’s Irina Kazakevich placed third (+3:20.0) with three misses — which added three minutes of penalties to her time.

    “I found the wind in the range today to be fairly variable,” Bankes, the defending Junior Worlds champion in the event, wrote in an email. “It was gusting and then dying quiet significantly and also in the middle of shooting bouts which made things a little tricky.”

    At last year’s Junior Worlds in Osrblie, Slovakia, Bankes shot a perfect 20-for-20 for the first time in her career and won gold in the junior women’s 12.5 k individual.

    Thursday brought new challenges, and Bankes explained she was happy to clean her first prone. She went on to miss two in the next standing stage, then one in each of the following two stages (0+2+1+1) to finish the race with four penalties, which ultimately put her in ninth overall (+4:59.1).

    Canada’s Megan Bankes racing to ninth in the junior women’s 12.5 k individual at IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Bryan Dickson)

    “I’m not totally sure what happened in my first standing (when I missed 2) but when I came into my 2nd standing the wind was gusting quite a bit, and I was really happy with how I waited for my first 4 shots, but I was a little annoyed to have missed that last one,” she recalled. “Overall I think my shooting today was pretty good, but I could have been better.”

    While Bankes figured the wind was giving most others trouble as well, she didn’t think that she’d make it into the top 10 with four misses.

    “I don’t like getting splits until the last lap, so I heard Andrew [Chisholm] our wax tech tell me I was fighting for 10th when I passed him, so I really tried to give everything that last lap,” Bankes, 20, wrote. “I was super stoked to see I crossed the line in 7th, and knew I wouldn’t be bumped down too much because I started 3rd seed.

    “Coming off of gold last year, I definitely had high expectations for myself,” she explained. “But I tried to use that as more positive belief in myself to know I can be in the top women, and know that I can shoot well, instead of just focusing on the result number. My main goal going into these championships was to have races that I’m happy with, and to ski and shoot to the best of my abilities.”

    At the end of the day, Bankes wrote that she was “really happy” with her result.

    “I felt like I really held myself together on skis, and kept my technique under control, while also pushing myself to the limit throughout the race,” she wrote. “I’m super stoked to see that the youth women are totally crushing it, and to be right behind Nadia today was also super exciting (also to see Chloe Levins in 6th was fantastic – 3 North Americans in the top 10!)”

    From left to right: Megan Bankes, Nadia Moser and Emily Dickson after the junior women’s 12.5 k individual at IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Bill Gilliland)

    One place ahead of her, Moser scored her first non-relay top 20 at Junior Worlds, leading Canada in eighth (+4:18.9) with three penalties (1+0+1+1). Two days earlier, Moser, Bankes and their teammate Emily Dickson placed ninth in the junior women’s 3 x 6 k relay.

    “I knew I could get a top 10 finish if I could pull my shooting together,” Moser wrote after Thursday’s individual race. “After my third shooting I had missed 2 targets total and I thought then that my top 10 chances were over. On may last loop I had 3 misses and was not even thinking about top 10 anymore. I realized that I must be doing better than I initially thought when everyone who was cheering me sounded really excited. I definitely got lucky today because no one cleaned their shooting. I was extremely happy to have finished in the top 10, especially since I was sure that I had no chance after missing 3 targets.”

    She was pleased to see all of her training over the last year validated on Thursday.

    “I tried really hard to improve over the summer and fall because I really wanted good results this season,” Moser wrote. “I think that the best thing I did today was to stay calm, and take my time in the range. I shot really slowly but that paid off in the end.”

    Chloe Levins (third from r) with the U.S. team staff (from l to r) wax tech Travis Voyer, coach Algis Shalna, assistant coach Danika Frisbie, wax tech Max Bergmann, wax tech Mattias Halquist, and head coach Erik Lewish, after Levins placed sixth in the junior women’s 12.5 k individual at IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Erik Lewish)

    The lone American junior woman at this year’s IBU Youth/Junior Worlds, Levins, 19, finished sixth (+3:37.4) with three penalties (0+1+0+2). At last year’s Youth Worlds, Levins notched fourth place in the 7.5 k pursuit.

    “There’s a big difference between youth and junior competition,” Levins wrote in an email. “A lot of juniors have IBU Cup experience, World Cup experience, and a handful even attended the Olympics. Fortunately, there’s also a big difference between the youth athlete I was last year and the junior I am now. I’ve been fortunate to compete in more winter biathlon races than ever this year, which has really helped me up my game. It’s a good feeling to see that I’m prepared to compete at this level.”

    She explained that she had one goal on Thursday: “smile no matter what,” she wrote. “The hay is in the barn. Now it’s just time to get out of my own way and focus on one thing at a time.”

    While Levins had experienced the rush of being near the front of the race in a pursuit, actually contending for a top result in an individual-start race was a new experience for her, she explained.

    “As always, I tried not to let thoughts of my position distract me from thinking tactically about the course or my shooting process,” Levins noted. “Every lap, every corner, every shooting remained an opportunity for me until the finish line.

    “A lot of my friends finished their races around me, so I did not even see my standing at the finish,” she continued. “When I finally looked at the board and saw that I was more than three minutes back of the leader, I thought that this result, with three penalties myself, was okay. I didn’t expect it to be good enough for sixth place.”

    The race was Levins’s first of the week and she presumably has two more to go — as do Moser, Bankes and most of the other junior women — with a sprint on Saturday and, if they place in the top 60 of the sprint, a pursuit on Sunday.

    As the only American junior woman in Otepää, Levins wrote that she was fortunate to have a significant amount of team support behind her on Thursday.

    “My skis today were incredibly fast,” she emphasized. “Our wax guys made the fastest skis on the track today. … I can’t thank them enough.”

    The U.S. team’s head coach and trip leader, Erik Lewish, pointed out that Levins had the seventh-fastest overall ski time and one of the best shooting performances of the day.

    “It’s great to see that she is right in the mix with this very competitive field (2 of the starters today were competing in the Olympics),” Lewish wrote. “1 more hit and she would have finished in 2nd place today, this is very exciting looking forward to the Sprint and pursuit (sat and Sunday) where she will have another chance to get on the podium.”

    “There are a lot of good things to take from this race and, as always, a lot of things to learn,” Levins concluded. “What’s my goal for the rest of the week? Keep learning. Keep smiling.”

    According to Canada’s head coach and trip leader Jacqueline Akerman, the Canadian techs also nailed the wax.

    “The techs hit the wax perfectly allowing for some of the top skis out there, when skiing form and wax meet it sets the scene for great results,” Akerman wrote. “The shooting was a bit tricky today with varying strength and switching winds, but both [Nadia and Megan] managed to keep misses to a minimum. They both hit enough to place in the top ten on a day when no one in the field shot clean and only one athlete managed one penalty. They are both happy with their performance, and the rest of us are too!”

    Next on the results sheet for Canada was Dickson in 36th (+8:33.7) with five penalties (2+1+0+2), and Zoë Pekos in 63rd (+15:50.6) with eight misses.

    Canada’s Adam Runnalls racing to 29th in the junior men’s 15 k individual at IBU Junior World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Bill Gilliland)

    In the junior men’s 15 k, Canada’s Adam Runnalls led the North Americans in 29th (+4:26.4) with five penalties (0+0+3+2). Teo Sanchez followed in 58th (+7:25.2) with four misses (1+1+1+1), Angus Tweedie was 67th (+9:11.8) with six misses (2+0+2+2), and Trevor Kiers 77th (+12:44.3) with 13 penalties.

    For the U.S., Tim Cunningham finished 53rd (+6:49.3) with six penalties (1+3+1+1), Cody Johnson was 60th (+8:01.7) with seven misses, Jacob Pearson 83rd (+16:39.6) with 13 misses, and Cameron Christiansen 84th (+16:53.6) with eight penalties.

    Russia had two on the podium in the men’s race as well, with Igor Malinovskii scoring his second-straight win after racing to gold in the junior men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay on Tuesday. He has won the last four races he’s contested, including the sprint and the pursuit at IBU Junior Open European Championships before Junior Worlds. Malinovskii finished in 41:48.5 on Thursday with three penalties (1+1+1+0), besting Norway’s Sturla Holm Lægreid in second place by 19.4 seconds; Lægreid also had three penalties (1+0+1+1). Russia’s Said Karimulla Khalili added bronze (+23.0) to his medal collection, with two misses (0+1+1+0), after capturing gold with his relay team.

    No one in the junior men’s individual had fewer than two misses.

    Results: Junior women’s 12.5 k individual | Junior men’s 15 k individual 

  • Tuesday-Wednesday Rundown: Youth/Junior Worlds Relays

    Tuesday-Wednesday Rundown: Youth/Junior Worlds Relays

    The youth men’s 3 x 7.5 k relay on Wednesday, with Norway leading, at the IBU Youth World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Bill Gilliland)

    IBU Youth World Championships (Otepää, Estonia): Relays

    Pascale Paradis racing the first leg of Canada’s youth women’s 3 x 6 k relay team on Wednesday at IBU Youth World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Bill Gilliland)

    Tuesday and Wednesday were relay days at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth/Junior World Championships in Otepää, highlighted by two ninth-place results by the Canadian and American biathlon teams.

    On Tuesday, the Canadian junior women (Emily Dickson, Nadia Moser and Megan Bankes) placed ninth in the 3 x 6-kilometer relay, 3:31.6 minutes out of first, with two penalties and 14 spares. The U.S. youth men (Vasek Cervenka, Camren Nielsen and Garrett Beckrich) finished ninth in the 3 x 7.5 k on Wednesday, +7:19.9 with three penalties and 15 spares.

    Also on Wednesday, Canada finished 10th in the youth women’s 3 x 6 k with Pascale Paradis, Shilo Rousseau and Benita Peiffer (+3:35.3 with zero penalties and 11 spares). The U.S. youth women followed in 18th with Helen Wilson, Margaret Madigan and Emma Stertz (+8:24.6 with one penalty and 12 spares).

    The Canadian youth men’s relay, with Rory Gilliland, Tom Hulsman and Leo Grandbois, on Wednesday at IBU Youth World Championships in Otepää, Estonia. (Photo: Bill Gilliland)

    The Canadian youth men finished 16th with Rory Gilliland, Thomas Hulsman and Leo Grandbois (+9:45.5 with three penalties and 18 spares).

    In the junior men’s 4 x 7.5 k relay on Tuesday, Canada finished 17th with Teo Sanchez, Angus Tweedie, Trevor Kiers, and Adam Runnalls (+10:48.7 with four penalties and 14 spares), and U.S. followed in 19th with Cody Johnson, Tim Cunningham, Camron Christiansen, and Jacob Pearson (+24:31.1 with eight penalties and 18 spares.

    France won the junior women’s relay with Camille Bend, Myrtille Begue and Lou Jeanmonnot Laurent finishing in 1:02:52.1 hours with one spare and eight penalties. Norway placed second in that race, 17.5 seconds back, and Russia was third (+40.1).

    Russia topped the junior men’s relay with Said Karimulla Khalili, Vasili Tomshin, Viacheslav Maleev, and Igor Malinovskii finishing in 1:25:21.2 with zero penalties and nine spares. Norway took silver(+57.1), and France earned bronze (+2:45.6).

    Sweden won the youth women’s relay the following day with Amanda Lundström, Ella Halvarsson and Elvira Öberg in 1:03:19.8 with zero penalties and six spares. Öberg shot clean without any spares (0+0, 0+0) for her second gold medal in as many races after she won Monday’s 10 k individual.

    She edged Finland’s Heidi Nikkinen in a photo finish, in which the two racers finished less than a tenth of a second apart, and Finland settled for silver after two penalties and 10 spares. Norway reached the podium in third (+37.0).

    The Russian men prevailed again on Wednesday with Denis Tashtimerov, Andrei Viukhin, and Monday’s 12.5 k individual gold medalist, Mikhail Pervushin, winning the youth men’s relay in 1:04:51.1 with two penalties and eight spares. The Czech Republic claimed silver (+2:30.), and Norway continued its podium streak in third (+3:04.5).

    Youth/Junior World Championships continue Thursday with the junior women’s 12.5 k and junior men’s 15 k individual races in Otepää.

    Relay results: Junior women | Junior men | Youth women | Youth men