Tag: Kontiolahti World Cup

Friday Rundown: Kontiolahti & Lake Placid (Updated)

The women’s 7.5 k sprint podium on Friday at the IBU World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland, with Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff (c) in first, Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier (l) in second, and Belarus’s Darya Domracheva (r) in third. (Photo: IBU)

IBU World Cup (Kontiolahti, Finland): Men’s & women’s sprints

[UPDATED] Fifth place is becoming a habit for US Biathlon’s Susan Dunklee, who shot 9/10 on Friday (1+0) and finished 34.9 seconds out of first for her third fifth-place result in the last three individual races.

Twice at last week’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea, Dunklee placed fifth: first in the sprint and again in the pursuit. She ended her racing there with the U.S. women’s relay, which placed 14th.

Back at it again on Friday in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint in Kontiolahti, Finland, Dunklee placed fifth behind Norwegian winner Tiril Eckhoff, who shot clean (0+0) and finished in 19:18.4 minutes.

Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier started in bib 27, immediately after Eckhoff (bib 26) and ended up 18.3 seconds shot of the Norwegian’s time for second place (+18.3) with one standing penalty (0+1). Darya Domracheva of Belarus started 32nd and shot clean to notch third (+20.4) for her second podium of the season (including a silver medal in the IBU World Championships pursuit).

The last starter in bib 94, Russia’s Daria Virolaynen shot clean and claimed fourth (+34.8), bumping Dunklee, the 33rd starter who initially finished fourth, by one-tenth of a second to fifth.

All three of the U.S. women that raced on Friday finished in the top 60 to qualify for Saturday’s pursuit, with Joanne Reid taking 55th (+1:59.7) with clean shooting, and Clare Egan 59th (+2:07.4) with three standing penalties (0+3).

Two Canadians qualified as well, with Emma Lunder in 56th (+2:02.8) with one miss (1+0) and Julia Ransom making the cut in 60th (+2:08.0) with one penalty (1+0) as well.

In her first World Cup start, Canada’s 19-year-old Megan Bankes — coming off a gold medal at IBU Junior World Championships in Slovenia — placed 78th (+2:56.9) with three penalties (2+1).

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The men’s 10 k sprint podium at Friday’s World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland, with France’s Martin Fourcade (c) in first, the Czech Republic’s Ondřej Moravec (l) in second and Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen (r) in third. (Photo: IBU)

Lucky No. 13. That’s how many World Cup wins France’s Martin Fourcade has accumulated this season, including his victory in the men’s 10 k sprint in Kontiolahti.

Thirteen wins puts him ahead of Norway’s Ole Einar Bjørndalen for the most wins in a single season, and Fourcade topped Friday’s race by just 0.6 seconds over the Czech Republic’s Ondřej Moravec in second place. (Bjørndalen finished about 30 seconds back in eighth.)

Fourcade started 38th, after Moravec in bib 24, and had to ski a penalty lap after missing one in his standing shooting, but was able to top Moravec’s time by fractions of a second in 22:17.0 minutes.

Moravec shot clean to reach the podium in second, along with Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen, who hit all 10 targets as well to place third (+9.4).

One of the earliest starters in bib 3, Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø hit all of his targets and was the race leader until Svendsen finished 2.7 seconds faster than him. Bø ultimately ended up fourth, and Germany’s Arnd Peiffer, the fourth man in the top five to clean, placed fifth (+22.3).

After eight straight races of placing in the top 10, Lowell Bailey finished 16th on Friday, 1:01.1 behind Fourcade despite clean shooting.

Three Americans qualified for Saturday’s pursuit, with Leif Nordgren in 43rd (+1:36.8) with two penalties (1+1) and Sean Doherty 44th (+1:38.5) with one standing miss (0+1).

Paul Schommer finished 84th (+3:02.5) with three misses (2+1).

Two Canadians shot clean and qualified for the pursuit: Brendan Green in 45th (+1:41.4) and Christian Gow in 50th (+1:55.0). Scott Gow missed the top 60 in 67th (+2:21.9) with two penalties (1+1).

Results: Women | Men

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USSA Cross Country Junior Championships (Lake Placid, N.Y.): 5/10/15 k classic individual starts

The U20 men’s 15 k classic podium on Friday at 2017 U.S. Junior Nationals in Lake Placid, N.Y., with Hunter Wonders (c) of Alaska Pacific University (APUNSC) in first, Peter Wolter (l) of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) in second, and Canada’s Étienne Hébert (r), of Montériski in third. (Photo: India Harvey)

[UPDATED] On the third day of racing at U.S. Junior Nationals at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid, N.Y., Julia Kern, representing New England and the Stratton Mountain School (SMS), completed her sweep of the U20 women’s races, winning Friday’s 10-kilometer classic individual start by 1 minute and 30.5 seconds in 32:32.3 minutes. (Kern had previously won the U20 women’s 5 k freestyle and classic sprint at Junior Nationals this week.)

Intermountain’s Leah Lange (University of Utah) joined her on the podium on Friday in second place, and the Midwest’s Hannah Rudd (Loppet Nordic Racing) tallied third place (+1:38.6).

The U20 women’s 10 k classic podium at 2017 U.S. Junior Nationals in Lake Placid, N.Y., with Julia Kern (c) of SMS in first, Leah Lange (l) University of Utah in second, and Hannah Rudd (r) of Loppet Nordic Racing in third. (Photo: India Harvey)

In the U20 men’s 15 k, Alaska’s Hunter Wonders, of Alaska Pacific University (APUNSC), finished 37 seconds ahead of anyone else in 45:15.7. Intermountain’s Peter Wolter, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) took second (+37.1), and Canada’s Étienne Hébert (Montériski) placed third for the second time in three races, 49.1 seconds behind Wonders. Daniel Streinz (New England/Mountain Endurance) was the third American in fourth overall (+1:00.7).

Coming of two-second place performances this week, Intermountain’s Sydney Palmer-Leger, of the Park City Nordic Ski Club (PCNSC) raced to first in the U16 girls’ 5 k in 16:42.1, 16.3 seconds ahead of Alaska’s Kendall Kramer (Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks-FXC) in second. Novie McCabe (Pacific Northwest/Methow Valley Nordic Ski Educational Foundation), reached the podium in third (+21.9).

The U16 girls’ 5 k classic podium on Friday at U.S. Junior Nationals in Lake Placid, N.Y., with Sydney Palmer-Leger (c) of PCNSC in first, Kendall Kramer (l) of NSCF-FXC in second, and Novie McCabe (r) of the Methow Valley Nordic Ski Educational Foundation in third. (Photo: India Harvey)

A runner-up earlier in the week in the freestyle individual start, Intermountain’s Johnny Hagenbuch (SVSEF) took the win in the snowiest race of the day — the U16 boys’ 5 k — finishing just 2.5 seconds ahead of Alaska’s runner-up George Cvancara (Alaska Nordic Racing) in 15:06.8 in the closest race of the day. Intermountain had two on the podium with Skylar Patten (PCNSC) in third (+3.8).

The U16 boys’ 5 k classic podium on Friday at U.S. Junior Nationals in Lake Placid, N.Y., with Johnny Hagenbuch (c) of SVSEF in first, George Cvancara (l) of ANR in second, and Skylar Patten (r) of PCNSC in third. (Photo: India Harvey)

In the U18 boys’ 10 k, New England’s Ben Ogden (SMS) pulled out an 11.7-second victory to deny Alaska’s Gus Schumacher (Alaska Winter Stars) of his third-straight win of the week. Ogden finished first in 29:36.5, Schumacher took second for his third-consecutive podium, and Alaska’s Luke Jager (APUNSC) placed third (+29.2) for his second podium in three races.

In the U18 girls’ 10 k classic, Intermountain’s Anna Gibson (Jackson Hole Ski Club) took the win for her second-straight podium in 33:59.7, 6.9 seconds ahead of Rocky Mountain’s Ezra Smith (Summit Nordic Ski Club), who notched her second podium of the week as well, in second. Mara McCollor (Midwest/Wayzata Nordic Team) also scored a podium in third (+11.2).

Results: U20 women | U20 men | U16 girls | U16 boys | U18 boys | U18 girls

March 10, 2017
Decades in the Making, Bailey Achieves First-Career World Cup Podium in Kontiolahti Sprint

Lowell Bailey racing to his first career World Cup podium in Saturday’s 10 k sprint in Kontiolahti, Finland. (Photo: USBA/Nordic Focus)

According to U.S. women’s biathlete Susan Dunklee, her teammate Lowell Bailey has “worked so hard for so long and it finally paid off.” She used his success as inspiration for her race that followed on Saturday in Kontiolahti, Finland.

Bailey shot clean and placed third, 19.4 seconds out back from Norwegian winner Johannes Thingnes Bø, in the men’s 10-kilometer biathlon sprint for his best-ever finish. After placing fifth in the Kontiolahti sprint three seasons ago, the American found success there again, this time unprecedented.

“And the word the comes to mind is… ‘FINALLY!!!!!’ ” Bailey tweeted on Saturday after the race.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he told the IBU in a post-race interview. “I’ve been working towards this for ten years, twenty years … definitely waited a long time. And I’ve been knocking at the door for the past three years.”

Lowell Bailey racing to his first career World Cup podium in Saturday’s 10 k sprint in Kontiolahti, Finland. (Photo: USBA/Nordic Focus)

Bailey’s on quite a roll after being named to the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Athletes Committee a few days earlier.

“Honored to represent the athletes of the IBU World Cup and looking forward to helping our sport move forward!” tweeted Bailey, a three-time Olympian after being elected for the first time.

After winning on Thursday, Bø cleaned to win the second-straight sprint in Kontiolahti in 24:03.5 on Saturday. Russia’s Alexander Loginov also cleaned to take second, 18.5 seconds back. Ondrej Moravec of the Czech Republic finished fourth, just three-tenths of a second behind Bailey.

In an email, Bailey wrote that he’s had a World Cup podium as a goal for a long time, so this result meant a lot to him.

“I had a good first lap and I knew my ski speed was decent by the time I came in for the first shooting,” he wrote.

Bailey had been disappointed with his performance on the shooting range during Thursday’s sprint, after missing one shot on each stage to place 29th, so his game plan Saturday was to be “decisive and deliberate” while shooting.

“It may seem like a simple task, but sometimes you have to break complex things down to their simplest form,” the 32 year old from Lake Placid, N.Y., explained.

On Saturday, things worked out in Bailey’s favor. By the time he headed back out onto the course after the last shooting stage, he was in second place.

“I put everything I had into that last lap, with the help of every member of our staff screaming their lungs out throughout the 3.3km course!” Bailey wrote. “It came down to three tenths of a second between third and fourth. I ended up on the right side today!”

US Biathlon President/CEO Max Cobb wrote in an email that Bailey has worked especially hard to achieve this goal, not long after he logged the best-ever finish by an American at the Olympics in eighth.

“It’s great to see him join the Podium Club!” Cobb wrote. “It’s a great credit to the whole high performance staff too, they have worked so hard to help the athletes achieve their personal bests. And Susan Dunklee had another top 10 with her 8th place today and Tim [Burke] and Leif [Nordgren] are also well positioned for tomorrow’s pursuit.”

Burke placed 19th (1+1), 1:10 back from the winner, and Nordgren 27th (1+0), 1:23 behind, to soundly qualify for Sunday’s pursuit.

Canada’s Nathan Smith also notched his career-best sprint in eighth, 33.6 seconds back, to tie his career best after placing eighth in a pursuit earlier this season.

“I felt really good skiing today,” wrote Smith, who got sick the last few days of the Olympics and has been dealing with a cold and cough ever since. In his first season on the World Cup, he took three days off completely after the World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia, to try and rest up.

“Thankfully I felt my energy come back more and more this week,” he explained.

Even during the first sprint in Kontiolahti, Smith could tell that he was on the upswing, as evidenced by a respectable ski time and result in 21st.

“Then yesterday I felt even better in training and so today I was hoping and expecting to have a great ski day,” he wrote.

His strategy involved starting out “pretty aggressively” on the first lap and focusing on maintaining the pace for the other two.

“I knew shooting would be key as so many athletes shot clean in the last race,” Smith wrote. “With one miss in prone I was a little concerned, but knew my skiing was up a notch from two days prior.”

With a fast-and-clean standing, Smith figured he was in a good position for a top-16 and pushed hard on the last lap, saving enough for the last steep climb and flats before the finish.

“I ended up surprising myself with the 3rd fastest last lap and finishing 8th,” he wrote.

Another American produced a season-best: Nordgren in 27^th. In an email, the 24 year old wrote that his race “went really well” with a single prone penalty.

“It was my best result of the year so far, and also my best skiing, so I’m pretty happy with this result!” he added.

On the first loop of the race, Nordgren “got a nice ride” with Canada’s Brenden Green, which he thinks enabled him to relax quite a bit and also save up some energy for the last two laps. He explained that his shooting was “nothing special … I’m not too happy with prone, I was a little quick and didn’t quite get settled, but I came back pretty calm in standing, so I can’t be too disappointed with one mistake.”

As for Sunday’s race, he is starting in the middle of a pretty big group, “so it should make for an exciting race right from the gun!”

For Canada, Green placed 28th (2+0), 1:23.3 back from Bø, and Scott Gow was 42nd (1+0), 1:48.8 back, to also make the top-60 pursuit cut.

— Alex Matthews contributed reporting

Results

March 15, 2014
Dunklee Scores Second-Best Sprint Result in Eighth; Mäkäräinen Makes it a Double

Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon) racing to the second-best sprint result of her career, and this season, in the women’s 7.5 k sprint on Saturday in Kontiolahti, Finland. (Photo: USBA/Nordic Focus)

The women’s 7.5-kilometer biathlon World Cup sprint on Saturday in Kontiolahti, Finland, proved once again that the North American biathletes are able to blend themselves in with the better-known Europeans.

Unlike Thursday’s sprint race, today’s mattered more in that the results determined who would participate in Sunday’s pursuit — something that has been difficult in recent years for North Americans. In the words of U.S.’s Hannah Dreissigacker, “Mostly I’m just really happy to have finally broken my ‘pursuit curse’ and qualified for my first World Cup pursuit!!”

Her teammate, Susan Dunklee, who had a single standing miss to finish eighth, 35.7 seconds behind winner Kaisa Mäkäräinen of Finland, led the North American women on Saturday. In an email, Dunklee explained that before she headed out to warm up, she stopped by the stadium for some inspiration at the men’s flower ceremony.

“It was awesome to see Lowell on the podium,” she said of her teammate, who achieved his first World Cup podium in third in the preceding men’s sprint. “He has worked so hard for so long and it finally paid off.”

Dunklee went on to notch her second-best sprint result of the season, and her career.

Mäkäräinen went on to win her second-straight sprint in Kontiolahti in 20:53.6. Despite one prone penalty, the Finn beat Norwegian runner-up Tora Berger by 6.2 seconds. Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic finished 6.7 seconds after Berger in third. Both Berger and Soukalova cleaned.

According to an IBU press release, Mäkäräinen, who hails from nearby Joensuu, is Kontiolahti’s hometown hero. Both she and the men’s sprint winner, Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway, won both sprints there in the last three days.

With one penalty, Mäkäräinen was 17.3 seconds slower than she was in Thursday’s race on the same course.

Saturday’s conditions were not the easiest. According to Dunklee, the course’s soft-and-sugary snow required extra energy to “fully accelerate over the tops of hills and around the corners,” which she explained she did not have.

However, shooting went much better for Dunklee. In standing, she focused on “painting” (holding on the target) for a little longer before pulling the trigger. “With three U.S. women qualified for tomorrow’s pursuit, it will certainly be an exciting race, and we all believe we can move up,” she said, referring to Dreissigacker, who placed 41st (0+2) 1:51.4 back from Mäkäräinen, and Sara Studebaker in 58th (1+1), 2:30.3 behind.

“I’m really psyched for tomorrow’s race,” Dreissigacker wrote. “My goal is to go out there and relax and have fun and move up into the points.”

In bib 63 of nearly 90 finishers, Dreissigacker found it helpful that she was able to ski with people for most of Saturday’s sprint. Although she missed her first two standing shots, and panicked for a moment about needing to hit the rest of them — which she admits is not the right thing to think — she did manage to pull herself together and hit them, despite her legs “starting to shake.”

As for the Canadians, Rosanna Crawford led the team in 16^th. She missed one standing and clocked in 54 seconds back from Mäkäräinen.

“It was another tough race today!” Crawford wrote.

She found the course “pretty tough” and made even harder because the organizers trucked in a bunch of snow from a “saved” pile.

She had a positive experience on the shooting range, which she described as “calm,” and was able to hit all of her prone targets, which she explained hadn’t happened in a while.

“I’m still searching for that top 10! Tomorrow will be a tight pursuit and good shooting will be key.”

Despite three misses (2+1), Canada’s Zina Kocher made the pursuit in 54th (+2:16), as did her teammate Megan Heinicke in 60th, who missed one shot on both stages to finish 2:32.7 behind the winner.

American Annelies Cook missed the top 60 in 76th (1+3).

Results

March 15, 2014