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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: IBU World Junior Championships

  • Doherty Makes The Jump, Earns World Juniors Bronze in Belarus

    Doherty Makes The Jump, Earns World Juniors Bronze in Belarus

    The podium for the 10 k sprint at biathlon World Junior Championships: Aleksandr Dediukhin of Russia (center) took the win, followed by Fabien Claude of France (left). Sean Doherty (USA) earned bronze, his first international medal at the junior level. (Photo: IBU/Evgeny Tumashov)
    The podium for the 10 k sprint at biathlon World Junior Championships: Aleksandr Dediukhin of Russia (center) took the win, followed by Fabien Claude of France (left). Sean Doherty (USA) earned bronze, his first international medal at the junior level. (Photo: IBU/Evgeny Tumashov)

    A lot has changed since Sean Doherty won two golds and a silver at last year’s World Youth and Junior Championships for biathlon in Presque Isle, Maine.

    The New Hampshire native went to Sochi, Russia, and competed in the Olympic Games – and at 18 years old was one of the youngest starters in the relay, helping the U.S. to a 16th-place finish.

    He’s started in World Cup races at four different venues so far this season, contributing relay performances including an eighth-place team finish in Antholz, Italy. In individual racing, he made the 60-man pursuit cutoff in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, and finished 45th.

    And, in regards to World Youth and Junior Championships, Doherty made the big step up to the junior age division. He competed in four different Championships as a youth, starting at age 14, and won three gold medals, making him the winningest Championship biathlete in U.S. history.

    So in one sense, it wasn’t surprising at all that Doherty won bronze in Saturday’s junior 10 kilometers sprint at this year’s Championships, held outside of Minsk, Belarus.

    Sean Doherty (center, in bib 21) celebrates with U.S. Biathlon Association staff after winning the bronze medal in the 10 k sprint at World Junior Championships. (Photo: Jim Levins)
    Sean Doherty (center, in bib 21) celebrates with U.S. Biathlon Association staff after winning the bronze medal in the 10 k sprint at World Junior Championships. (Photo: Jim Levins)

    In another sense, it was a different accomplishment entirely. Junior athletes, aged 19 to 20 years old, are bigger and stronger than youths, and the competition is at a different level. Instead of being the best young biathletes, winners at the junior level are often on their way to being the best biathletes, period.

    With one penalty, Doherty was able to ski aggressively and notch a time just 10.2 seconds slower than clean-shooting Alexsandr Dediukhin of Russia, who took the first championship title of his career.

    “That Sean was able to win the Junior World Championship bronze medal with one penalty as a first year junior in Minsk speaks volumes for his dedication to excellence and the great support of the coaches and team around him,” U.S. Biathlon Association CEO Max Cobb told FasterSkier in an email. “It’s a huge accomplishment to succeed like this as an American in Europe’s favorite winter sport.”

    Even when Doherty left the shooting mats for the final time, it wasn’t at all certain that he would end up on the podium. He sat in second place, 6.4 seconds behind the time set by Fabien Claude of France, an earlier starter who was the Junior World Champion in the pursuit last season.

    Quickly, two other racers posted times in between: Niklas Homberg, of Germany, and Dediukhin. With the top four racers separated by just under 7 seconds and 3.3 kilometers to go, it was going to be a test of grit and ski speed.

    In the end it was Homberg who fell by the wayside. Dediukhin pushed the hardest, putting seconds into Claude and winning by 4.6 seconds. Doherty’s efforts on the trails couldn’t match their speed, but far outpaced Homberg and left him securely in third place.

    “I am very happy with the race today,” Doherty said in a USBA press release. “I felt good on the skis and I was able to keep that momentum all the way through the race. On the range, the last shot got me, but I am very excited for tomorrow.”

    Tomorrow: Sunday’s 12.5 k pursuit, where the top finishers will have another shot at medals. It’s the event where Doherty won his first gold in 2013, after having set it up with a silver in that year’s sprint.

    And there’s history, too. In that race where Doherty first found out what winning felt like, Homberg was fifth, Deiukhin sixth, and Claude tenth. The four men have been competing against each other for years.

    USBA High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler believes that there’s potential for another medal in the pursuit.

    “[Doherty] went into the race today very aggressive and confident and was in the medal mix from the first meter on,” he wrote in an email. “The last shot [in standing, a miss] was close, but that’s biathlon. He went out 4th and did a great last loop and with 3rd running time overall and 9 out of 10 hits, really deserves this medal. The wax crew did a great job with his skis and we all are looking forward to tomorrow now!”

    And after that? Doherty has earned a nod for senior World Championships, to be held in March in Kontiolahti, Finland.

    Doherty’s U.S. teammates will not be joining him in the pursuit. Jake Ellingson finished 65th with five penalties, and Brian Halligan 67th with three penalties.

    In the junior women’s 7.5 k sprint, Maddie Phaneuf placed 33rd with two missed shots, and will start the 10 k pursuit on Sunday two minutes and five seconds behind Lena Arnaud of France, who posted a 2.4 second win. Mikaela Paluszek finished 54th with four penalties.

    Results: men / women

  • Aidan Millar Posts Career-Best with Eighth in World Juniors Sprint; First Canadian Top-10

    Aidan Millar Posts Career-Best with Eighth in World Juniors Sprint; First Canadian Top-10

    Aidan Millar (Canada/Biathlon Alberta Training Center) racing to eighth place in the 10 k sprint at biathlon World Junior Championships in Raubichi, Belarus. (Photo: Jane Robertson)
    Aidan Millar (Canada/Biathlon Alberta Training Center) racing to eighth place in the 10 k sprint at biathlon World Junior Championships in Raubichi, Belarus. (Photo: Jane Robertson)

    Canmore, Alberta’s Aidan Millar was the third man onto the course in Saturday’s individual-start 10 k sprint at World Junior Championships for biathlon in Raubichi, Belarus.

    With little information about his competitors, Millar had to just ski his own best race. He had a penalty in prone but then cleaned in standing, and was unsurprisingly the race leader when he crossed the line. The thing was waiting for the other 90+ racers to finish as well.

    “As soon as I had gotten my stuff I left the finish area and went and cooled down away from the TVs and the stadium,” he wrote in an email. “I knew I would probably stay in the top 10 but it was way too hard to watch the results.”

    As his team had predicted, it was a top-10 finish when all was said and done. Millar’s time put him in eighth, 44.9 seconds behind Russia’s Aleksandr Dediukhin, who won with a time of 24:49.0.

    Millar’s split after the last shooting had him in fifth place, but he was unable to hold onto that position, and lost about 20 seconds to the leaders over the final 3.3 k.

    Canada's Aidan Millar racing in the individual competition earlier this week at World Junior Championships. (Photo: Jane Robertson)
    Canada’s Aidan Millar racing in the individual competition earlier this week at World Junior Championships. (Photo: Jane Robertson)

    Still, the result was a major recovery after the individual competition, where Millar missed nine shots. He was frustrated with himself and vowed to do better.

    “The individual was pretty disappointing shooting-wise,” he explained. “So for the sprint I tried to shoot more in control and not get caught up in shooting fast.”

    Despite those goals, Millar actually had the eighth-fastest shooting time in the field. That speed and accuracy helped him to his best-ever result in an international competition. It was also the best result for Canada so far at the Championships, including in the youth competitions which are held on alternating days with the junior races.

    At last year’s World Youth Championships in Presque Isle, Maine, he placed ninth in the sprint. But this year is completely different, and not just because the junior field is older and more experienced than the youths, Millar explained.

    “I would say it’s definitely a huge step up,” Millar wrote. “With last [Championships] being in North America some of the better countries didn’t send full teams so the field wasn’t as strong. So with the jump from Youth to Junior already making it more competitive the fact that it was in Europe made even that much more competitive than last year. With those things in mind, I’m finding it hard to believe that I was actually able to get that result.”

    Millar’s coach at the Biathlon Alberta Training Center, Richard Boruta, is the leader of Canada’s team on the trip and expounded a bit more on the jump Millar has made.

    “While in the Youth category lots depends on biological age and other factors, in the Junior category the results are much more representing the quality of training and future potential of the athlete,” he wrote in an email. “By staying in (or at least being capable of) the top ten at [Junior Worlds], athletes are showing that they are on the progression curve necessary for future good performance in the World Cup.”

    The age category is not the only change Millar has made this year. He also transitioned from the Canmore Nordic Ski Club to training with Boruta’s training center.

    “He has the benefit of training with strong juniors on our team and after his recovery [from a concussion in the fall] his ski speed kept improving during all of our tests and early season races,” Boruta wrote.

    He hopes for even more from Millar in the future, but is also content to have eighth place as a standout result.

    “Aidan is a prototype of modern high performance biathlete (tall and strong), and I am sure we will hear about him in the future again,” Boruta wrote. “I am really happy for his result today and his goal for Pursuit is to learn how it feels to compete head-to-head with the best in the world. I would like to think that another top ten is possibility, but the field is very competitive, so it will likely come down to shooting performance during the entire race.”

    As for Millar, he professed to have no results-based goals for the pursuit, which will be held on Sunday.

    “Try and stay calm, shoot in control and see what happens,” he wrote.

    But regardless, the top-ten is a confidence boost that still leaves him marveling.

    “I’m super happy with the result,” he wrote. “I didn’t really have a results goal coming in to the Championships but 8th was beyond my expectations.”

    Also in the junior men’s sprint, Matthew Strum finished 46th with one penalty, and Carsen Campbell 55th with three. Both made it inside the 60-man cutoff to compete in Sunday’s pursuit.

    Stuart Harden, one of Canada’s top young biathletes, did not start the race. He explained in a facebook post that he woke up with a cold and is trying to recover in time for the relay early next week.

    In the junior women’s 7.5 k sprint, Sarah Beaudry placed 38th with three penalties.

    Results: men / women