The youth men’s 12.5 k individual podium after the first race of 2017 IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia, with Canada’s Léo Grandbois in first (c), Russia’s Said Karimulla Khalili (l) in second, and Germany’s Danilo Riethmüller (r) in third. (Photo: IBU Junior Cup/Twitter)
IBU Youth/Junior World Championships (Osrblie, Slovakia): Youth individual races
In his first race of his first International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth World Championships, Canada’s 17-year-old Léo Grandbois became a world champion.
Grandbois started ninth and raced to first in the youth men’s 12.5-kilometer individual on Wednesday, finishing in 32:56.6 minutes, a time that stood up as nearly a minute and 15 seconds faster than anyone else.
Out of 98 finishers, Grandbois was the only racer to hit all 20 targets in the four-stage race at the biathlon venue at Brezno-Osrblie, Slovakia. He had never cleaned a race before, and he did it in the longest-format race on the youth circuit.
He shared the podium with Russian silver medalist Said Karimulla Khalili, who finished 1:14.9 back with three penalties (1+0+1+1), and Germany’s Danilo Riethmüller in third (+1:21.5) with three penalties as well (2+1+0+0).
For Grandbois, who was born in Germany and raised in Quebec, his previous best international (non-relay) result was 22nd in the sprint at 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. There, he also placed 25th in the pursuit and 16th with the mixed relay.
In a email to FasterSkier late last week, he explained that he had been targeting the sprint.
“I want to thank first my coaches at home, my parents who always supported me and all the team who did a great job for the race, the skis, thank you,” he told the IBU Junior Cup media.
Also on Wednesday, American Vasek Cervenka, who trains with the Nove Mesto biathlon team, raced to 16th (+4:19.5) with five penalties (0+2+2+1). Also for the U.S., Jacob Pearson finished 49th (+7:45.3) with four misses (0+2+0+2), Alex Kilby 75th (+9:51.1) with five penalties (1+0+1+3), and Camren Nielsen 91st (+14:36.9) with 11 misses (3+4+2+2).
Canada’s Adam Runnalls finished 41st (+7:04.8) with eight penalties (1+2+4+1) and Thomas Hulsman was 57th (+8:19.0) with five misses (2+0+2+1).
[UPDATED] In the youth women’s 10 k individual that followed, American Chloe Levins recorded her best non-relay result at her third Youth Worlds, placing 14th with three penalties (1+1+1+0). She finished 3:05.6 minutes behind the winner, France’s Lou Jeanmonnot-Laurent, who shot 19-for-20 (0+1+0+0) and finished with the fastest time of 34:00.9.
Russia’s Kristina Egorova placed second, 52.4 seconds off the win, with identical shooting (0+1+0+0), and Sweden’s Elvira Karin Öberg notched bronze (+1:16.1) with two penalties (0+0+1+1).
Also for the U.S., Grace Gilliland finished 46th (+6:28.9) with four penalties (1+1+1+1), Amanda Kautzer was 53rd (+7:14.3) with eight misses (2+1+4+1), and Helen Wilson was 62nd (+9:00.5) with six penalties (1+2+2+1).
Canada’s Shilo Luca Rousseau finished 54th (+7:29.9) with five misses (2+0+1+2), Frédérique Pérusse was 77th (+11:54.6) with nine penalties (1+4+1+3), and Elise Sauve 78th (+12:07.1) with seven misses (2+2+2+1).
Chloe Levins (Ethan Allen Biathlon Club) racing at 2016 U.S. biathlon championships last March in Fort Kent, Maine. (Photo: Pete Freeman Photography)
In another 20-something-question, fill-in-the-blanks series, we checked in with the world-class U.S. and Canadian biathletes that will be competing at 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth & Junior World Championships Feb. 22-28 in Osrblie (also known as Brezno-Osrblie), Slovakia.
Here’s 18-year-old Chloe Levins, of the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club, who will be representing the U.S. at her third Youth Worlds. On Wednesday, Levins finished 14th in the youth women’s 10-kilometer individual for her best non-relay result at Youth Worlds.
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“My full name is Chloe, but you can call me Chlo. I was born in Elmira, N.Y., raised in Rutland, Vt., and one thing you should know about my hometown is that the Lincoln Memorial was made from marble that comes from a quarry near my house.
I started cross-country skiing when I was 2 and started biathlon when I was 13, thanks to Algis Shalna, Max Cobb, and my mother. I currently train at Mountain Top and Jericho with Ethan Allen Biathlon Club.
If I’m not skiing, you might find me shooting. If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be ‘Born to Run‘.
One of the things I’m most excited about for Youth/Junior World Championships in Brenzo-Osrblie is the opportunity to compete.
This will be my third Youth/Junior World Championships, and this year, I’m competing as a youth. One race I’m especially targeting there is the next one.
The best advice anyone ever gave me about skiing or racing was to smile.
One of the best race memories I have is from the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.
If I could meet one World Cup skier, it would be Tarjei Bø.
If I don’t end up being a professional skier, I’ll try to be a professional golfer (she’s on the Middlebury golf team).
I’m missing too many days of school to be here, and my professors are probably thinking, ‘Good thing we have the technology to make this work.’
The youth men’s sprint podium on Dec. 28 in Jericho was (l to r) Jake Pearson, Vasek Cervenka and Eli Nielsen. Cervenka topped every race at Youth and Junior Biathlon Trials. (Photo: USBA)
The United States Biathlon Association (USBA) held three days of youth and junior biathlon trials racing in Jericho, Vermont, January 28-30. At the end of the series, USBA named this year’s team to Youth and Junior World Championships.
The competitions are slated for February. But the location is pending. The Championships were scheduled to be held in Ostrov, Russia, but the event was stripped from Russia due to allegations of state-sponsored doping and manipulation of anti-doping samples at other competitions previously held in the country.
Vasek Cervenka of Mount Itasca was the most successful athlete of the week. Cervenka, a youth competitor (under 19), nevertheless topped all men — including the junior racers (under 21). Cameron Christiansen of Nisswa NW finished 20 seconds back, besting the junior men’s field.
Cervenka then extended his lead in the next day’s pursuit. Cody Johnson of the Outdoor Sports Institute passed Christiansen to finish 31.1 seconds behind Johnson and take the junior win.
On day three it was back to sprint racing with Cervenka taking another vicotry, this time a 10.9-second win over Travis Cooper of National Guard Biathlon.
In the opening women’s sprint, Amanda Kautzer of Loppet Nordic Racing took the win. Like Cervenka, Kautzer is a youth but also topped the junior field. Hannah Streinz of the Outdoor Sports Institute placed second (+42.2) and the top junior.
But in the pursuit fellow youth Chloe Levins of Mountain Top Nordic raced to the front with only two penalties, besting Lexie Madigan of the Auburn Ski Club – who also had just two penalties – by 1:35.4. Nina Armstrong of Harvard College, the top junior, finished +4:54.2 with 11 penalties.
Then in the last day’s sprint, Madigan topped Levins by 15.5 seconds, with Armstrong again the top junior, +1:24.9.
USBA also named the athletes for the IBU Junior Cup (January 26-29 in Pokljuka, Slovenia) and the IBU Junior European Championships (February 1-5 in Nove Mesto Na Morave, Czech Republic). The women’s team will be Ellingson, Levins, and Kautzer, and Cervenka, Christiansen, Cooper, and Johnson will comprise the men’s team.
Youth and Junior World Championships team nominations
Youth Women
Chloe Levins (Rutland, Vt./Mountain Top Nordic Ski Club)
Amanda Kautzer (Plymouth, Minn./Loppet Nordic Racing/Michigan)
Lexie Madigan* (Truckee, Calif./Auburn Ski Club)
Grace Gilliland (Eagle River, Alaska/Alaska Biathlon)
Helen Wilson** (Eagle River, Alaska/Anchorage Biathlon Club)
*Lexie Madigan is below the age described in the IBU Rules and is awaiting confirmation for her participation.
**Helen Wilson is named as First Alternate to the team in the event that any member is not able to participate.
Youth Men
Vasek Cervenka (Grand Rapids, Minn./Mt. Itasca)
Jake Pearson (Casper, Wyo./Casper Mountain Biathlon Club)
Alex Kilby (Anchorage, Alaska/Alaska Winter Stars)
Eli Nielsen (Stehekin, Wash./Methow Valley Biathlon)
Junior Women
Siena Ellingson (Minnetonka, Minn./Loppet Nordic Racing)
Hannah Streinz (Hersey, Maine/Outdoor Sports Institute)
Nina Armstrong (Lake Placid, N.Y./Harvard College)
Junior Men
Cameron Christiansen (Pequot Lake, Minn./NNW)
Travis Cooper (Kenai, Alaska/National Guard Biathlon)
Cody Johnson (Fort Kent, Maine/Outdoor Sports Institute)
Peter Carroll (Truckee, Calif./Auburn Ski Club Biathlon Team)
The start of Wednesday’s single mixed relay at the Birkebeineren Biathlon Stadium during the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer Norway, with Chloe Levins of the U.S. at the far left. (Photo: Arnt Folvik for YIS/IOC)
Out of 27 teams, the U.S. found itself in second at the final exchange of the first-ever biathlon single mixed relay held at the Youth Olympic Games on Wednesday in Lillehammer, Norway. That was quite the rush for two 17-year-old Americans.
“Getting tagged off in 2nd just behind a couple seconds behind Norway was surreal,” U.S. anchor Vasek Cervenka described in an email.
In the biathlon pursuit two days earlier, Cervenka, a Czech Republic native who lives in Boulder, Colo., raced to 20th with 19-for-20 shooting. His teammate in the single mixed relay on Wednesday, Chloe Levins cleaned the four-stage pursuit and placed fourth.
“Biathlon is similar to golf in that the main goal is to try to be in contention coming into the last stage (or round),” Levins, who skied the first and third legs for the U.S., wrote in an email. “During that last stage (or round), however, whatever happens is only partially in your control. Autopilot comes on, time takes over, and whatever happens is very difficult to control.”
In the single mixed relay, each competitor rounded the 1.5-kilometer course six times — three times on each leg. They stopped to shoot twice during each leg (first prone, then standing). Misses could be remedied by using up to three spare rounds, but beyond those spares, an athlete had to ski 75-meter penalty loops for the number of targets they failed to clean.
U.S. biathlete Chloe Levins racing in the single mixed relay at the 2016 Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. With teammate Vasek Cervenka (not shown), the duo went on to place sixth. (Photo: Arnt Folvik for YIS/IOC)
Levins tagged Cervenka for the fourth-and-last leg, 2.2 seconds behind Norway and 1 second ahead of France in third. She had used a total of four spares throughout her four shooting stages and avoided the penalty lap (0+1, 0+0; 0+1, 0+2).
“The start of the relay was very crowded,” Levins recalled. “Nevertheless, extremely fast skis and the use of just one extra round helped me navigate through some of the other competitors.”
At the first exchange, she tagged Cervenka in seventh, 24 seconds behind China in first. Cervenka then cleaned his prone and used one spare in standing to tag Levins in fourth, 12.5 seconds behind Finland — which had moved into the lead. Meanwhile, China dropped to 10th with two penalty loops in the standing stage of that leg.
“Vasek’s excellent shooting in his first leg put us in fourth, and set me up for a very exciting second round,” Levins explained. “During my second leg, I had more room to ski my own pace on the course. After using one extra round in the prone stage, I left the range with the leader in sight. I am a little frustrated that it took me two extra rounds to hit my miss in the last standing stage, but some mistakes by some of the more competitive nations opened the door for us to move into second position after my second leg.”
On the last two legs, China hit all of its targets to recover from 10th into fourth, and then finally first at the finish. Fanqi Meng and Zhenyu Zhu claimed gold in 41:35.4, just two-tenths of a second ahead of Norway in second and 14.9 seconds ahead of Russia in third.
The anchor legs for Norway, France, Russia, Germany, and the U.S. (Cervenka), used three spares apiece in their final standing stages. France also had a penalty, Germany had two penalties, and Cervenka had to ski a penalty loop as well after the last stage. That put the U.S. in sixth at the finish, 53.8 seconds behind the winners, with a total of one penalty and eight spares (0+0, 0+1; 0+0, 1+3 for Cerkenva).
Ukraine’s Serhiy Telen (l) leads Vasek Cervenka of the U.S. (c) and Finland’s Tuomas Harjula (r) around a turn in the single mixed relay at the 2016 Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Jed Leicester for YIS/IOC)
“It is too bad that I couldn’t clean my last standing shooting,” wrote Cervenka, who turned 17 earlier this month. “We would of had a really great shot at a medal. I was pretty satisfied with our results in the end. All the guys in the top 6 had a solid half a foot in height on me and were overall stronger skiers. I am so proud of Chloe for her performance today, she is awesome.”
Just 0.2 seconds from gold, Norway took silver with Marthe Johansen and Fredrik Qvist Bucher-Johannessen, with a total of one penalty and 12 spares. Russia earned bronze with Ekaterina Ponedelko and Egor Tutmin, with three penalties and 13 spares. France was fourth (+30.2) with Lou Jeanmonnot-Laurent and Emilien Claude combining for three penalties and eight spares, and Germany (Juliane Frühwirt/Danilo Riethmüller) finished fifth (+53.8), about five seconds ahead of there U.S., with one penalty and eight spares.
“Today’s race was a great learning experience for Vasek and myself,” Levins wrote. “We are satisfied and thankful for all of the work and encouragement our coaches do and give to us during every race. We may not have made the podium, but I think we had the most fun today!”
“I was pretty satisfied with our results in the end,” Cervenka wrote. “Thanks to my parents, coaches, teammates, and wax techs for tons of support and wicked fast skis.”
Canada finished 13th (+3:23.0) with Tekarra Banser and Ben Churchill combining for two penalties and 10 spares. The anchor, Churchill cleaned three of four stages, using just one spare in his second prone stage (0+0, 0+0; 0+1, 0+0).
“This was an excellent opportunity for us to try and do some damage among the field in a new event,” Churchill said in a Biathlon Canada press release. “It was a lot of fun to try and pace myself well through both legs, stay warm in the interim, and keep my cool mentally no matter how Tekarra was doing.”
In Monday’s 10 k pursuit, Churchill shot 18-for-20 and achieved a career-best 10th. He had previously placed 17th in the 7.5 k sprint.
“I went into the pursuit feeling hungry and aiming to improve on my sprint result,” Churchill said. “Taking some lessons from the sprint, I attacked the course more intelligently, pushing harder up the hill each time. Execution in the pursuit was much more put-together, and I was thrilled to notch my first top-10 result in an international competition. Big thanks goes out to our wax technicians and the invaluable behind-the-scenes support from our coach, Luke McGurk, and the rest of the Team Canada Mission Staff!”
In the relay, Banser accounted for both penalties and nine spares (0+2, 0+3; 2+3, 0+1). At the first exchange, the Canadians were in 21st, 1:47 back from the leaders, then improved to 14th (+1:27) at the second handoff, before Banser tagged Churchill for the last time in 16th, 2:16 back. He brought them to 13th at the finish.
“Competing in the single mixed relay was exhilarating to say the least. Starting in a mass start format with 26 other countries made it tougher to focus, but I was able to get into my zone,” Banser said. “Fighting to stay with the pack on the first lap was challenging. The corners were tight and the other athletes were just as aggressive as I was. I ran into a few obstacles throughout my portion of the race, although I kept fighting to the last second and left nothing in the tank.”
“My experience at YOG has been spectacular so far,” Levins wrote. “Because the Norwegian culture is rooted in cross-country skiing and biathlon, fans have flooded the stadium for every one of our competitions! It feels great to be a part of an atmosphere that cares so much about the sport Vasek and I dedicate so much of our time to. The organizers have done an excellent job of maintaining near-perfect snow conditions on the track as well.”
“So far the YOG experience has been incredible,” Cervenka wrote. “So much time has been put into this event I am glad it is going so well.”
Chloe Levins of Rutland, Vt., celebrates as she crosses the 2016 Youth Olympic Games finish line in fourth place in the 7.5 k pursuit on Monday. (Photo: Al Tielemans for YIS/IOC)
Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Amanda Kautzer about her 10th place in the sprint.
At last year’s World Youth and Junior Championships in Belarus, Vermont biathlete Chloe Levins made the most of her international debut, scoring a top-20 in just her second start in the youth field.
That success was parlayed into a National Development Group naming and Levins spent more time training this year with the national team coaches than she had before.
That should have set the 17-year-old up for success at this year’s World Youth and Junior Championships, held in late January in Romania.
But it didn’t.
“Illness caused me to miss an important training block the two weeks before WYJCH in Romania,” Levins wrote in an email. “Leading into the competitions, it was difficult for me to accept that I was not in my best shape before some of the biggest competitions of my life. My results were disappointing, but they were the best I could do at that point in time.”
She didn’t break the top 60 in either of her individual starts.
Amanda Kautzer of Plymouth, Minn., racing to 10th in the 6 k sprint at 2016 Youth Olympic Games on Feb. 14 in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Jed Leicesterfor YIS/IOC)
Luckily, Levins got a second crack at international competition this season when she was nominated to represent the United States at the Youth Olympic Games.
So along with Minnesotan Amanda Kautzer, Levins traveled to Antholz, Italy, for a training camp and to regroup. Then it was on to Lillehammer, Norway, for the Youth Olympic Games.
“The sprint and pursuit format was the same as [World Youth Championships], so I was excited for the chance to redeem myself in those races,” Levins wrote. “It didn’t matter who I was up against; I raced to prove to myself that I belong at this level of competition.”
In the opening competition, a 6-kilometer sprint on Sunday, Kautzer placed 10th, 58.9 seconds behind race winner Juliane Fruehwirt of Germany, and Levins finished 22nd, +1:33.1. Both had two penalties.
“Honestly my goal for the sprint was to have fun,” Kautzer wrote in an email. “I had no expectation of getting in the top 10 so was very surprised (and super excited) when I came through to start my final lap and my coach told me I was in 5th place (I started 20th, so towards the beginning of the race starts). It may seem silly, but I have always had my best races when I’m not result focused, rather taking it all in and enjoying the race – the speed of the downhills, the fans (especially my sister cheering SUPER loudly), the pressure of the range, and the feeling of pushing myself because I can, and want to.”
Levins described her race as “solid,” Levins wrote. “I shot decently and skied fine. Most of all, I was satisfied with how I improved upon my performance in Romania.”
Others tell another story.
Levins chasing in the pursuit. (Photo: Al Tielemans for YIS/IOC)
“Chloe was disappointed about yesterday’s race,” U.S. Head Development Coach Jean Paquet said in a U.S. Biathlon press release on Monday after the subsequent pursuit. “Today she said she was mad and wanted to make it up. She was focused and had the determination on her face.”
Either way, Levins certainly improved in the 7.5 k pursuit on Monday. The only woman in the field to knock down all 20 targets, she moved from 22nd all the way up to fourth, 34.7 seconds behind Khrystyna Dmytrenko of Ukraine, who won the competition.
“The night before the race, our coaches were optimistic by saying ‘anything is possible in a pursuit competition’,” Levins wrote of her change in fortune. “This idea stayed with me. No one can predict what will occur in a biathlon race, which is part of the beauty of the sport.”
Fourth place is the top result by an American biathlete ever at the Youth Olympic Games.
The level of competition is not directly comparable to World Youth and Junior Championships. The age categories are different – Youth Olympic Games is an under-18 competition, while the youth age category at the biathlon championships is an under-19 category – and countries can only enter a maximum of two rather than four athletes per gender at the Youth Olympics.
But there were some familiar faces. Arina Pantova of Kazakhstan, on the podium in the sprint, won the World Youth Championships pursuit this season. Lou Jeanmonnot Laurent of France, third in the pursuit, finished no lower than seventh in any competition at World Youth Championships.
Monday was also a personal milestone for Levins: she had never before cleaned a four-stage race.
Kautzer in the pursuit. (Photo: Al Tielemans for YIS/IOC Handout image supplied by YIS/IOC)
“The first step to cleaning a four-stage race is believing that you can clean a four-stage race,” she wrote. “Most of the time it doesn’t work out, but it worked for me for the first time during my pursuit race on Monday! During the race, I was less aware of my result and more aware of the process necessary to make good shots. On the last loop, it finally sunk in that I had shot clean. Really fast skis and great encouragement by my teammates and coaches on the course willed me to the finish line of my best race so far as a biathlete.”
Kautzer shot 50% over the first two prone stages, and although she was able to improve her shooting in standing for a total of eight penalties on the day, that dropped her to 27th, +4:04.2.
Levins races next on Wednesday, in the biathlon single mixed relay with Vaclav Cervenka (watch it at 5 a.m. Eastern time). Cervenka finished 36th in the men’s sprint and skied up to 20th in the pursuit just a single penalty; the pair may be a particularly strong-shooting team.
The other U.S. entrant in the men’s races, Eli Nielsen, finished 46th in the sprint and 45th in the pursuit.
All four will compete in the mixed relay on Sunday.
“Performing at my best level during a race like the pursuit gives me great confidence,” Levins wrote. “It is important to maintain confidence no matter what results one may encounter, so I plan to approach the next races no differently than I usually do.”
And in between races, the athletes are trying to enjoy the atmosphere of the Youth Olympic Games, which is in many ways quite different than a normal sport-specific junior world championships.
“The environment in the biathlon stadium never changes,” Levins wrote. “But because all winter Olympic sports compete at YOG, there are many more athletes (1100) and countries represented (70). The event organizers also made an huge effort to keep us busy off the course with numerous activities and events occurring in the athlete village!”
(Above: Complete race video of inaugural Cross-Country Cross event at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games. To view on YouTube, click here.)
Bumps? Jumps? An uphill and downhill slalom? While racing through an obstacle course on skis is challenging enough on its own, competitors at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Lillehammer, Norway,maneuvered around obstructions and other racers as well last Saturday, Feb. 13, for the opening event: the Cross-Country Cross (XCX) 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint.
Beyond ‘bumps,’ the YOG’s first-race event competition also differed in sprint brackets. After racing a qualifier, the top-30 athletes advanced to one of three semifinals.
The top two finishers in each semifinal then automatically advanced to the sprint final. The sprint final totaled 10 skiers: the two winners from each semi-final, as well as two lucky losers from the two fastest semifinals.
The Cross-Country Cross (XCX) course at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games
Once on course, four 1.5-meter high ‘bumps’ greeted the athletes a little over 100-meters from the start. Competitors then cruised into a sharp lefthand turn, followed by a sharp righthand turn through a part of the course called ‘The Snake.’
After The Snake, skiers tackled the course’s first major climb. In the following descent, racers spent some hang time while passing over a 1-meter high drop.
With increased speed, competitors soared into the second major incline on course, as well as another series of three 1.5-meter high rollers and a 0.5-meter high drop.
The next course challenge tested athlete’s coordination and balance during an alternating ‘bumps’ section. The section prompted many skiers to take on a classic striding arm and leg swing movement.
After a tight hairpin turn, athletes then worked their climbing strength and stamina in an uphill slalom. Immediately upon cresting the top of the incline, competitors descended into a downhill slalom.
With no major climbs left, racers worked their way over another jump and one final set of 0.4-meter high rollers before the flat 100-meter sprint to the finish.
Sweden’s Moa Lundgren proved most adept on course. She remained unchallenged by any competitor all day, winning the qualifier in 3:27.59, as well as her semifinal and eventually the final in a time of 3:26.36.
Finishing 1.7 seconds behind Lundgren was Swedish teammate, Johanna Hagstrøm.
Rounding out the women’s top three was French skier Laura Chamiot-Maitral who crossed 3.21 seconds after Lundgrun.
Hannah Halvorsen (Far West/Sugar Bowl Academy) qualified 10th in the first-ever Cross-Country Cross event at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Far West/Facebook)
Two North Americans competed in Saturday’s XCX event for the first time, American Hannah Halvorsen and Canada’s Annika Richardson.
Halvorsen qualified in 10th, 16.45 seconds back from Lundgren. She then advanced to semifinal 3, where she raced in third behind Chamiot-Maitral and Germany’s Anna-Maria Dietze until the uphill slalom.
Losing steam during the climb, Halvorsen moved into fourth, while China’sChi Chunxue cranked her way into third. Hot on Halvorsen’s heels through the slalom gates was Russia’s Yuliya Petrova.
As the women came through the final bumps, Halvorsen moved to the outside right and Petrova gained momentum in the middle lane.
Halvorsen finished the heat in fifth, 1.7 seconds off of earning a lucky loser spot and advancing to the final, and 3.7 seconds off the heat winner Maitral-Chamiot (3:36.20).
After qualifying in 25th (+26.3), Richardson advanced to the first semifinal where she finished in ninth, 19.7 seconds back from her heat’s winner, Lundgrun.
Canadian wax technicians Mike Mappin (l) and Camille Cheskey (r) hard at work during the during the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games on Feb. 10 in Lillehammer Norway. (Photo: Jon Buckle for YIS/IOC)
“Definitely a lot of stuff I can work on with the technical aspects of the course, but I felt really strong in the last half of my heat going up the hill. I’m just really grateful to be here and be experiencing all the Olympic spirit,” she added.
In the men’s event, Korea’s Magnus Kim topped the results. He won the qualifier in a time of 3:01.45, his semifinal and eventually the final in 2:59.56.
In second place, 1.17 seconds off of Kim was Norwegian skier Thomas Helland Larson.
Rounding out the men’s top three was Lauri Mannila of Finland, finishing 2.28 seconds behind Kim.
Canadian skier Levi Nadlersmith and American Hunter Wonders nabbed the last two qualifying spots in 29th and 30th, respectively.
Wonders advanced to the first semifinal, where he finished ninth, 8.8 seconds behind the heat’s winner, Kim.
In his first international race ever, Nadlersmith also finished in ninth (+16.51) in the second semifinal.
“Going down into the last corner I had a weird line and I guess someone stumbled in front of me, so I had to do a quick maneuver to go around them. Then kind of after that I felt good, but lost a bit of my steam going over the last hill. I think for the most part I felt really good,” he added.
While some were shooting cupid’s arrows on Sunday, Feb. 14, biathlon competitors at the YOG shot targets. The second day of events included the men’s 7.5 k and women’s 6 k biathlon sprints at the Birkeneineren Biathlon Stadium.
On the men’s side, Emilien Claude of France won the event in a time of 19:01.5 after shooting clean during both the prone and standing stages.
“In lap three, in my head it was ‘maybe I win, maybe second’,” Claude said, according to an Inside the Games press release. “But when I finished and saw that I was first, I thought, ‘Wow.’ ”
Taking the second place silver medal, 7.1 seconds back, was Norway’s Sivert Guttorm Bakken, who missed one shot prone and one standing.
Third place and the bronze medal went to Russian racer Egor Tutmin. Tutmin skied the first of the three 2.5 k laps the fastest and shot clean during the prone stage. However, after two penalties standing, he finished 18.0 seconds back from the race winner’s time.
Two Canadians competed in Sunday’s event, including Ben Churchill and Leo Grandbois.
Churchill finished in 17th overall (+1:35.5) with one penalty (1+0). Grandbois placed 22nd (+1:58.6) after missing two shots during the standing stage.
The American men also had two competitors in Sunday’s 7.5 k sprint, Vasek Cervenka and Eli Nielsen.
Cervenka was the first American across the line in 36th place (+2:50.7) after skiing four penalties (1+3). Nielsen finished one minute and 7.4 seconds after Cervenka in 46th, (+3:58.1) after a total of six penalties (2+4).
Canada’s Gillian Gowling receives a pole during the women’s 6 k sprint at the Youth Olympic Games on Sunday in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Lillehammer 2016 Olympic Games/Facebook)
With perfect shooting on Sunday, Germany’s Juliane Fruehwirt won the women’s 6 k sprint event, covering the 3 x 2 k course in a time of 18:23.5.
Norwegian skier Marthe Krakstad Johansen was the next closest contender for the gold medal. After missing one shot standing, Johansen finished in second place, 5.6 seconds behind Fruehwirt’s time.
Rounding out the women’s podium finishers on Sunday was bronze medalist Arina Pantova of Kazakhstan. After two penalties (1+1), Pantova completed the course 17.1 seconds behind Fruehwirt.
American Amanda Kautzer cracked the top 10 on Sunday and finished in 10th overall (+58.9) after skiing two penalties (1+1). U.S. skier Chloe Levins missed the top 20 by 1.7 seconds, and finished in 22nd overall with a clean round of prone shooting, but two standing penalties.
After cleaning both the prone and standing stages, Canada’s Gillian Gowling finished 30th (+2:27.8). Her Canadian teammate, Tekarra Banser finished 14.4 seconds later in 35th (2:42.2) after two penalties (0+2).
Chloe Levins shoots clean and races to a historic fourth place for the U.S. in the women’s 7.5 k pursuit at the Youth Olympic Games on Monday in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: US Biathlon/Twitter)
Day 3: Levins Just Outside of the Medals, Fourth in Pursuit
Monday marked the third day of the YOG and the second set of biathlon races with the 7.5 /10 k pursuits.
The women’s 7.5 k pursuit event saw Ukraine’s Khrystyna Dmytrenko at the top of Monday’s podium.
Starting 26 seconds back from Sunday’s race winner, Dmytrenko missed two shots during her first stage of prone shooting and then cleaned the rest of her shots to finish the 5 x 1.5 k course in a time of 25:12.9.
In a photo finish, Norway’s Johansen bested France’s Lou Jeanmonnot Laurent by one tenth of a second. Johansen finished 7.5 seconds behind Dmytreno after skiing four penalties (2+0+1+1). Jeanmonnot Laurent finished 7.6 seconds off of Dymtrenko’s time after missing two shots standing (0+0+1+1).
With perfect shooting, American Chloe Levins finished in fourth overall (+34.7), just outside of medal contention.
“The pursuit in Lillehammer today was a dream,” Levins said according to a US Biathlon press release. “As Susan [Dunklee] said earlier in the season, every race is a team effort. We had great skis and excellent conditions for today’s race. My race was made on the shooting range. Of course, it is bittersweet to be close to the podium in 4th position, but I shot clean and skied well, so it is an incredibly satisfying result.”
American Amanda Kautzer finished in 27th (+4:04.2) with a total of eight penalties (3+2+1+2). Canada’sBanser finished in 35th (+ 5:43.6) after missing five shots (1+0+2+2) and her teammate Gowling placed 45th (+9:45.30) after missing six shots ( 1+1+2+2).
After winning Sunday’s sprint, France’s Claude was the first skier on the Birkebeineren Biathlon Stadium’s 5 x 2 k course.
Norway’s Sivert Guttorm Bakken after winning the men’s 10 k biathlon pursuit at the Youth Olympic Games on Monday in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo: Lillehammer 2016 Olympic Games/Facebook)
Starting 7.0 seconds later was Monday’s eventual race winner and Sunday’s silver medalist, Bakken of Norway. Bakken missed four shots (1+1+1+1), but ultimately came away with the 10 k pursuit win in a time of 28:10.7.
Moving up to second place after Sunday’s event was Russia’s Tutmin. With an extra penalty (0+1+3+1), Tutman completed the course one minute and 10.7 seconds behind Bakken’s time.
Taking the event’s bronze medal was Said Karimulla Khalili of Russia. Khalili shot the same as Bakken and finished 1:17.7 behind the race winner.
With two penalties (0+0+1+1), Canada’s Churchill crept into the top 10, finishing in 10th overall (+2:49.1). Cervanka of the U.S. improved his result from Sunday to 20th overall (+3:54.2) after missing just one standing shot.
“Vasek also made a great comeback with 95 percent shooting score and a good skiing performance,” U.S. coach Jean Paquet said in a US Biathlon press release.
“He looked more at ease on the skis and liked the fight on the course. He gained 16 positions by shooting well on the shooting range.”
The next North American was Canada’sGrandbois, who placed 25th (+4:40.7)after skiing five penalties (1+0+1+3).
In 46th was Nielsen of the U.S. (+8:13.4) with six penalties (0+2+2+2).
Chloe Levins racing at the 2015 IBU World Youth Championships in Minsk, Belarus. (Photo: Chloe Levins)
Editor’s Note: The ‘From The Pack’ features profiles about talented-and-intriguing junior and collegiate racers in the U.S. and beyond. While nordic sports are certainly not the largest, there are still thousands of great stories that most of us are not familiar with. We will be picking athletes out of this pack to write about; nominations for outstanding or interesting nordic skiers can be sent to info@fasterskier.com with the subject line: “From The Pack.” We are looking for unique stories, not necessarily the fastest skiers. Nominations should include a brief explanation of why we should profile the athlete.
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With an 18th-place finish in the 6 k sprint during the 2015 IBU World Youth Championships in Minsk, Belarus, Chloe Levins demonstrated she is a name to look out for in the years to come.
Levins has been skiing her entire life. Since her family moved to Rutland, Vt. when she was two months old, they have been heavily involved in the local cross country commuity. Her parents, Mary Ann Levins and Jim Levins, are a constant presence at Mountain Top Resort where her father is also a Toko Tech Team representative. Her mother, meanwhile, is the chair of the New England Bill Koch League and a race coordinator and volunteer at Mountain Top. In 2009 she received the John Caldwell award, New England Nordic Ski Association’s (NENSA) highest annual honor, for her commitment to skiing development in New England. Two of her older siblings, who Levins credits for inspiring her to get involved in competition, ski raced until they graduated from college and still get on the trails whenever they get the chance. It’s safe to say, Levins skiing roots run deep.
Biathlon, however, is a relatively new venture for Levins. “I started the summer after my eighth grade year. Max Cobb recommended to my mom to send me to a three day introduction camp in Craftsbury. So I went there and Algis Shalna, my coach now, saw something and invited me to the next camp in Lake Placid for a week. I’ve been training with him ever since,” Levins said in a phone interview.
Chloe Levins practices at the shooting range in Minsk, Belarus during the 2014/2015 season (Photo: Chloe Levins)
She has been passionate about the sport ever since. “The mental aspect of the sport really intrigues me,” Levins explained. “I think that the combination of aerobic skiing and precision shooting is very unique and is not something that you find in any other sport…It’s really exciting. You’re never out of the game. You can be a minute back and still have a chance to win because the last stage is so nerve racking. Its unreal.”
This past winter, her passion for biathlon gave the Rutland skier some impressive results. Levins has always been a great skier – in the 2013/2014 season, a highlight result was a second place finish in the U16 girls 5k mass start at Junior Nationals. But the winter of 2014/2015 is when she really made her presence known in biathlon. She won the U.S. Biathlon Association’s trials race series to qualify for the IBU World Youth Championships in Minsk, Belarus. There, she achieved an impressive 18th place finish.
But what led to such drastic improvement?
“Millions of things contributed… Something that really stands out in my head is… I think it was from my mom. She said, ‘doing your best in this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment’ and that is what was in my head for the entire season. I lived by that,” Levins said of her 2014/2015 season.
The Rutland native also explained that she focused on improving her shooting in the past year. “I put in a lot of time dry firing with the rifle… I just kept my eye on the process as best I could [and] tried to stay positive, which was difficult at times because biathlon is such an unpredictable sport. It’s a short way from heaven to hell in this sport so keeping it in perspective is important and I think I did that really well this past season,” Levins explained.
Chloe Levins competes in the 2015 Vermont State Championships in her second passion: Golf. She won the event and placed fourth in the New England Championships. (Photo: Chloe Levins)
Another contributing factor to Levins improvement is her interest in another sport in which she excels: golf. This spring she was Vermont’s state champion and narrowly missed the podium at New England Championships with a strong fourth place. Levins gives some credit to golf for both her focus and interest in biathlon. “I see a connection with biathlon and golf mentally so I am able to apply some of the knowledge I have gotten from playing golf my entire life to biathlon and I think that’s helped me and also increased my interest in the sport,” she said.
“Golf is a game of integrity, patience, and mental toughness, all aspects of sport that can continue to be developed at the highest level and are essential to executing quality training. I believe that the game of golf is a great cross training exercise for the improvement of mental strength in general,” Levins added.
The improvement, passion, and results leave Levins with a tough decision. An incoming senior at Rutland High School, she will have to choose between college and full-time training in the coming year. “There are some juniors in biathlon that have chosen not to go to college and train since [biathlon is] not a collegiate sport,” Levins said. “But there are also some current professional biathletes that chose to go to college, race for college, and get faster at skiing, then pick up with their shooting after college. So its been done both ways and I think the best way for me to do it is to go to college right after high school.”
Even if she does attend college, Levins plans to stay involved with biathlon, “I definitely want to try and keep training for biathlon because I don’t think I could ever step away from it for four years,” the Rutland native added.
For now, however, Levins is focused on this year. She is currently in Lake Placid for a junior development camp where she is an assistant coach and a young mentor for aspiring biathletes between the ages of 11 and 15. Immediately after that Levins will stick around Lake Placid for a national team camp, where she will ski and shoot with the professionals. “I’m looking forward to upping my game and learning from them on the range. Its going to be not so much physical, I think its going to be mostly shooting camp,” Levins said.
She plans to attend a few more camps throughout the summer and will be a regular at the Jericho, Vt. biathlon range in the fall. If all goes well for the 17-year-old, she hopes to improve on an already successful junior career.
Chloe Levins of Rutland, Vermont, used clean shooting to skate her way to 18th place in the 6 k sprint at World Youth Championships in Raubichi, Belarus, on Friday. (Photo: U.S. Biathlon)
When 16-year-old Chloe Levins of Rutland, Vermont, arrived in Belarus for the International Biathlon Union’s World Youth Championships, it wasn’t under the best of circumstances.
Levins had won the U.S. Biathlon Association’s trials race series in Mount Itasca, Minnesota, at the end of December and was thus the top pick for the U.S. team to the Championships. But since then, she competed in some high school ski races but got sick and missed a block of training.
In the opening competition of the Championships, a 10 k individual race, Levins missed eight of 20 shots and finished 55th.
“The individual competition was a very challenging race for me mentally and physically,” she wrote in an e-mail. “It was difficult to expect myself to be fast on the skis and sharp on the shooting range because of the lack of ideal preparation. I was not intimidated by the competition, but more internally hesitant. I missed 8 targets and did not ski up to par.”
But Levins is a fierce competitor: besides being a winning cross country skier and biathlete, she is also a state champion golfer. She mentally reset for the sprint competition scheduled for Friday.
“My goal was to stay focused on the process as much as possible,” she wrote.
The result was a success: Levins knocked down all ten targets and finished the 6 k sprint 18th, one minute and 35 seconds behind race winner Darya Blashko of Belarus and the top North American.
“It was surreal to clean today!” she wrote. “It was my first time shooting clean in a race! I wasn’t very surprised to clean-maybe because I imagined myself hitting all of the targets last night. Also, I have shot well in previous sprint competitions, so it was a reasonable possibility.”
She was one of only six women to clean the competition, despite describing that conditions on the range were calmer than in the individual competition.
Levins competing in the 2014 North American Rollerski Championships 7.5 k sprint at Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vt.
Levins skis for Mountain Top Nordic Ski Club and her high school in Rutland. Her brother built her a one-point range in their backyard, but for the rest of her biathlon training she has to travel over an hour and a half – each way – to Jericho, Vermont, the home of the Ethan Allen Firing Range.
“I train at Ethan Allen, but I am not a part of Ethan Allen Biathlon Club,” Levins explained. “Algis Shalna is my shooting and skiing coach. This is my third year training with Algis. I meet him in Jericho about 2 times a week during the winter. It is a lot of travel, but I learn at least one new thing every time I train with Algis, so it is worth the car ride. For the days that my mom and I aren’t in Jericho, I follow Algis’s training plan.”
Shalna has a history of taking athletes with no strong biathlon club in their hometown and teaching them towards international success; he also coached New Hampshire native Sean Doherty, who finished 14th in the junior men’s individual race on Thursday.
Doherty is a multiple gold medalist from previous seasons when he was a youth competitor, has the most World Championship medals of any U.S. biathlete in history, and competed at the 2014 Olympics. He’s also headed to his first senior World Championships in Finland in March.
So it was the process-based focus preached by Shalna and the rest of the U.S. staff that led Levins to her clean shooting in the sprint.
“I controlled the things that I could control very well, and the things out of my control cooperated nicely,” Levins explained. “It was the best I could do today, but not the culmination of my skiing potential.”
In Sunday’s 7.5 k pursuit, Levins will be in a good position to move up the results sheet if she can continue her clean-shooting ways.
“It will be a 1.5k loop that we will complete 5 times, so shooting well will be very important,” she wrote. “It is difficult to make up skiing time on such a short loop. Beyond that, I am going to stay dedicated to my process and have some fun!”
Levins’ teammates Amanda Kautzer (Loppet Nordic Racing/Minnesota Biathlon) and Siena Ellingson (Mount Itasca/Minnesota Biathlon) finished 39th and 41st, with two and three penalties, respectively, and Hannah Streinz (Maine Winter Sports Center) finished 54th. All four will appear in the pursuit.
Bryn Robertson led the Canadian youth women in 40th place, accruing two penalties and finishing 2:45.1 behind Blashko. Megan Bankes was close behind in 45th. Both athletes compete for Foothills Nordic.
In the youth men’s 7.5 k sprint, Jonas Uglem Mobakken picked up a ten-second win. The top North American finish belonged to Canada’s Pearce Hanna (Rocky Mountain Racers), who placed 34th, two minutes and 19 seconds back with two penalties. He was the only Canadian entered in the event; with Canada Games running concurrently in Prince George, British Columbia, only a skeleton team was sent to Belarus.
For the U.S., Paul Everett (Methow Valley) led the way in 36th, four seconds behind Hanna.
The rest of the American team will miss the top-60 pursuit cutoff. Sam Zabell (Auburn Ski Club) placed 69th, and Cam Christiansen (Nisswa NW) 81st and Alexander Kilby (Skiku Biathlon) 82nd.
Racing continues on Saturday with junior men’s and women’s sprint competitions.
Brian Halligan (Maine Winter Sports Center/USBA Development Team) competing in the NorAm mass start in Canmore, Alberta, on December 7. Halligan swept all three junior men’s races at World Youth and Junior Trials in Mount Itasca, Minnesota, and earned a spot on the championships team. Photo: Jakob Ellingson.
The U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) has concluded its trials series for World Youth and Junior Championships, to be held in mid-February in Minsk, Belarus. The trials were held in Mount Itasca, Minnesota, after being canceled from Anchorage, Alaska, due to a lack of snow.
USBA has named eight initial members of the team (press release below the story), and may name more athletes as discretionary picks after a meeting of its International Competition Committee on January 1.
The opening sprint was held on Sunday, with Brian Halligan (Maine Winter Sports Center, MWSC), Paul Everett (Methow Valley), Mikaela Paluszek (MWSC), and Chloe Levins (Mountain Top Nordic Ski Club) picking up wins.
On Monday, 10 k pursuit races were held on the basis of the first sprint. Cold temperatures reportedly made cold fingers ubiquitous and shooting difficult. In the youth men’s pursuit, Cam Christiansen of Nisswa Biathlon climbed from fourth place up to first thanks to only two penalties – by far the most impressive shooting in the field. He finished over a minute ahead of Everett, who had six penalties in total including a crushing four in the third shooting stage alone.
In a junior men’s field which struggled on the range, Halligan eked out a 9-second win over Jakob Ellingson of Mount Itasca, with seven penalties to Ellingson’s six. In the junior women’s field, the only entrant, Paluszek, nevertheless improved her performance, accruing only three penalties over the four-stage race.
The youth women’s pursuit came down to a battle between Levins and Siena Ellingson of Mount Itasca. Through three stages, Ellingson accumulated a big lead with only a single penalty to three by Levins. But in the final stage Ellingson missed four shots and Levins only one. After a furious final loop of skiing, Levins won by three seconds.
Temperatures were forecast to be so cold on Tuesday that racing was likely to be canceled, but race organizers were able to pull off a final set of sprint races. Halligan completed a sweep of the junior men’s series, winning the 7.5 k competition by a minute and 21 seconds over Jakob Ellingson. Zean Baker of Nisswa Biathlon placed third.
In the youth men’s 7.5 k sprint, Chistiansen again showed excellent shooting, picking up a single penalty to tally his second win of the weekend. He finished 22 seconds ahead of MWSC’s Brendan Cyr, who had two penalties, with Everett placing third with four missed shots.
Paluszek picked up four penalties in the 6 k sprint to again win her division. Two youth women, competing over the same distance, beat her: Hannah Streinz of MWSC, who had two penalties and won the youth competition, and Siena Ellingson, who had four penalties and finished 17 seconds behind Streinz. Amanda Kauzer of Loppet Nordic Racing finished third in the youth women’s field, also with four penalties.
December 30, 2014. Mt. Itasca, Coleraine, MN. The US Biathlon Youth / Junior World Team Trails were completed today at Mt. Itasca in Coleraine, MN despite sub-zero temperatures. US Biathlon congratulates the following athletes, as well as their families, coaches and clubs, on their qualification for the 2015 IBU Youth / Junior World Championships in Minsk-Raubichi, Belarus, Feb 17 to 24, 2015. US Biathlon’s International Competition Committee may announce additional team members in the evening of Jan 1, 2015. The Youth (under 19) and Junior (under 21) World Championships will attract the best age group athletes from over 30 nations.
Junior Women
Maddie Phaneuf, Maine Winter Sports Ctr, USBA X Team, Old Forge, NY, pre-qualified by her 4th place at the 2014 YWCH
Mikaela Paluszek, Maine Winter Sports Ctr, Saxtons River, VT. Top ranked Junior women at the trials.
Youth Women
Chloe Levins, Mtn Top Nordic Ski Club, Rutland, VT. Top ranked youth woman at the trials
Siena Ellingson, Mt. Itasca / MN Biathlon, Minnetonka, MN. Second ranked youth woman at the trials
Junior Men
Sean Doherty, USBA X-Team, Center Conway, NH, pre-qualified by medals at the 2014 YWCH
Brian Halligan, Maine Winter Sports Ctr, Gansevoort, NY Top ranked junior man at the trials
Youth Men
Cam Christiansen, Nisswa NW / MN Biathlon, Pequot Lakes, MN. Top ranked youth man at the trials
Paul Everett, Methow Valley Biathlon, Tacoma, WA Second ranked youth man at the trials
US Biathlon wishes to thank the Mt Itasca Biathlon Club for organizing the trials on short notice due to a lack of snow Anchorage, Alaska, where the trials were scheduled. Full results will be posted soon at: http://MinnesotaBiathlon.com/
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![U.S. biathlete Chloe Levins racing in the single mixed relay at the 2016 Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. With teammate Vasek Cervenka (not shown), the duo went on to place sixth. (Photo: Arnt Folvik for YIS/IOC)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/LevinsAF1_6036-160217.jpg")
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![Brian Halligan (Maine Winter Sports Center/USBA Development Team) competing in the NorAm mass start in Canmore, Alberta, on December 7. Halligan swept all three junior men's races at World Youth and Junior Trials in Mount Itasca, Minnesota, and earned a spot on the championships team. Photo: Jakob Ellingson.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/Halligan-Canmore-NorAm.jpg")