Katharine Ogden (l) of the Stratton Mountain School and U.S. Ski Team (seen racing in Montreal during the second World Cup stage of the Ski Tour Canada) and US Biathlon’s Sean Doherty (racing at 2016 IBU Junior World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania) are FasterSkier’s Junior Skiers of 2016. (Photos: Flying Point Road & IBU YJWCH Cheile Gradistei 2016/Facebook)
With the 2015/2016 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S. and Canada, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review.
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Sean Doherty, US Biathlon
Pardon if you’ve heard this one before: Sean Doherty, from Center Conway, N.H., is the best U.S. junior biathlete of all time.
The 20 year old proved it yet again this season, picking up another full collection of medals – bronze in the individual, silver in the sprint and gold in the pursuit – at Junior World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania.
Sean Doherty on his way to securing a nearly 30-second win in Sunday’s pursuit at 2016 IBU Junior World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania.
But Doherty went one better: he became the winningest young biathlete of all time, period. The gold medal was his 10th at Youth and Junior World Championships over the course of his career, a feat unmatched in the competitive world of biathlon; the ninth, silver in the sprint, was actually the one that gave him the record.
“I didn’t know I had done it until a good ways after the [sprint] race,” Doherty said in a phone interview from Romania. “I was in the press conference [and a reporter] asked the question, and I didn’t know until that point that I had set a new record.”
But that’s not the only thing her was up to this winter. Doherty continued to make his way as a reliable performer on the World Cup circuit, earning three top-20 finishes including 13th in the sprint on “home” turf in Presque Isle, Maine.
And he anchored the U.S. men’s team to eighth in the World Championships relay in Oslo, Norway – as well as to sixth-place finishes in Ruhpolding, Germany, and Antholz, Italy, and a fifth-place finish in Presque Isle during the regular season.
Coming off a career-best 13th in the sprint, Sean Doherty (US Biathlon) placed 20th in the men’s pursuit at the IBU World Cup in Presque Isle, Maine. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)
Doherty has now finished out his junior career, and will be on a diet of straight World Cups next season. His growth into a senior biathlete is one of the things that keeps the men’s team hungry and positive, supplementing the results of longtime veterans Lowell Bailey and Tim Burke, and fellow former top junior Leif Nordgren.
“In the men’s field right now, it’s so strong,” Bailey explained at World Championships. “Every team has a stacked team, it seems like. But I think we’ve put together a really competitive team. We have four guys who are routinely in the points. So on a good day we can be right there. The results have shown that we have improved every year. We’re hoping to build on that, and anything can happen.”
Katharine Ogden, U.S. Ski Team/Stratton Mountain School
Ogden, too, won FasterSkier’s junior of the year accolades last season. But she just kept right on going in 2016.
Starting with the first SuperTours of the season in West Yellowstone, Montana, Ogden put the senior field on notice when she won the 10 k skate by 1.8 seconds over Alaska Pacific University’s Chelsea Holmes.
Katharine Ogden of the Stratton Mountain School and U.S. Ski Team races to a fourth place finish overall (+1:05.1) in the women’s 15 k classic individual start at U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich. (Photo: Christopher Schmidt)
Then it was on to U.S. nationals, where Ogden was fourth in the 10 k classic, third in the 20 k skate mass start, and eighth in the classic sprint.
Always positive, Ogden says that she’s enjoying being able to hang with the senior women.
“It was awesome skiing with Caitlin [Patterson], Chelsea [Holmes], and Anne Hart,” Ogden said after the U.S. nationals mass start. “Just being able to ski behind them is so nice for me, I can really learn a lot from them and catch a ride on the downhills.”
Ogden finished 13th in both of her individual starts at Junior World Championships, and earned start rights at the Ski Tour Canada. At the end of the eight-stage World Cup series she stood 36th, the seventh American.
“It was pretty intimidating in the beginning but I guess I’m kind of getting used to it,” she said.
Americans Katharine Ogden (front) and Annie Hart (l) during the women’s 15 k skiathlon in Canmore, Alberta, part of the World Cup Ski Tour Canada. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
Switzerland’s Sandro Bovisi (foreground) and Canada’s Zachari Bolduc get ready to shoot on the anchor leg of the youth men’s 3 x 7.5 k relay at World Youth and Junior Championships. (Photo: IBU YJWCH Cheile Gradistei 2016/Facebook)
(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Canadian youth men’s anchor Zachari Bolduc.)
With all but one day of racing completed at World Youth and Junior Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania, the youth men’s relay is sure to be a high point for the Canadian biathlon team.
Teo Sanchez (Biathlon Quebec), Adam Runnalls (Calgary Biathlon Racers), and Zachari Bolduc (Biathlon Quebec) were in fourth place until late in the 3 x 7.5 kilometer relay, before Bolduc was ultimate passed by a blazing-fast Sandro Bovisi of Switzerland.
Fifth place, though, was still a solid finish for three first-time World Youth Championships racers. The squad ended the day +3:44.5 behind the wining team from Norway, and their use of just five spare rounds tied them with Russia for the best shooting of the day.
“After last shooting, it was safe to say that they will have a good race,” trip leader and Biathlon Alberta Training Center coach Richard Boruta wrote in an email. “After solid individual performances of Teo and Adam throughout the week, it has been a possibility that they can do well if they hold their shooting together.”
The team did just that. Sanchez, who has been in the top 20 in every individual race so far at the Championships, used one spare in each of his two shooting stages and tagged off in seventh, 56.9 seconds behind the team from Ukraine, which was leading at that point.
“The race was pretty smooth through the start,” Sanchez wrote in an email. “Mass starts are often a mess but this one was clean. I just went for it and ended up right with the top pack coming into the range for the first prone. Everything in this race went pretty well. I think I managed to ski quite well and my shooting was consistent. I only needed to use two spare rounds total.”
Runnalls also used two spares, one in each stage. While he lost time on the leaders – the Norwegians moved into first and built up a huge time cushion they never relinquished – Runnalls was able to move into fourth by the exchange. The gap to third place and the podium was just 30 seconds.
“Teo tagged in 8th position and my focus for the first loop was to post a decent ski time and hold my place,” Runnalls wrote in an email. “My first lap is always slower than the rest and I had a few guys skiing right on my tail. I managed to keep them behind me and come into the range with a good lap time.”
Cody Johnson helping the U.S. youth men’s team to 15th place in the 3 x 7.5 k relay. (Photo: IBU YJWCH Cheile Gradistei 2016/Facebook)
It was just to Bolduc to close things out. He did one better than his two teammates and used a single spare round, in prone, but the team slipped to fifth.
“I just used strategy, the guy from Switzerland was faster than me on the second so I let him go beacuse I wanted to be able to do a good standing shooting,” Bolduc wrote in an email. “I pefered to let him go and to clean because in the other case I know that I had had a bad standing shooting. During all my race I just tried to say calm even [when] I was in 4th place.”
He left the range in fourth for the last time and lost one spot to Switzerland on his final lap. But it was enough to let them leave Romania happy with what they’d done there.
“I keep my focus and shot clean with no spare!” Bolduc said of his last stage. “I was back in 4th but [Switzerland’s] Bovisi was faster than me and he got on this last lap… I had really wanted to [get] him but I just didin’t have to energy … Anyway 5th is a strong performance at youth world junior even more if we consider that it was a fisrt international competiton for all of our team!”
“The team felt really really good about the fifth place,” Runnals wrote. “It definitely exceed our expectations. We held our own against the international field and showed that not only are we strong as individuals but we are even stronger as a team. I will take a lot away from this experience, things from race tatics to the way I see home. I had never been to Europe before and also never raced at an international level. I think that both of these new experiences have taught me tons and I will never forget them.”
That’s what Boruta was hoping for, because the trio will have more shots at Championships racing at the youth or junior level in coming years.
“I’m pleased with the consistent Youth Men performance, there is some good base there and a hope for the future,” Boruta explained. “Often times, you can tell even in this age whether or not those athletes can make it far when they become older. I have been working with Teo this spring and summer and I think he is confirming here what he is capable of. I know Adam has been quite a fast skier even last year and if he can control his shooting (as he did today in relay), there could be a bright future for him as well.”
Megan Bankes anchoring the Canadian women’s relay. (Photo: IBU YJWCH Cheile Gradistei 2016/Facebook)
The Norwegians ultimately won by 39.1 seconds over Russia, with the Italian team finishing third, +2:06.9.
The American team of Cody Johnson (Maine Winter Sports Center), Vaclav Cervenka (Mount Itasca), and Peter Carroll (Auburn Ski Club) finished 15th, undone by trouble on the range. The trio combined for eleven spare rounds and four penalty loops, all skied by Carroll, and finished 7:59.1 behind Norway.
In the youth women’s 3 x 6 k relay, Poland was leading until the final leg, where Joanna Jakiela used two spares in prone and then skied two penalty loops in standing, dropping her team off the podium.
Instead it was Russia who charged from third place to gold on the final leg, with the Czech Republic taking second and Norway third.
The Canadian team of Emily Dickson, Nadia Moser, and Megan Bankes (all from the Biathlon Alberta Training Center) finished tenth, +3:51.2, with 14 spare rounds and two penalty loops (both by Bankes).
“I have been also positively surprised with Nadia Moser, who is completely new to this environment, but adjusting quickly,” Boruta wrote. “I am pretty sure we will here more about these girls in next few years. Megan has been skiing here very well. Unfortunately, she is reverting on the shooting range to some of her old habits and not able to perform at the level where she was this fall. It is often the case with young athletes, I would like to think that next year she will come back much stronger.”
The United States team of Chloe Levins (Mountain Top Nordic), Amanda Kautzer (Loppet Nordic Racing), and Ariana Woods (Bridger Biathlon) was a few minutes behind in 16th, +8:27.3, with eleven spare rounds and five penalty loops.
Racing concludes on Tuesday with junior men’s and women’s relays.
“The team was overall working very well together, we didn’t have any real issues with anybody,” wrote Boruta. “I think we did have some of the best skis here for the whole week, special recognition should go to our service team Andy Lesnik, Andrew Chisholm and Martyna Galewicz. Also Rachel Koroscil has done very good job and was helping to keep things running smoothly.”
![Katharine Ogden (l) of the Stratton Mountain School and U.S. Ski Team and US Biathlon's Sean Doherty (r) are FasterSkier's Junior Skiers of 2016. (Photos: Flying Point Road & IBU YJWCH Cheile Gradistei 2016/Facebook))](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/04/unnamed2.jpg")
![Sean Doherty on his way to securing a nearly 30-second win in Sunday's pursuit at 2016 IBU Junior World Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/US-flag.png-2.jpeg")
![Coming off a career-best 13th in the sprint, Sean Doherty (US Biathlon) placed 20th in the men's pursuit at the IBU World Cup in Presque Isle, Maine. (Photo: USBA/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/Doherty12022016cm63-1.jpg")
![Katharine Ogden of the Stratton Mountain School and U.S. Ski Team races to a fourth place finish overall (+1:05.1) in the women's 15 k classic individual start at U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich. (Photo: Christopher Schmidt)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/ogden-e1451877578865.jpg")
![Americans Katharine Ogden (front) and Annie Hart (l) during the women's 15 k skiathlon in Canmore, Alberta, part of the World Cup Ski Tour Canada. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/Group160309mf011-e1457641842345.jpg")
![Switzerland's Sandro Bovisi (foreground) and Canada's Zachari Bolduc get ready to shoot on the anchor leg of the youth men's 3 x 7.5 k relay at World Youth and Junior Championships.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/12646749_548165981999432_1959999448298538568_o.jpg")
![Cody Johnson helping the U.S. youth men's team to 15th place in the 3 x 7.5 k relay. (Photo: IBU YJWCH Cheile Gradistei 2016/Facebook)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/Cody-Johnson-skiing-youth-mens-relay.jpg")
![Megan Bankes anchoring the Canadian women's relay. (Photo: IBU YJWCH Cheile Gradistei 2016/Facebook)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/Canada-Megan-Bankes-relay.jpg")
![The start of the youth men's 3 x 7.5 k relay. (Photo: IBU YJWCH Cheile Gradistei 2016/Facebook)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/Johnson-Sanchez-start-youth-relay.jpg")