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  • Sunday Rundown: La Clusaz, Nove Mesto, Ramsau, Klingenthal, Obertilliach, & Rossland (Updated x4)

    Sunday Rundown: La Clusaz, Nove Mesto, Ramsau, Klingenthal, Obertilliach, & Rossland (Updated x4)

    Eric Frenzel (r) leads German teammates Vinzenz Geiger (c) and Fabian Rießle (l) toward a sweep of the podium in the Nordic Combined World Cup individual normal hill/10 k on Sunday in Ramsau, Austria. (Photo: FIS Nordic Combined/Facebook)
    Eric Frenzel (r) leads German teammates Vinzenz Geiger (c) and Fabian Rießle (l) toward a sweep of the podium in the Nordic Combined World Cup individual normal hill/10 k on Sunday in Ramsau, Austria. (Photo: FIS Nordic Combined/Facebook)

    Welcome to The Rundown, your quick primer of need-to-know information about the day’s racing. We’ll be updating this digest as the day goes on with additional results, photos and quotes. The Rundown is NOT a race report; stay tuned for complete race reports later today with interviews from the day’s top racers.

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    FIS Nordic Combined Continental Cup in Klingenthal

    [UPDATE] Ben Loomis tallied two top 10’s and his U.S. Nordic Combined teammate Ben Berend notched eighth place this past weekend at the Continental Cup in Klingenthal, Germany.

    Loomis ended the three-day series on Sunday by placing fifth in the large hill/10 k for his second-best result at the Continental Cup level (he finished fourth last year in the normal hill/10 k competition in Park City, Utah). Loomis put himself in position by jumping to sixth then racing to fifth, 49.9 seconds behind Japan’s winner Go Yamamoto, who finished in 24:06.4.

    Florian Dagn of Austria placed second (+6.0) after jumping to first. Yamamoto jumped to second and headed out on the course seven seconds behind him.

    Norway’s Sindre Ure Soetvik placed third (+28.8), after starting the 10 k in third. Germany’s David Welde finished fourth (+36.0), moving up after jumping to eighth.

    Also on Sunday, Berend placed 15th (+2:25.3) and Jasper Good was 35th (+3:07).

    Berend started the long weekend out with an eighth-place finish in the large hill/5 k on Friday. He jumped to fourth and finished the ski race in eighth, 1:09.2 minutes behind Germany’s Maximilian Pfordte, who won in 10:58.9.

    Pfordte posted the best jump to start the 5 k first, then held his lead for a 16.4-second victory over Yamamoto in second. Dagn placed third (+18.3) after jumping to second, and Yamamoto’s jump ranked third.

    Also for the U.S., Good finished 21st (+2:05.8) for his best result of the weekend, Loomis was 28th (+2:50.5) and Stephen Schumann 29th (+2:52.1).

    On Saturday, it was Loomis who tallied another eighth place for the U.S. in the large hill/10 k. He jumped to 10th then improved to eighth, finishing 58 seconds behind German winner Tobias Simon. While Simon dominated the jump as well as the race, winning by 10.1 seconds, Yamamoto repeated in second place and Austria’s Thomas Joebstl reached the podium in third (+38.3).

    Berend finished 25th (+1:45.9) and Good 45th (+3:24.9) on Day 2.

    Results: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

    ***

    FIS Nordic Combined World Cup in Ramsau

    The Nordic Combined World Cup resumed this weekend in Ramsau, Austria, with Germany not only topping but sweeping the podium in both individual normal hill/10 k competitions.
    On Saturday, Team Germany swept the top four, with Johannes Rydzek notching his third individual win of the season, ahead of teammates Fabian Rießle (+1.5) and Eric Frenzel (+8.7). Vinzenz Geiger completed the sweep in fourth (+15.0), a career best for the 19 year old after placing seventh earlier this month in Lillehammer, Norway.
    Frenzel led after the jump on the 98-meter hill, which put him 2 seconds ahead of the second-best jumper, Austria’s Mario Seidl, in the 10 k Gundersen start. (Seidl went on to place seventh.)
    Rydzek posted the third-best jump and started 10 seconds back, while Rießle started another 10 seconds later in seventh. Rydzek went on to ski the fifth-fastest course time and Rießle was third fastest en route to first and second at the finish.
    Americans Taylor Fletcher and Bryan Fletcher finished 27th (+1:17.6) and 29th (+1:18.4), respectively, and Adam Loomis was 47th (+3:16.2).
    Taylor started 41st, 1:18 back, and Bryan started five seconds later in 43rd. Bryan posted the seventh-fastest course time and ended with a photo finish with Finland’s Arttu Maekiaho, which Maekiaho took by 0.1 seconds for 28th. Loomis started 50th.
    Day 2 in Ramsau went to Frenzel, who won the normal hill/10 k in 22:49.4. Rießle repeated in second (+0.8) and Geiger improved on his career best for his first podium in third (+23.4). Seidl again jumped to first and this time ended up fourth (+24.3).
    Frenzel started third and raced to first, Rießle moved up from fourth in the jump to second, and Geiger made the most of his second-best jump.
    Taylor Fletcher skied the third-fastest course time to move up from 46th after the jump to 22nd at the finish (+1:20.2). Bryan Fletcher finished 32nd (+1:33.5), losing one place after starting 31st.
    The Nordic Combined World Cup goes on holiday break until resuming Jan. 7-8 in Lahti, Finland.
    Results: Saturday | Sunday 
    ***

    NorAm Mini Tour in Rossland: Classic pursuits

    The NorAm mini tour in Rossland, British Columbia, wrapped up with a classic pursuit race on Sunday.

    In the women’s 10 k classic, APU’s Chelsea Holmes continued her strong form, winning the mini tour with an aggregate time of 1:08:04.4. Holmes finished the 10 k in 35:35.4 minutes, 6.2 seconds behind fastest woman of the day, Katherine Stewart-Jones (NTDC Thunder Bay).

    SMS Elite’s Erika Flowers continued her podium-filled visit to Canada with the third-fastest ski of the day, 48.1 seconds behind Stewart-Jones, to take second overall, 2:23.9 behind Holmes. AWCA’s Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt was the fifth fastest in the 10 k to hold on to third overall (+3:25.2), while Stewart-Jones was just 0.5 seconds back in fourth overall.

    NTDC Thunder Bay’s Evan Palmer-Charrette used a fourth-fastest ski in the 15 k to keep the overall title, with an aggregate time of 1:28:54.0. Alexis Dumas (CNEPH) skied 1:14.7 faster than Palmer-Charrette to climb from sixth at the start to second overall (+52.2). AWCA’s Jack Carlyle had the second-fastest time of the day, 29.9 seconds behind Dumas, to climb into third overall (+1:10.1).

    National Para-Nordic guide Erik Carleton had the third-fastest 15 k time, 1:01.3 back, but it wasn’t enough to catch Team R.A.D.’s Russell Kennedy, who placed fourth overall (+1:20.8).

    Full results (with tabs for the overall and time of the day)

    ***

    FIS Cross-Country World Cup in La Clusaz: Men’s and women’s relays

    Team Norway I emerged victorious in Sunday’s men’s 4 x 8 k mixed relay event in La Clusaz, France, with Didrik Tønseth leading the winning group’s first classic leg.

    After crossing in seventh, Tønseth handed off to Martin Johnsrud Sundby for a second classic leg. Sundby dropped a spot, finishing his classic leg in eighth. Sundby tagged off to Anders Gløersen for the first freestyle leg.

    Gløersen rocketed the team to first, and held the position straight through his 7.5 k. The final leg for Norway’s winning team went to Finn Hågen Krogh. The Norwegian men’s team completed the relay event in a total time of 1:11:25.7

    Second place overall, two-tenths of a second behind, was team Russia, led by Evgeniy Belov for the first classic leg. Belov handed off to Alexander Legkov for the second classic leg, with Legkov putting down the third fastest time by the time he returned to the exchange zone.

    The third and first freestyle leg for Russia went to Alexey Chervotkin, who maintained the team’s third place position. Anchoring the team was  Sergey Ustiugov, who managed to maneuver the team from third place to second during his final freestyle leg.

    The men's 4 x 7.5k relay podium on Sunday in La Clusaz, France with Russia in second (left four) Norway first (center four) and France third overall. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country twitter)
    The men’s 4 x 8 k relay podium on Sunday in La Clusaz, France, with Russia in second (left four) Norway first (center four) and France third overall. (Photo: FIS Cross-Country/twitter)

    Rounding out the men’s mixed relay podium on Sunday was France I (+7.7).

    Jean-Marc Gaillard led team France’s first classic leg, racing in a sixth position into the exchange zone. Gaillard handed off to Alexis Jeannerod, who moved up to fifth place by the end of his classic leg.

    Skiing the third and first freestyle leg was Clement Parisse who held onto fifth place and tagged off to Maurice Manificat for the final freestyle leg. Manificat managed to move around Sweden’s Axel Ekstrløm and Germany’s Lucas Bøgl for third place overall.

    Neither Canada or the U.S. entered a men’s relay team due to illness.

    In the women’s 4 x 4 k relay event, it was another Norwegian team who stood atop the podium.

    Ingvild Flugstad Østberg led the women’s first classic leg, skiing in first place until her hand-off to Marit Bjørgen. Bjørgen maintained the first place position during her classic leg, tagging off to Ragnhild Haga.

    Haga completed the first freestyle leg for Norway, handing off to Heidi Weng, who anchored the team’s last freestyle leg. The Norwegian women finished in a total time of 39:23.3.

    In second was team Finland, 50.2 seconds behind Norway’s winning time. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen started the first classic leg for Finland, passing off to Anne Kyllønen.

    The women's 4 x 4 k mixed relay podium on Sunday in La Clusaz, France. Norway (c) took the win ahead of team Finland in second (l) and Sweden in third. (Photo: FIC Cross-Country/Twitter)
    The women’s 4 x 4 k mixed relay podium on Sunday in La Clusaz, France. Norway (c) took the win ahead of team Finland in second (l) and Sweden in third. (Photo: FIC Cross-Country/Twitter)

    Taking on the first freestyle leg for Finland was Riitta-Liisa Roponen, who tagged off to Laura Mononen for the final freestyle leg.

    Rounding out the relay podium in third overall was team Sweden (+1:08.9). Emma Wiken raced the first classic leg, who tagged off to Stina Nilsson for the second classic leg. Maria Rydqvist raced the first freestyle leg and handed off to Anna Dyvik, who anchored the team to third.

    Only one U.S. women’s relay team was entered on Sunday, with both Jessie Diggins and Sadie Bjornsen out due to illness. Sophie Caldwell led the U.S.’s first classic leg, followed by Rosie Brennan. Liz Stephen followed Brennan, taking on the first freestyle leg. Anchoring the team was Kikkan Randall in the final freestyle leg. The Americans finished in seventh overall (+2:26.0).

    Canada also entered a women’s team in Sunday’s relay. Emily Nishikawa led the first classic leg, and handed off to Cendrine Browne for the second classic leg. Dahria Beatty raced the first freestyle leg and tagged off to Sophie Carrier-Laforte, who anchored the team to 12th overall (+4:07.9).

    Results: Men | Women

    ***

    IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto: Men’s and women’s mass starts

    Gabriela Koukalová of the Czech Republic looks to her home crowd as she wins the women's 12.5 k mass start on Sunday at the IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. She fended off Germany's Laura Dahlmeier (r), who took second. (Photo: IBU)
    Gabriela Koukalová of the Czech Republic looks to her home crowd as she wins the women’s 12.5 k mass start on Sunday at the IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. She fended off Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier (r), who took second. (Photo: IBU)

    Despite skiing in 14th at one point in the men’s 15 k mass start on Sunday, France’s Martin Fourcade came back to win the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.

    That makes him seven for eight in individual races so far this season.

    Fourcade started with bib 1 as the overall World Cup leader and finished first in 36:18.9 minutes, despite a penalty on his second prone that put him in 14th and 22 seconds back heading out on his third loop.

    He rebounded with a clean third shooting to move into third, 2.5 seconds behind Ukraine’s Dmytro Pidruchnyi in first and 1.3 seconds behind Russia’s Anton Babikov in second.

    By the final shooting stage, Fourcade was back in first with clean shooting (0+1+0+0), 28 seconds clear of Babikov in second. Babikov had his first penalty of the day on the final stage (0+0+0+1) to drop out of contention.

    Germany’s Simon Schempp (1+1+0+0) came out on top of an eight-way battle for second place on the final loop. Schempp took it, 8.3 seconds after Fourcade and 1.1 seconds ahead of Babikov in third (+9.4).

    The Czech Republic’s Ondrej Moravec was 0.3 seconds off the podium in fourth (+9.7), Pidruchnyi placed fifth (+10.2), Russia’s Matvey Eliseev finished sixth (+11.0), Norway’s Ole Einar Bjørndalen was back in the top 10 in seventh (+11.3), France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet notched his second-straight top 10 in eighth (+13.7), and Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø finished at the back of that pack in ninth (+19.8).

    American Lowell Bailey missed the top 20 by 10 seconds in 21st (+1:17.1). He had three penalties, two of which came on the last stage (0+1+0+2) to drop him from ninth to 20th at the start of the final loop.

    Bailey retained his spot in ninth in the overall World Cup standings, while Fourcade continues to lead, 158 points ahead of Shipulin in second.

    In the women’s 12.5 k mass start, Gabriela Koukalová delivered to her home fans in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, racing to her second win of the season in 34:42.1.

    “I was so nervous before the race so it was amazing,”  Koukalová said, according to an IBU press release. “I have so many emotions; it’s even more emotional than at the Olympics. I would like to say thanks to all the spectators and I hope I was able to make a nice Christmas present to all of them.”

    The defending World Cup champion beat the current World Cup leader, Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, by 3.1 seconds after shooting a single penalty and cleaning the last two stages (0+1+0+0) to move into first. Dahlmeier missed two on the first stage to drop 23rd, but cleaned her last three stages (2+0+0+0) to capture second at the finish. She passed three athletes on the last lap, including Italy’s Dorothea Wierer, who ended up third (+9.7) with one miss (1+0+0+0).

    “I don’t really know what happened with those two misses,” she told German broadcaster ARD. “But in terms of skiing I had a great day on the course, and I had skis that were the bomb. It’s just a lot of fun when you can make the podium reaching the second place despite a large deficit in the beginning. I am overjoyed.”

    Germany’s Vanessa Hinz rebounded from Friday’s sprint (where she placed 73rd) to end up fourth (+15.5) with a single penalty (0+0+1+0). None of the 29 finishers hit every target, and American Susan Dunklee did not start.

    Dahlmeier leads the overall World Cup standings by 98 points over Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen, and Koukalova is third, just seven points behind Mäkäräinen. Dunklee is 11th.

    The IBU World Cup now goes on holiday break until resuming Jan. 5 in Oberhof, Germany.

    Results: Men | Women

    ***

    IBU Cup in Obertilliach

    The third IBU Cup was held on Dec. 16-17 in Obertilliach, Austria. In the men’s 20 k individual on Friday, the top three finishers were France’s Antonin Guigonnat, with a winning time of 49:58.6, Russia’s Yury Shopin in second (+32.2), and Germany’s Florian Graf in third (+35.6). Each of the top three had one miss, and Canada’s Matthew Hudec was the top North American in 34th (+4:11.3) with two penalties (0+2+0+0). Also for Canada, Carsen Campbell finished 38th with three penalties (1+2+0+0), Matthew Neumann was 53rd with three penalties (0+2+0+1) out of 118 finishers.

    In the women’s 15 k individual on Friday, Germany’s Karolin Horchler took the win with clean shooting (0+0+0+0) in 44:54.7. France’s Coline Varcin was 1.1 seconds back in second with one penalty (1+0+0+0), and third went to Russia’s Daria Virolaynen (+30.2), who had one miss as well (0+1+0+0). Canada’s Nadia Moser was the top North American in 35th (+5:10.8) with two penalties (0+1+1+0). Also for Canada, Erin Yungblut placed 66th with five penalties (0+3+0+2).

    In the men’s 10 k sprint on Saturday, two Norwegians took first and second with Henrik L’Abee-Lund winning in 23:29.9, and Vetle Sjastad Christiansen 13.9 seconds back in second. Third was claimed by Germany’s Phillipp Nawrath (+29.5) and all of the top three shot clean. Neumann led Canada in 47th (+2:20) with one miss (1+0). Campbell missed two (1+1) and finished 59th (+2:47.4), and Hudec was 64th (+2:58.9) with two penalties as well (1+1). Canada’s Pearce Hanna finished 87th, with two misses (2+0), out of 125 finishers.

    In the women’s 7.5 k sprint, Russia swept the podium with Virolaynen winning in 20:31.5, followed closely by Uliana Kaisheva (+3.7), and then Anna Nikulina (+23.1). Virolaynen missed one (0+1), Kaisheva cleaned (0+0) and Nikulina had a standing miss as well (0+1).  The top North American was Canada’s Megan Bankes in 30th (+2:08.1), with one prone penalty (1+0). Also for Canada, Sarah Beaudry finished 34th (+2:18.1), with two standing misses (0+2), Yungblut was 45th (+2:40.6) with clean shooting (0+0), and Moser finished 49th (+2:45.5) with two misses (1+1), out of 85 women.

    Results: Men’s individual | Women’s individual | Men’s sprint | Women’s sprint

     

  • Weekly Roundup: Good Vibes Before the Holidays

    Weekly Roundup: Good Vibes Before the Holidays

    Crawford at the flower ceremony. Photo: Christian Manzoni/NordicFocus.com.
    Rosanna Crawford at the flower ceremony after achieving a career-best fourth in the Pokljuka IBU World Cup sprint last week. (Photo: Christian Manzoni/NordicFocus)

    Some of the U.S. Ski Team members are starting to feel like themselves again, even after a couple crashes took Kikkan Randall and Sophie Caldwell out of contention in Sunday’s freestyle-sprint semifinals at the World Cup in Davos, Switzerland.

    “It was a bummer to fall because the feelings were a lot stronger today,” Randall said after placing ninth. “I was just really happy that I felt more like myself today. You don’t realize how bad you were feeling until you start to feel good again.”

    “I was just thinking, ‘Oh God, am I ever going to get back there this year, and how long is it going to take?’ ” Caldwell said after ending up 11th. “I’ve just taken big steps the last two weekends, and that helps a ton with my confidence.”

    Liz Stephen placed 12th on Saturday in the 10 k freestyle in Davos, 4.9 seconds out of the top 10.

    “Each weekend is a little bit of a step forward for me and that’s a fun way to go about it,” Stephen said. “I didn’t race as well as I possibly could have to get a top ten, so I’m happy with the way it ended up.”

    Two Canadians made it into the heats on Sunday — Lenny Valjas and Jesse Cockney — and ended up 18th and 29th, respectively, which coach Tor-Arne Hetland found both promising and disappointing.

    “When you’re starting in the heats, you want to be in the final,” he said.

    “It feels awesome to finally get into the heats again,” Cockney stated after his first time in the World Cup top-30 since two seasons ago in Canmore, Alberta.

    Then there was Rosanna Crawford, a Canadian biathlete who racked up four of her best IBU World Cup results over the last week. Following her fifth-place finish in the pursuit in Hochfilzen, Austria, two weekends ago, she placed fourth in the next race: the 7.5 k sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia. The next day, on Saturday, Crawford was seventh in the pursuit, then capped the weekend with 12th in the mass start to put herself a best-ever eighth in the overall World Cup.

    “I am really happy with where I am heading into the Christmas break, only one race that wasn’t in the top 16,” she wrote in an email.

    Her Biathlon Canada teammate Nathan Smith, also made the top-30 overall World Cup cutoff for the mass start, and in his second-ever time racing that format, he placed ninth.

    “Mass starts are a lot different than pursuits. It’s nice to get one under my belt now and I hope to do a few more this season, too,” Smith reflected. “I’m very happy … and it’s a perfect way to cap off a strong trimester. It gives me extra motivation to rest up and train over the Christmas break.”

    On Saturday, Canada’s Megan Heinicke rose from 41st to 14th in the pursuit.

    “I kept that little voice in my head that was telling me this was an awesome race pretty quiet because I know how fast everything can change,” Heinicke explained. “I didn’t really believe it until after the last standing.”

    Hannah Dreissigacker en route to 17th place in the World Cup sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia, today. Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.com.
    Hannah Dreissigacker en route to her best IBU World Cup result in 17th in last Thursday’s sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.com.

    US Biathlon’s Hannah Dreissigacker tallied a career-best 17th in the Pokljuka sprint, just ahead of teammate Susan Dunklee in 19th.

    “Biathlon is so weird,” Dreissigacker said. “When things go badly, it’s so hard, and it’s hard to imagine that they would ever be good. And then a week later, somehow everything just goes much better. It’s such a roller coaster like that.”

    At the IBU Cup in Obertilliach, Austria, Canada’s Scott Gow found his way onto the podium in the 10 k sprint last Friday, Audrey Vaillancourt was seventh in the women’s sprint that day, and Julia Ransom recorded a career-best seventh in the sprint last Wednesday. That same day, Gow’s younger brother Christian was “ecstatic” after placing eighth in the men’s sprint. To start the series off, Emma Lunder placed 10th in the 15 k individual last Tuesday, followed by Ransom in 11th.

    “The whole Canadian team is only going to build on this momentum,” Ransom predicted in an email that day.

    At the Nordic Combined World Cup in Ramsau, Austria, the U.S. placed fifth in the 4 x 5 k team event, and Billy Demong as the sole American to qualify for Sunday’s individual competition finished 32nd.

    The NorAm made its second stop in Sovereign Lake, British Columbia, where 20-year-old Dahria Beatty of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) and Canadian U23 team won the women’s 15 k freestyle interval start and American Kris Freeman won the men’s 30 k by more than 1 1/2 minutes over Brian Gregg.

    The day before, on Friday, Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers) edged Alysson Marshall in the women’s classic sprint, and Patrick Stewart-Jones (AWCA) dominated the men’s sprint.

    “I’m racing among a group of super strong and talented girls who I respect a lot, so I try to learn from them during the races, but I also try not to be intimated,” Bouffard-Nesbitt wrote in an email. “I didn’t leave anything out there today, I just went for it!”

    FIS Cross-Country World Cup, Davos, Switzerland

    Saturday: 10/15 k freestyle individual starts men’s report | women’s report | U.S. report | Canadian report

    Sunday: 1.3 k freestyle sprints women’s report | men’s report | U.S. report | Canadian report

    Notes & Quotes

    IBU World Cup, Pokljuka, Slovenia

    Thursday: women’s 7.5 k sprint report | U.S. report

    Friday: men’s 10 k sprint report

    Saturday: 10/12.5 k pursuits women’s report | men’s report

    Sunday: 12.5/15 k mass starts men’s report | women’s report

    IBU Cup, Obertilliach, Austria

    Dec. 16: 15/20 k individual report

    Dec. 17:  7.5/10 k sprints report

    Friday: 7.5/10 k sprints report

    Saturday: mixed relay recap

    Nordic Combined World Cup, Ramsau, Austria

    Saturday’s team event & Sunday’s individual recap

    NorAm #2: Sovereign Lake, Vernon, British Columbia

    Friday: 1.2/1.4 k classic sprints report

    Saturday: 15/30 k freestyle interval start report

  • Scott Gow Lands on Podium in ‘Perfect Day’ in Obertilliach; Vaillancourt Cleans for 7th

    Scott Gow Lands on Podium in ‘Perfect Day’ in Obertilliach; Vaillancourt Cleans for 7th

    Men's 10 k sprint at the North American Rollerski Championships at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vt.
    Canada’s Scott Gow (11) during the men’s 10 k sprint at the North American Rollerski Championships in August in Jericho, Vt.

    Scott Gow’s been to the IBU World Cup, raced at 2013 World Championships and multiple  — as in five — Junior World Championships. But nothing beats getting on the podium.

    Gow, 24, got there on Friday in the men’s 10-kilometer sprint in Obertilliach, Austria, cleaning both stages to finish just 1.6 seconds behind French winner Baptiste Jouty and 1.3 seconds behind runner-up Florian Graf of Germany.

    He led a contingent of four Canadian men, with his brother placing 17th (+55.3) with a single prone penalty, Macx Davis in 53rd (+2:29.1) with two standing misses, and Carson Campbell in 83rd with two prone and two standing penalties.

    In an email, Gow, who finished 11th in the 10 k sprint two days ago, explained he was “so happy” with his end result on Friday.

    “Being able to shoot clean made it feel like a perfect day,” he wrote. “I had a good race on Wednesday that I was able to feed off a little bit skiing-wise, and I have been focusing a lot on shooting the past two weeks which all contributed to my result today.”

    His focus was shooting, first and foremost.

    “I was confident that my skiing was there, but I needed solid shooting if I wanted to break into the top 10 and have a chance at a medal,” Gow wrote. “I was ecstatic when I cleaned standing, and I knew I would be in the hunt.”

    He had heard that he was nine seconds back in fifth, but Gow was unsure how close the top three were.

    “I mean, how hard would it have been to pick up 1.6 seconds somewhere in the race?” he wrote. “Despite the tight finish I’m happy with 3rd and the renewed confidence for the next trimester.”

    As to whether he had any motivation to beat his younger brother, who placed eighth on Wednesday, Gow wrote, “I’m always motivated to beat my brother, but I was happy to see him have 3 good races. He did really well in Wednesday’s sprint, so he has a lot of confidence going for him as well.”

    Audrey Vaillancourt (Biathlon Canada) racing to second in Friday's 7.2 k sprint at Frozen Thunder in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Photo: Justin Brisbane)
    Audrey Vaillancourt (Biathlon Canada) racing to second in the 7.2 k sprint at Canada’s IBU World Cup team trials Frozen Thunder in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Photo: Justin Brisbane)

    In the women’s 7.5 k sprint, Canada’s Audrey Vaillancourt cleaned to place seventh, 20.7 seconds behind Ukrainian winner Iryna Varvynets. Wednesday’s sprint winner, Italy’s Federica Sanfilippo placed second, 4.6 seconds back with a single penalty, while Varvynets hit all her targets.

    After starting her season on the World Cup, Vaillancourt, 23, placed 41st on Wednesday and 49th in Tuesday’s 15 k individual.

    In an email, she explained she was mostly disappointed to be missing out on the IBU World Cup this week. She arrived in Obertilliach on Monday.

    “I knew there was no point in being sad or angry all week, so I tried as best as I could to let go, put a smile on my face and focus on my races here,” Vaillancourt wrote. “Until today my races were not going so well — I had not been shooting as well as usual, and I had not had really good feeling on the skis. I wanted to do well enough to stay on the World Cup, maybe even wanted it too much. I think I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself and that probably affected my performances in the wrong way.”

    But working with coach Ferréol Cannard, a former French team biathlete who’s been assisting the Canadian IBU Cup team in Europe, helped with her shooting, she explain.

    “He took time with every athlete to go over their strengths and weaknesses,” Vaillancourt explained. “Right before my race, he asked me whether I had shot 10/10 before. I said yes, and he told me there was no reason not to do it today then.”

    She wanted to start strong, and did so, trying to hold it through the finish. After cleaning her final stage, Vaillancourt heard her wax techs tell her she was fighting for a podium.

    “… Until the last lap … I really died!” she wrote. “But I’m still glad I tried that strategy, I still made top ten after all! I really needed today’s result, not to prove anything to anyone, but just for myself. I’m very glad I finished on such a good note before Christmas.”

    Vaillancourt led fellow Canadian Julia Ransom, who placed 18th, 1:01.1 behind the winner with her second-straight clean race. Zina Kocher finished 25th and Emma Lunder was 60th, both with two penalties.

    IBU Cup racing in Obertilliach wraps up with the mixed relay on Saturday.

    Results: men | women

  • Ransom Cleans IBU Cup Sprint to Crack Top 10 in 7th, Christian Gow 8th for Canada (Updated)

    Ransom Cleans IBU Cup Sprint to Crack Top 10 in 7th, Christian Gow 8th for Canada (Updated)

    2014 IBU Junior World Championships pursuit (Photo: Katrina Howe)
    Canada’s Julia Ransom (116) racing to fourth in the 2014 IBU Junior World Championships pursuit in Presque Isle, Maine. (Photo: Katrina Howe)

    (Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Christian Gow, who placed eighth on Wednesday in the men’s 10 k sprint.)

    Canada’s Julia Ransom had wanted a top 10 — at least that’s what she wrote in an email on Tuesday after her first IBU Cup race of the season, the 15 k individual in Obertilliach, Austria.

    And don’t get her wrong, she was pleased with 11th, which remained her best-ever result on the international circuit. But she couldn’t help but feel like she was close.

    On Wednesday, Ransom, 21, of the Biathlon Alberta Training Center broke through in seventh with clean shooting in the women’s 7.5 k sprint in Obertilliach.

    Tenth after the first stage, she improved to sixth with perfect shooting through the second stage. On the final lap, she posted the 15th-fastest course time to finish seventh, 46.3 seconds behind Italy’s Frederica Sanfilippo, who won in 20:40.4. The top-four women all cleaned.

    “I am really excited with a 7th but more so with being so close to the podium,” Ransom wrote. “I wouldn’t change anything with shooting but I am going to work on finding every spare second on the course for Friday’s race [also a 7.5 k sprint].”

    Ransom explained that her shooting lifted her to the career best, in which she spent the time on quality shots.

    “I knew that I was in the mix for the top positions, but didn’t expect 3rd to tenth to be so close!” she wrote. “Made for a very exciting day. I crossed the finish line almost shocked… I think this may have been the first clean race I have ever had on the IBU cup circuit!

    “At this point I know that a podium is within reach,” she added. “After that, a top 30 World Cup will be my next goal. For now, I am just going to focus on enjoying the races, mountains and sunshine.”

    Ransom led teammates Audrey Vaillancourt in 41st (0+1), Emma Lunder in 64th (3+0), and Zina Kocher in 73rd (2+4).

    Christian Gow racing the men's 10 k sprint at the North American Rollerski Championships at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vt.
    Canada’s Christian Gow during the men’s 10 k sprint at the North American Rollerski Championships in August in Jericho, Vt.

    In the men’s 10 k sprint, 21-year-old Christian Gow finished eighth to lead the Canadians. His older brother Scott Gow was 11th.

    With a single prone penalty, Christian finished 35.8 seconds behind France’s Baptiste Jouty, who won in 25:53.8. Just two men in the top 10 cleaned: Germany’s Benedikt Doll in second and Tomas Vojik of the Czech Republic in 10th.

    “I am ecstatic with the race today,” Christian wrote in an email. “Yesterday’s race gave me the confidence that I could achieve my dream goal of top 10, or maybe even top 5.  However, I still wasn’t sure exactly how I would stack up since it is such a different race format … To finish in 8th place was incredible for me, and to see how close I am to the podium has brought even more purpose and excitement to my biathlon career.”

    Before this week, his previous IBU Cup best was 31st.

    “Since I haven’t raced at the international level since last February, it was hard to know how I would stack up against a strong field,” Christian explained. “I decided that if I finished the race and felt like I skied well, and shot up to my own standards, that I would be happy regardless of the placing.”

    His season-long goal was a top 15, although “before I could worry about that I had to see if I was even in good enough shape to achieve that sort of result,” he wrote. “I was extremely happy with my first race. It was an incredible feeling to see just how close I am getting to the top of the field.”

    After Wednesday’s race, his goals are a little loftier. “My ultimate goal for the season is to place top 3,” Christian wrote.

    Scott Gow cleaned prone and had two standing misses to finish 0.2 seconds behind Vojik and 37.3 seconds back from Jouty.

    “I am very happy with today’s race and have positives with yesterday’s race,” Scott said after placing 52nd with six penalties in the 20 k individual.“Yesterday I suffered with some bad shooting in 2 bouts which held me back, but I had decent skiing and otherwise good shooting to take away as a positive. Today was significantly better with great skiing, and decent shooting.

    “My goals for today were to ski consistently and focus on shooting. I would say I accomplished my goals skiing and in prone shooting,” he added.

    Teammate Macx Davies shot clean to finish 40.6 seconds back in 15th, and Carsen Campbell placed 59th with two penalties (1+1).

    Scott noted that his brother, who led the Canadian men’s team on Tuesday in 18th, “is performing very well … He has been training hard all year and it is paying off for him. He was good on skis today and had good shooting bouts which put him up with the top IBU athletes. If he keeps it up he will have a very strong season this year,” Scott said.

    “For the next two races my goal is to maintain good skiing and increase my shooting percentage,” he added. “If I can accomplish both of those goals then I believe I can see myself on the podium. The team is excited about having a strong mixed relay, and it will be important to execute my goals that day in particular to make sure our relay can have a great result.”

    The IBU Cup continues in Obertilliach with men’s and women’s sprints on Friday and a mixed relay on Saturday.

    Results: women | men

  • Canada’s Lunder, Ransom Go 10-11 in IBU Cup Individual

    Canada’s Lunder, Ransom Go 10-11 in IBU Cup Individual

    Emma Lunder competing in the World Cup pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia, in March. Photo: NordicFocus.com
    Emma Lunder competing in the World Cup pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia, in March. Photo: NordicFocus.com

    After a week of witting and waiting, the IBU Cup competitions in central Europe finally got started on Tuesday with 15 and 20 k individual competitions in Obertilliach, Austria.

    The circuit kicked off late November in Beitostølen, Norway. Races were scheduled to continue in Martell, Italy, but a lack of snow forced them to cancel. For team Canada, that was a bummer. They had flown over specifically for the Martell races, and were forced to hang out and train until added make-up races in Obertilliach started this week.

    “It was definitely nice to be racing today!” Canadian biathlete Emma Lunder wrote in an e-mail to FasterSkier. “I think our whole IBU team has been chomping at the bit to get our first races in, and I’m pretty pumped that it was so successful for me today. We’ve had just over a week of training in Obertilliach – I traveled to Europe knowing I’d be here for the whole 2 weeks, so it was nice to go into the tour knowing where we’d be.”

    In the 15 k, she led Canada with a tenth-place finish. Teammate Julia Ransom was close behind in 11th. With one and two penalties, respectively, they finished about two minutes behind race winner Tina Bachmann of Germany.

    “Shooting was definitely the key to my race today,” Lunder wrote. “It was an individual race, and I haven’t raced 15 k yet this season. The course here is quite challenging. One long downhill, but besides that a lot of climbing, and working every flat section, so I knew it was going to be a tough ski. I hadn’t anticipated it being quite so tough, and I was really feeling my legs after the second lap. With three to go, I just concentrated on every push being technically efficient, but especially honed in on my range focus.”

    Lunder explained that the team has been working with Ferreol Cannard, a former French team biathlete, since they’ve been in Europe.

    “I think having a fresh perspective can really help athletes, especially when you’ve got a week before the races,” she wrote. “His focus for us has been aimed towards shooting, and not ever throwing a shot away. I’ve really enjoyed working with him, and I hope the Canadian team can in the future.”

    Ransom agreed that Cannard was important to her success in her first European race of the season.

    “I had a new perspective on some of my weaknesses and had time to nail them down before today,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I was pleased with my shooting and couldn’t wait to get skiing fast. My goal for this week is a top 10 and after today’s performance, I am feeling confident that it’s within reach!”

    Another motivator and confidence-booster? Watching their Biathlon Alberta Training Center teammate Sarah Beaudry have her World Cup debut this past weekend in Hochfilzen, Austria. Beaudry used a clean prone stage to help the Canadian women’s relay team to 11th place.

    “Emma, Sarah, myself, and our other team mate Erin [Yungblut] train together every day,” Ransom wrote. “I would say that we are a perfect mix of different strengths that all compliment each other and better each other’s weaknesses. I was so proud to watch Sarah race in Hochfilzen… Solid day for her. We have known each other longer than we haven’t so I have seen the whole Beaudry spectrum! To follow up her World Cup debut AND Rosanna’s 5th place with Emma and I placing 10th and 11th was a perfect start to the first tour. The whole Canadian team is only going to build on this momentum and I am betting on a podium this season.”

    Also for Canada, Zina Kocher placed 43rd with six penalties, and Audrey Vaillancourt 49th with five penalties.

    In the 20 k, Christian Gow led the team in 18th place, 2:46 behind winner Vitaliy Kilchytskyy of Ukraine, with three penalties for Kilchytskyy’s one. His brother Scott Gow finished 52nd, Carsen Campbell 62nd, and Macx Davies 68th.

    Results: men / women

  • U.S. Biathletes Smith and Dalberg Look Back on World Juniors That Was, Forward to More European Racing

    U.S. Biathletes Smith and Dalberg Look Back on World Juniors That Was, Forward to More European Racing

    Casey Smith (USA) en route to 37th place in the junior men's individual in Obertilliach. He had his career-best finish of 23rd place in the pursuit on Sunday. Photo: US Biathlon/NordicFocus.
    Casey Smith (USA) en route to 37th place in the junior men’s individual in Obertilliach. He had his career-best finish of 23rd place in the pursuit on Sunday. Photo: US Biathlon/NordicFocus.

    With the U.S. bringing just two junior men and one junior woman to the World Youth and Junior Championships in Obertilliach, Austria, relay day isn’t going to mean much for the oldest athletes on the team.

    Instead, Casey Smith, Jake Dalberg, and Tara Geraghty-Moats had their last crack at the Championships on Wednesday, competing in the 12.5 / 15 k individual races: four shooting stage, a minute time penalty per missed shot.

    After an impeccable pursuit race that saw just one penalty in four stages, Smith couldn’t quite keep pace in the individual, collecting one missed shot in each of the first three stages and then two in the last stage. Nevertheless, he was able to move from 42nd as he left the range the final time up to 37th by the finish.

    “The individual went okay, it was not a great race but not bad either,” he wrote in an e-mail to FasterSkier. “Especially in an individual, with five misses you can’t expect to do great. Of course I would have like to hit more, but that is part of biathlon and what makes it fun and exciting.”

    Teammate Jake Dalberg actually shot much better, collecting only three penalties, but was hampered by an early crash. As he spun around in the snow, he managed to lose all four bullet-filled magazines that usually tuck into a rifle stock. Arriving at the range, he realized he had nothing to shoot with, and had to wait for about 45 seconds while an official brought him new ones.

    Dalberg ended up 52nd, but with the 45 seconds subtracted he would have been about even with Smith.

    Jake Dalberg competing in the sprint. Photo: US Biathlon/NordicFocus.
    Jake Dalberg competing in the sprint. Photo: US Biathlon/NordicFocus.

    “I shot that prone really fast, and honestly I am a little surprised that I hit 4 of 5,” he wrote in an e-mail. “So I was not so focused in that shooting, but the next three I was locked in and just paused too long on the last shot of each standing. I think as I have become more and more comfortable with the range I have been improving my averages in both training and obviously today in the race.”

    Geraghty-Moats faced bigger challenges on the range, where she missed a painful 11 shots and wound up 63rd, over 13 minutes behind the winner, Laura Dahlmeier of Germany.

    Like Geraghty-Moats, Dalberg failed to qualify for the pursuit race on Sunday, leaving him with just two starts in the series. He wasn’t exactly frustrated, but had hoped to gain one more race-worth of experience out of the trip.

    “I wouldn’t say that I am disappointed with these races too much, but I definitely was hoping to make the pursuit,” he explained. “My ski speed overall just was not there I felt like, just kind of missing that top end. It may be the altitude, or the fact that I had a pretty intense cold in between trials and coming here.”

    It’s Dalberg’s first trip to World Juniors, although he has international race experience as part of the National Guard biathlon team competing at military events. Those past races helped him prepare for this event – to an extent. Racing a military event in Italy still isn’t the same as World Juniors in Austria, with fans loudly cheering and booing in German for each shot on the range.

    “Having been to Europe to race before definitely helped, but I still had some nerves going into the sprint,” Dalberg said. “I think too some days training on the range it was so busy, that I lost some focus while shooting at certain points.”

    Staff Seargant Sarah Lehto, Dalberg’s coach, was nonetheless impressed at his performances this week.

    “This is by far the biggest international race series for Jake in his career,” she told FasterSkier. “He’s competed internationally for the past two seasons but nothing at this
    level. I’m extremely pleased that he was able to qualify for the team after narrowly missing the youth qualification last year and how he performed in such an atmosphere like these World Championships in Obertilliach… he’s now gained a ton of experience at this level which will help his development and expectation level for future racing.”

    She also acknowledged that Dalberg’s skiing wasn’t up to his usual level, but that she hoped he wasn’t too disappointed. The racer himself is hoping to get back into shape next week, when he heads over the border to Italian Military Championships.

    “For my first World Juniors, I would say I am happy with it, but felt like I could have had some better ski times,” he explained. “The competition was very tough, I knew it would be but the top several juniors I believe have been competing on the World Cup/IBU Cup, so I felt like the top end was very competitive, and I think overall the fields were pretty large this year compared to past years.”

    Smith is also hoping to carry on in the coming weeks; he’s waiting to hear whether he is accepted to a trip to U26/Open European Championships, where he thinks he can keep up this level of racing.

    “My skiing is feeling good,” Smith said. “I think that my training for the past few weeks leading up to now went well my coach had a pretty specific plan written out for me and I tried to follow it as close a possible which really helped me.”

    But unlike Dalberg, who has one more year of junior eligibility, Obertilliach was truly the end of the road for Smith. A four-time World Youth and Junior Championships competitor, he looked back on both this and other editions with fond memories.

    “I am happy with the Championships as a whole, like I said the other day I had my best ever Junior Worlds finish here in the pursuit which I was really happy about,” he said. “It is nice to see that I am continuing to improve especially since I am moving up into the senior ranks next year… I have definitely enjoyed all of my Junior Worlds and had fun at them, but I am ready to move on and continue.”

    Results: men / women

     

  • In Last Trip to World Junior Championships, Canada’s Davies Eighth in Individual

    In Last Trip to World Junior Championships, Canada’s Davies Eighth in Individual

    Canada's Macx Davies (left) skiing deliberately en route to a career-best finish at World Junior Championships. Photo: Hugh Harden via Biathlon Canada.
    Canada’s Macx Davies (left) skiing deliberately en route to a career-best finish at World Junior Championships. Photo: Hugh Harden via Biathlon Canada.

    It’s not that Macx Davies races so far at World Junior Championships were bad. No, 30th and 33rd in Obertilliach, Austria, were fine results for the Canadian biathlete.

    But he wanted more.

    “The race today was great,” he told FasterSkier after placing eighth in the 15 k individual race on Wednesday. “I started in a really focused state and kept that presence throughout the race. After my first two shootings I skied out for my third loop and somewhere out on course I realized that if I wanted to stay in the competition I had to hit my next ten shots. This wasn’t a frightening thought, simply a realization that if I want to do well in this race I needed to next ten shots. After that I knew that each shot needed to hit and made it happen.”

    Davies had missed a shot on each of the first two stages, adding up to two minutes of penalty time. Even though he had skied fast in the previous two races, the individual format doesn’t allow many mistakes; more than in any other race, quick skiing can’t make up for errors on the range.

    So as he cleaned the final two stages, Davies climbed towards the top. Starting in the middle of the field, he felt deceptively close to the win – although he eventually landed 1:37.3 behind Alexandr Loginov of Russia, the sprint champion, at the time he was right in the thick of things.

    “I didn’t know how close I was to the front until my last loop when I skied by my coach and he yells ‘five seconds to the leader’ –  at that point I am promptly brought out of my trance-like state to realize that I had shot 18/20 and was in with the leaders,” explained Davies. “I then forced myself to push incredibly hard on the last loop, almost throwing up and collapsing after the finish line.”

    His last loop was the sixth-fastest of the day, but not enough to catch Ruslan Tkalenko of Ukraine, the early leader. Compared to the whole field once the race was over, Davies climbed from 28th to 15th to eighth before the final lap, and ended up just three seconds out of seventh place and 12 from the top five.

    But despite not knowing how well he was doing, Davies had crafted a plan to make sure he was able to go all out on the final loop. The individual is the longest race format, but that didn’t concern him; he was more worried about the difficulty of the loop in Obertilliach, which is where Norwegian star Ole Einar Bjørndalen lives and trains for much of the year.

    “Althought it may not look too hard on paper or even skiing easy, there is very little rest on the course which forces you to either make some or pace your race perfectly,” Davies said. “After having raced similar courses on the weekend I decided to change my skiing strategy, because it was an individual, the shooters race, and take the flats much easier and push the pace on the uphills. With the new pacing I kept a lower heart rate throughout the first four loops and was really able to pick up the pace on the last loop.”

    The eighth-place finish continues a strong run by the Canadians as of late, after Sarah Beaudry placed fifth in the youth women’s individual the day before.

    “The team is definitely getting excited for our improving results as well as the upcoming relays,” Davies said. “There has been a little bit of sickness with some of the athletes but otherwise I feel that the team is in a very healthy place, both physically and mentally.”

    Menno Arendz of Prince Edward Island, brother to Canadian IPC ski and biathlon star Mark Arendz, had the best race of his first World Championships, placing 30th with just two penalties. After leading the junior men in the opening races Christian Gow was undone by six penalties and finished 36th, with the 16th-fastest course time; Jasper Mackenzie placed 65th.

    For Davies, who is in his last year of eligibility as a junior, it was a good way to cap off a career of junior racing.

    “My results don’t change my outlook on biathlon, but they do peak my interest and my desire to continue with the sport,” said the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre athlete. “For the next few weeks I am headed to the IBU cups in Martell, Italy and in Slovakia, after those I am staying for the Open European championships and also filling the gap in between the IBU and EOCH with a race in Altenberg, Germany.”

    Like most of his teammates, Davies will finish the season at home with national championships for both biathlon and skiing. But first, one more shot at glory as a junior, when the four men team up for the relay on Friday. Who knows what they might accomplish.

    “I feel like my training is much more validated having out together a race on the world stage!” Davies concluded.

    * * *

    Earlier Wednesday morning, Rose-Marie Côté seemed to be on track for her own top-ten, setting the tone in bib three in the women’s 12.5 k individual as she cleaned the first stage and missed one shot in the second. But as the rest of the field came through it was Laura Dahlmeier of Germany, the champion from the sprint, who rose to the top while Côté picked up two more penalties and landed 22nd overall.

    It was still Côté’s best result of the Championships, and a strong race in a heavilty stratified field: with fifth place already over three minutes behind Dahlmeier, the Canadian’s result 5:27.7 behind was much more impressive than it looked on paper.

    Julia Ransom placed 34th after struggling with seven penalties, and skied the 13th-fastest course time of the women. Erin Yungblut was 48th and Emma Lodge 50th for the Canadians as well.

    Results: men / women

     

  • Doherty’s Silver in Individual Brings Medal Tally to Three; 17-Year-Old’s Focus is ‘A Gift,’ Says Coach Shalna

    Doherty’s Silver in Individual Brings Medal Tally to Three; 17-Year-Old’s Focus is ‘A Gift,’ Says Coach Shalna

    Sean Doherty (USA) had the third-fastest course time of the day, which coupled with strong shooting in the second half of the race brought him a silver medal. Photo: US Biathlon/NordicFocus.
    Sean Doherty (USA) had the third-fastest course time of the day, which coupled with strong shooting in the second half of the race brought him a silver medal. Photo: US Biathlon/NordicFocus.

    Just as he had in Sunday’s sprint race, Sean Doherty of the U.S. got off to an inauspicious start in Tuesday’s youth individual race at World Youth and Junior Championships in Obertilliach, Austria. After earning silver and gold in the previous two races, Doherty quickly collected two penalties.

    Missing two shots in the first stage is especially punishing in the individual format, where each target that doesn’t turn which is penalized with a minute of additional time. Just 2.5 k into the 12.5 k competition, Doherty was already in a hole, 1:48 behind the leader, at that time Aslak Nenseter of Norway. (Penalties later piled up for Nenseter, who finished 26th.)

    Ranked 52nd after that initial prone stage, Doherty was quick on his skis and made up some of the time. But a stage later, he missed another shot and fell to 2:13 behind the new leader, Aristide Begue of France. At this point, however, other racers had also begun missing, and the American’s fast skiing pulled him up to 24th.

    It wasn’t great, but it was something.

    “It’s not uncommon to have first or second or any stage go wrong for top competitors at any level,” Doherty’s coach Algis Shalna wrote in an e-mail to FasterSkier. “Sean is especially good at not giving up or losing confidence. After first two shooting stages I was nervous – I thought a few times the medal is gone, but believed he will stay focused and shoot well last stages and he did. Just watching him on the course after he missed those first shots he looked like he felt he is still in the game, but just had a late start.”

    Doherty on the podium for the third time this week. Photo: US Biathlon/NordicFocus.
    Doherty on the podium for the third time this week. Photo: US Biathlon/NordicFocus.

    Doherty, who was unavailable for comment, put his head down and got it done. Over the next two stages he was flawless, not only hitting all ten targets but doing so more quickly than anyone else in the field. By the time he left the range the last time he was sitting in second, 18.5 seconds behind Begue.

    “We coaches tell athletes before every race to focus until last stage of shooting because the game is not over until everyone is through the range and done shooting and results are posted,” Shalna said. “There is always a case someone misses targets at the begging of the race and someone at the end.”

    Doherty nearly did the impossible and snagged the win, making up 12 seconds on Begue in the final 2.5 kilometers. But he was left with his second silver of the weekend, while Begue claimed his second title in this event in as many years.

    It was an emotional day for Begue, whose coach Matthieu Rouveix died this summer at age 32. The sharpshooting Frenchman missed a single shot out of 20 to claim his title.

    “I competed for my late coach Matthieu today and dedicate this gold medal to him,” Begue told the IBU press service after the race. “I was happy at the finish because I had a good race. If Sean was faster or not was not so important, there is always next year.”

    Anton Myhda of Ukraine earned bronze, like Begue missing only one shot. He was 35 seconds behind Doherty in the first podium of his international career.

    It was a strong day for the Americans across the board, with Jakob Ellingson finishing 21st with three penalties, Jordan McElroy 46th with six, and Brian Halligan 54th with seven. That’s a huge improvement over earlier in the week, when Doherty was the only American to make the 60-man pursuit.

    Depth on the team and excellence at the top: that’s something that the U.S. can celebrate. So is the fact that Doherty became the first American biathlete ever to earn three medals in youth and junior racing.

    After the hubbub surrounding his first silver medal and the subsequent gold in the pursuit, it would be easy for a 17-year-old athlete to get distracted. But Shalna marveled at Doherty’s resolve.

    “Overall his confidence is very stable,” he wrote. “It’s a gift… the emotions are high and me, personally, I am trying not to think what just happened but think what is the next thing I need to get done and do everything the same way, to stay on track for preparation for the next race. I know Sean does pretty much the same thing. He makes the plan in his head and sticks with it until it’s done.”

    Focus like that is what can bring an athlete back from such an early deficit – and it’s what Shalna has been trying to teach Doherty to do in the off-season, through hard work at shooting ranges in northern Vermont.

    “When we do shooting drills, I teach athletes not to think about what happened but focus on the next task,” he explained. “I say whether you had good shooting or bad, keep your  focus on the next task and just forget what happened before, positive or negative, in order to have the next task done good quality. I believe worrying too much becomes distraction and lowers the confidence.”

    That’s no problem for Doherty, who has taken the words of Shalna – who, as a relay gold medalist in the 1984 Olympics, knows a thing or two about pressure himself – to heart.

    “I thought of nothing, really,” Doherty told the IBU press service of his time on the course. “The coaches told me that I was doing okay, that I should not give up on the competition. So I focused on the second half of it.”

    * * *

    In the youth women’s 10 k individual, Anna Kubek of Mount Itasca again led the U.S. team, placing 38th with six penalties. Aleksandra Zakrzewska and Mikaela Paluszek finished 72nd and 79th.

    results: men / women

     

  • After Jet Lag and ‘Okay’ Opening to Youth Championships, Canada’s Beaudry Gets What She Came for with Fifth Place in Individual

    After Jet Lag and ‘Okay’ Opening to Youth Championships, Canada’s Beaudry Gets What She Came for with Fifth Place in Individual

    Sarah Beaudry of Canada celebrates as she heads to the podium ceremony to be honored for her fifth-place finish. Photo: Hugh Harden via Biathlon Canada.
    Sarah Beaudry of Canada celebrates as she heads to the podium ceremony to be honored for her fifth-place finish. Photo: Hugh Harden via Biathlon Canada.

    For some North American athletes who earn a trip to World Junior Championships, just making the team is something to celebrate – a long-planned goal, an accomplishment that defines a season.

    But once the roster is named, those athletes get serious about what they might accomplish. And this is especially true for those who are returning for their second, or even third or fourth, international tour.

    “We had two goals for the Championships,” Biathlon Canada High Performance Director Christ Lindsay told FasterSkier in an interview on Tuesday. “One is in a participatory and preparation context, where we see that athletes who have been exposed to international competition come back refocused, and they know where they are in relation to the rest of the world and are able to use that experience as a springboard for future success. The other side of our goals are in the performance area.”

    The team set specific goals for its elite athletes going into World Youth and Junior Championships in Obertilliach, Austria, and Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, British Columbia, had among the toughest of tasks: “For Sarah, the goal was top 12 results,” Lindsay said.

    After the sprint and pursuit races this weekend, Beaudry was unsatisfied. A three-time competitor in the youth division of biathlon’s championships, as well as a participant in last season’s Youth Olympic Games, her 36th and 28th-place finishes were solid – but not anything exciting.

    “Both the sprint and the pursuit went okay,” she wrote in an e-mail on Monday. “Both days I felt like I wasn’t skiing my best. I was really happy with my shooting in the pursuit but it would have been nice to hit a few more in the sprint. I was definitely hoping for a little bit better results, but I still have the individual tomorrow to improve on my current results.”

    Well: mission accomplished. On Tuesday Beaudry jetted into the spotlight, collecting only two penalties in the 10 k pursuit race and placing fifth, 25 seconds off the podium.

    “It was more of a fresh start after Friday’s race, where I was very nervous and wasn’t quite feeling quick after the long travel,” Beaudry wrote after the individual. “Surprisingly, I managed to not let my nerves get in the way during the shooting. I knew this was my chance and I knew if I wanted it I would have to shoot well.”

    Beaudry on course in Obertilliach. Photo: Hugh Harden via Biathlon Canada.
    Beaudry on course in Obertilliach. Photo: Hugh Harden via Biathlon Canada.

    The result was better than any of Beaudry’s previous international races, a testament to how hard she has trained this year. After graduating from high school last spring, she joined the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre in Canmore and has been working full-time with coach Richard Boruta, who is also the head of the Canadian team at the Championships.

    That, says Lindsay, has allowed an experienced junior to have the kind of breakthrough that put her so close to the podium even though Beaudry, a strong skier and sprinter in particular, admitted that “I wouldn’t say the individual [where each missed shot is penalized by a minute of added time] would be my strongest format.”

    “I do expect my athletes to perform to the level of their abilities, so in that regard I knew that Sarah had the potential to do just that,” Boruta wrote in an e-mail regarding Beaudry’s finish. “However, in biathlon, more than many other sports, it is very difficult to expect podium performances, because in elite racing an error on the shooting range can often cost you as many as 10 or more places. She did today exactly what she has been training for, which for sure is a good thing for her future.”

    With one penalty in each standing stage – which came second and fourth out of the four stages – Beaudry was always close to the top. After one stage she ranked sixth and a stage later seventh; for the rest of the race she hovered between fourth and fifth. But although she knew she was having a good race, Boruta didn’t add any pressure by telling her how close she was to the podium.

    “In this age group we usually try to keep our athletes on their race plan until the shooting is over,” he explained. “Most of the information is related to ski speed and technique, but we didn’t share with her the exact position. Usually, they will either start skiing too hard or thinking too much and the last shooting is important enough to change the race outcome completely. She knew on the last 2.5 km loop where she is and what she needs to do and she did her best to keep the position.”

    The last loop was actually Beaudry’s slowest – try as she might, she couldn’t make up ground. But it didn’t matter, because the next finisher was 20 seconds behind.

    “I was definitely tired by the last lap but was feeling a lot better than the other races,” Beaudry wrote.

    And she was never in a position to win; Uliana Kaisheva of Russia completed a clean sweep of the youth events, winning by a whopping 1:20 despite two penalties, the same as Beaudry’s score. In fact, both Beaudry’s success and her distance from the winner were characteristic of important lessons that Lindsay hopes Canada’s young athletes will learn. First of all, the best in the world are very, very good. Not only in the youth women’s division, where Kaisheva has dominated, but also in the junior men’s division, a group of athletes have been head and shoulders above the rest.

    “We were quite surprised at the level of quality at the very top end,” Lindsay said. “And I think, specifically, with a few of the winning athletes – some of them we’ve already seen – but some of them are now registered for the World senior Championships. But some of them are athletes that we have not seen before in competition. It’s tough, but it’s also a reminder that we can’t be complacent back here. Just because you’re the number one in the U.S., or in Canada, or in North America, really doesn’t give you a good gauge on how you’re going to do when you compete against the Europeans.”

    But the second message is hope.

    “A lot can happen for an athlete at 17 or 18 years old within six months,” he said. “Just because you feel a little sluggish here doesn’t mean that you can’t become that person who wins the medal.”

    And that’s especially important for Beaudry’s teammates. Another top Canadian youth, Danielle Vrielink, broke a bone in her wrist while tobogganing. So the other three members of the youth women’s squad are young – 16 years old, the bottom of the age group as opposed to Beaudry’s 18 years – and have never before raced in Europe.

    “I think it is a great eye-opener for these girls and they will have better understanding now what is really expected from athletes competing at this level,” Boruta wrote. “And I believe that it is motivating to see your team-mate do this well, that it is not only a privilege of Germans or Norwegians or Russians.”

    Lindsay called Beaudry “a leader,” but said that he was also impressed with the younger athletes: in the individual, for instance, Leilani Tam Von Burg placed 50th, Emily Dickson 54th, and Charlotte Hamel 61st. While Dickson had six penalties, Hamel and Tam Von Burg had just three and four.

    “I’m not disappointed by any means with the performances, and quite frankly I’m happy at the number of younger athletes we have there and how they’ve been able to put themselves together to get through races successfully and not have blow-ups, and to be able to learn something,” Lindsay said.

    For Beaudry, though, leadership isn’t a chore – it’s a treat.

    “It is fun being with the new girls who were all so excited for their first international race and remembering what it was like for me the first time racing in Europe,” she wrote in an e-mail.

    * * *

    In the youth men’s 12.5 k pursuit, Canada was left without its top racer, Stuart Harden, who Boruta said had “some quite serious health problems” and may or may not be back for the relay.

    As such, he had nothing to add when Aristide Begue of France repeated his world title in the event from last season, or when Sean Doherty of the U.S. placed second, collecting his third medal of the championships – a record for a U.S. biathlete.

    Instead it was Carsen Campbell leading the way in 37th. After three stages Campbell, of Prince Edward Island, seemed to be headed to his second top-30 finish of the Championships, but two more penalties in the last stage dropped him down the list.

    “He started with two misses in first prone, which in this type of race is very discouraging,” Boruta wrote. “You have to be very good skier to keep the hope of having a good result with so many shooting penalties. He doesn’t have much perspective about how well you actually need to ski at this level, so he will probably learn a lot. He is also interacting with other athletes and it helps him to become better athlete himself.”

    Matthew Strum placed 67th and Arthur Roots 86th to round things out for Canada.

    results: men / women

     

  • Led By Ransom’s 15th, Five Canadian Women Improve in Youth and Junior Pursuits

    Led By Ransom’s 15th, Five Canadian Women Improve in Youth and Junior Pursuits

    Olga Podchufarova (RUS) after winning the junior women's pursuit. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.
    Olga Podchufarova (RUS) after winning the junior women’s pursuit. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.

    With Sean Doherty stealing the show in the youth pursuit, there was plenty for North America to be excited about in the third day of racing at World Youth and Junior Championships for biathlon in Obertilliach, Austria.

    “It was great day for all of us here and biathlon fans,” Doherty’s coach Algis Shalna wrote in an e-mail to FasterSkier.

    But with the gold medal heading to the United States, it was perhaps easy to forget that the youth men were actually the fourth group to race on Sunday, and there were many other strong North American performances before that. Canadians Stuart Harden, Julia Ransom, and Christian Gow each scored their second top-20 finish of the Championships, while American Casey Smith had a phenomenal pursuit, jumping up about 20 places based on strong shooting.

    * The first race of the day was the youth women’s 7.5 k pursuit, where Uliana Kaisheva of Russia thoroughly crushed the field, expanding her lead from the sprint into a 1:15 victory over Galina Vishnevskaya of Kazakhstan despite four penalties.

    This race generated the least buzz for the U.S. and Canada. Both teams had big hopes in this division, with U.S. biathlete Anna Kubek and Canadian Sarah Beaudry coming off strong seasons last year that included trips to the Youth Olympic Games.

    After placing 34th and 36th in the sprint, the pair broke into the top 30 in the pursuit, with Kubek moving up to 25th with just two penalties in the 20-shot race. Beaudry improved to 28th with one more penalty.

    “Sarah Beaudry is still young, but she has been to this last year and she also went to the Youth Olympics last year,” Canadian team leader and Biathlon Alberta Training Centre Head Coach Richard Boruta told FasterSkier. “She is still fighting with jet-lag and not feeling best on skis. The expectation is that she will possibly improve her ranks as the week will move on.”

    * Next up were the junior women. While no Americans qualified for the 60-woman, 10 k pursuit, Canada was impressive in placing all four of its team members in the race. Furthermore, all four improved.

    They were led by Julia Ransom, who started in 16th position after the sprint. With a penalty early and then two clean stages, she moved into the top ten before slipping back to 15th after two missed shots in the final standing stage.

    Ransom was ultimately 3:09 behind the winner, Olga Podchufarova of Russia, who swept summer biathlon World Championships this past season and won by 17 seconds after sprint winner Laura Dahlmeier of Germany collapsed in the final stage, missing two shots to Podhufarova’s one. It was still a good day for Germany, though: Franziska Preuss earned bronze and Vanessa Hinz was fourth.

    After earning silver in the youth pursuit last year, Ransom was up against some tougher competition this time around.

    “The competition in Junior seems to be a little more competitive than Youth,” she wrote in an e-mail. “There are a lot of fantastic athletes looking to make it to IBU/World Cup and you can tell they are hungry! I was happy with my race both yesterday and today. I thought my shooting was solid in the sprint and may have lost a little focus in my pursuit (missed 2 on last bout). The sprint was a good wake up for my legs as I felt a lot better skiing today.”

    Boruta, who coaches Ransom year-round in Canmore, said that her races so far were solid performances.

    “Performance wise, I think Julia and Christian [Gow] as first-year juniors are right on target, they didn’t have any extraordinary races, but they did perform at the current level of their abilities and this is were they are in the world right now,” he wrote in an e-mail.

    Emma Lodge and Rose-Marie Côté started 41st and 43rd, and improved a few places to 36th and 38th. But they couldn’t actually work as a team as they moved up on the trails.

    “Rose and I both started in the wave start 4:00 min behind the leader, but didn’t spend much time together as I only hit 3 on the first prone when she cleaned so I spent much of the race playing catchup,” Lodge explained in an e-mail. “It wasn’t until the last lap when I left the penalty loop just ahead of her that I saw her again, so that was helpful having her chasing me down to the finish line!”

    Lodge had five penalties after that frustrating first stage, while Côté limited herself to three. She had climbed up to 33rd before taking two penalties in the final stage; both were over seven minutes behind Podchufarova, having lost an additional three minutes in the pursuit.

    “Today’s race felt better than yesterday, with more spark in my skiing,” Lodge wrote. “I guess I needed a really hard effort to get my legs going! My prone was a bit off today which is frustrating as usually I can count on it, but I am happy with my 8 standing hits. We have two days off before the Individual on Wednesday and I’m feeling really prepared for the next races as I had a great training season and both my skiing and shooting improved. I’m excited for the next races, it’s awesome racing here under the sun and with so many competitive athletes around.”

    Erin Yungblut, the only one of Canada’s junior women to come to Obertilliach as a first-timer on the international scene, improved from 59th to 52nd with four penalties.

    Results: youth women / junior women

    continued with men’s reporting here.

     

     

  • Gow, Harden Notch Their Second Top-20’s of the Weekend; Casey Smith’s Flawless Shooting Gains 20 Places in Junior Pursuit

    Gow, Harden Notch Their Second Top-20’s of the Weekend; Casey Smith’s Flawless Shooting Gains 20 Places in Junior Pursuit

    Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway skied deliberately early in the junior men's pursuit, then capitalized on shooting errors by the Russian leaders to take the win. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.
    Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway skied deliberately early in the junior men’s pursuit, then capitalized on shooting errors by the Russian leaders to take the win. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.

    This is a continuation of reporting on the third day of biathlon World Youth and Junior Championships; for part one, on the women’s races, click here.

    * The transition to men’s racing in the afternoon was exciting as Russians Maxim Tsvetkov and Alexandr Loginov, both very successful in last year’s Championships in different divisions, took control early and duked it out as Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø tried to play catch-up. But in the final stage, the Russians faltered, each collecting several penalties. That left Bø a fighting chance, and he came onto the range, cleaned his targets with impeccable efficiency, and left with the lead, which he never relinquished.

    Behind them, Christian Gow was chasing hard. Starting 14th after the pursuit, he had a shot at moving into the top ten. But the field continued to stratify and with five penalties, he slipped to 16th.

    “There are some big gaps in the category, mainly because the top four guys are almost out of the rest of the competition’s league,” Gow told FasterSkier. “The gaps have not made it harder to achieve better results, for me all it would have taken was a few more targets. I was in the top 10 for awhile today, but really fell back with some poor standing shooting.”

    Gow believes that he has a good chance to improve in the individual race, where each missed shot accrues a one-minute time penalty.

    “The top guys are fast, but with one minute penalties there is a lot more room for guys to break in to the top three,” he wrote in an e-mail.

    Overall, he was pleased with his race, but knows that he needs to improve on the range for the rest of the week.

    “My shooting was a bit of a disappointment,” Gow wrote. “I had a miss in each prone, but one of them I rushed a lot which I could have easily avoided.  My first standing was terrible, but I brought it back for the last one which I’m happy about.”

    Behind Gow, teammate Macx Davies also had a shot to move up after starting 31st. But despite making it into the top 25 in the middle of the race, three penalties in the final stage bumped him back down to 33rd. Despite the 21st-fastest ski time, seven penalties were too many for the Canadian.

    “Coming into the last standing with my legs were aching and my heart rate was high, but not too different from the first standing bout,” Davies explained. “However I got a bit excited after my first hit and failed to maintain a good sight picture for the rest of the shooting. The shooting conditions are not difficult looking at the range, little to no wind and light isn’t affecting the shots, but the mats are a slippery, especially standing, and the course allows little recovery time with all the flat terrain and quick down hills.”

    Davies said that his skiing was “at an amazing level,” so he hopes to improve in the upcoming competitions. Both he and Gow are from Canmore but on separate teams, although, as Gow said, “we have been racing together forever though and if our schedules mesh we will often ski together.” Despite the different training schedules each has seen a similar ramping-up of training this year.

    “The biggest difference in my training was the volume of hours and the focus that I brought to each session,” Gow said of his improvement on skis.

    Finally, American Casey Smith started behind the Canadians in 43rd.

    “After the sprint race I was defiantly disappointed with my standing shooting,” he told FasterSkier. “My prone went alright with only one miss and that one was a split. Then in my standing I was not very settled and should have paused for a second to get things right, but I didn’t. I felt that my skiing went well though, that it was good enough that if I hit my targets I could be right in the mix.”

    With an obvious goal for the pursuit, Smith set about achieving it. His single penalty was only matched by two other competitors and he moved all the way up to 23rd – the second-biggest move of the day. That result represented Smith’s best finish ever in a total of four World Championships appearances.

    “With my shooting I was just thinking about taking good shots and making sure my mechanics were correct,” he said. “I don’t think that the conditions were tricky at all. There was no wind and everything was pretty consistent. There is an uphill range approach which I think could easily throw you off if you are not paying enough attention… I was very happy with my pursuit race it is my best Junior Worlds finish ever and I also moved up 20 places which is a good feeling.”

    * Finally, it was Sean Doherty’s turn – and Stuart Harden’s. The Canadian, who like Doherty had competed at the Youth Olympic Games with great results, had placed 20th in the sprint and was looking to move up.

    “I wasn’t totally satisfied with my sprint performance, my shooting wasn’t where it needed to be both accuracy and time wise,” Harden told FasteSkier. “My skiing was enough to get me into the top 20, but I’ve felt better in earlier races so far this season.”

    Luckily, he had a plan for the pursuit.

    “I knew I had to speed up my range times a bit, and I hoped my steady shooting would cope,” he explained. “I had a vague plan to stick with the guys around me off the first few loops, because I know from the Youth Olympics and WYJCH last year that we have close ski speeds. After that, I was banking on staying out of the penalty loop and seeing how much left I had for the last lap. Sometimes plans don’t work out unfortunately.”

    With one penalty in the first prone stage and then a clean second stage, Harden did move into the top ten. But then the wheels came off, and he picked up three more penalties in the next two standing stages. That left him in 18th – still an improvement, but not what he was hoping for.

    “It was a hilly loop, but a quick one as well so I made sure to keep the pressure on each loop – it’s pretty obvious from my lap times that my shape wasn’t good enough to make that happen today,” Harden wrote. “I was in more of a ‘limit your losses’’ mindset, which can’t happen if I want to do well.”

    Like Davies, he noted that the mats in Obertilliach were especially slippery, which was a challenge in standing and provided “less stability that I’m used to,” Harden said. In the television broadcast of the junior races, the men could be seen coming into standing much more slowly and deliberately than usual, and taking their time setting their position on the mats.

    But all excuses aside – even the reasonable ones – Harden says that he’s just not where he was hoping to be this year. At the Youth Olympic Games, Harden had moved from fourth in the sprint to first in the pursuit, but had missed a penalty loop and was penalized by two minutes, dropping him to seventh; excruciatingly, his 38-second lead at the finish would have still left him with the win even if he had done the extra loop.

    Knowing what he was capable of left him with high hopes for 2013.

    “I set higher goals for myself this year without a doubt, which I could justify with my results from last season,” Harden wrote. “A place on the podium in Obertilliach isn’t unreasonable I think, but I’m re-evaluating the rest of my week based on how I’ve been feeling on and off the skis for the past few weeks.”

    Canadians also had their hopes pinned on Carsen Campbell, who had placed 30th in the sprint. But eight penalties were too many and the Prince Edward Island native fell to 42nd in the pursuit.

    “In the sprint my focus was good and the shooting went pretty well as planned,” Campbell wrote in an e-mail. “This was not the case today, I just couldn’t get my head in the right place. I am a bit disappointing with my race today, my skiing felt really good and I had great skis but with eight misses you don’t get very far here.”

    After three misses in the first prone stage, Campbell turned his skiing up a notch to try to compensate, turning in the tenth-fastest second-loop time and jumping back into the 30’s. But another penalty in the second stage, then two in each standing, tired him out. At 150 meters apiece, Campbell skied a full 1.2 k more than the course length itself.

    Still, he’s not discouraged for the rest of the Championships.

    “I am feeling a lot stronger than last year, my form is better am I am mentally much better prepared and the adjustment to Europe was pretty easy this year,” he said. “I feel confident that it will be back in order for the individual… [but] the competition is really stiff, in the sprint the top 30 were all within 1:30 so there is no room for error.”

    The third Canadian in the youth pursuit, Arthur Roots, finished 60th.

    Overall, the youth category is a tough place to race, as athletes are generally talented, but not used to the world stage.

    “For the [less experienced] of the crew, this is a big eye-opener, but very important for their next development,” Canadian team leader Richard Boruta said. “Back home, you finish in top four and it is very easy to start thinking that you are one of the best, but than you come here and you realize that within the minute or two between you and the next Canadian guy ahead could be easily 20 or 30 other athletes.”

    As we’ve discussed on FasterSkier before, U.S. and Canadian teams have the added challenge of developing strong juniors despite the fact that many don’t take up biathlon, or even skiing, at a particularly young age.

    “Especially for the youth athletes as well, the performance is somewhat dependent on their biological age and number of years in a regular training program,” Boruta said. “Most of the North American are late-starters, so they are catching up in later age.”

    Even for experienced athletes like Harden, there are challenges that can be chalked up to simply growing up.

    “I think a more experienced athlete may have done that sooner, but I’m just confronting it now,” he said of the realization that he’s not where he wants to be. “Regardless of my ranking in each race, I’m still really happy to be here, I’m really happy for Sean [Doherty] and all the other athletes I’ve raced and gotten to know, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.”

    Results: youth men / junior men

     

  • Doherty Overcomes Early Penalties in World Youth Championships Pursuit, Earns First American Gold Since 1997

    Doherty Overcomes Early Penalties in World Youth Championships Pursuit, Earns First American Gold Since 1997

    Sean Doherty enjoyed every second of his time carrying the American flag across the finish line as a World Champion. Photo: UBSA/NordicFocus.
    Sean Doherty enjoyed every second of his time carrying the American flag across the finish line as a World Champion. Photo: UBSA/NordicFocus.

    On Friday, Sean Doherty won the first U.S. medal at biathlon World Youth and Junior Championships since 2009, when Grace Boutot won silver. The drought to a male medal was one year longer, back to 2008, when Leif Nordgren earned bronze.

    And going into the 10 k pursuit on Sunday, it seemed like another medal was, well, not a guarantee, but definitely a strong possibility. Doherty, who lives in Center Conway, New Hampshire, but trains with the Vermont Collegiate Biathlon/Ethan Allen program in northern Vermont, started only 3.6 seconds behind sprint winner Fabien Claude of France.

    Things didn’t get off to a great start, though, when Doherty missed two shots in the very first prone stage and dropped to fourth, 30 seconds out of the lead, which had shifted to Rene Zahkna of Estonia.

    “When I was in the wax cabin before the race, thinking over my plan, that was not how I planned it,” Doherty laughed over the phone from Obertilliach, Austria. “But if there’s any time in the race to have not your best shooting stage, the first one is okay, because there’s plenty of racing to work back from that. And I feel like I did that very well. I wasn’t too worried about it at the time because I didn’t drop back too far, and I knew I still had three shooting stages to work with and focus on.”

    Doherty on the range, where he didn't let nerves rattle him as they had earlier leaders. Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.
    Doherty on the range, where he didn’t let nerves rattle him as they had earlier leaders. Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.

    That kind of calm and maturity propelled 17-year-old Doherty – who remarkably still has another year of youth eligibility – steadily upwards. By the third stage, he hadn’t collected any more penalties and took the lead. Leaving the last standing stage, he had a 33-second advantage over Zahkna, and had sealed the deal on the first gold for the United States since Jay Hakkinen’s in 1997.

    In a somewhat sloppy four-stage pursuit, very few racers shot better than Doherty; only three beat his three penalties, which wouldn’t usually be characterized as exceptional. Couple that with the 15th-fastest ski time, and you’ve got yourself a World Champion.

    “It was really cool to have a good race when it really counted,” Doherty told FasterSkier.

    His late-in-the-game cool was all the more impressive considering what had happened in the previous races. In the junior men’s race, which had finished just 20 minutes before the youth men began, Russians Alexandr Loginov and Maxim Tsvetkov came into the range the last time in first and second, then missed three and two targets and handed the win to Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway.

    That wasn’t going to happen to Doherty.

    “With the standing shooting, I just knew that I had to do what I was trained to do,” he said. “Not change anything. I’ve seen it a lot from watching the World Cup online and racing experience: people hesitate and miss. So I just went with my pace and how I felt. It worked out just fine for me.”

    After clinching the victory, he was able to take enough time to grab an American flag in the finishing stretch and ski it across the finish line.

    Doherty's single penalty in the last stage left him smiling: the win was clinched. Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.
    Doherty’s single penalty in the last stage left him smiling: the win was clinched. Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.

    “It was incredible,” he said of the last lap of skiing. “I wasn’t getting any splits, but it was just amazing to know that it was locked up. That I was going to be able to grab the flag at the end – all the stuff that I just see people do at big World Championship type races, and then all of a sudden, wow, I’m going to be able to do that.”

    In a single weekend, Doherty became the most decorated young biathlete in U.S. history. While Hakkinen can match his gold, never before has an American won multiple individual medals at the Youth and Junior Championships. (Lanny Barnes won bronze and relay silver in 2002.)

    For Doherty – who has been training hard all year with coach Algis Shalna, himself an Olympic gold medalist for the Soviet Union in the relay in 1984 – the medals had seemed like a possibility, but hardly something to check off a goal sheet.

    “I went in knowing that I was capable of a podium, but it’s very hard to plan this type of result, I think,” he said. “I was going in hopeful, but not necessarily like, we have a major goal to get on the podium.”

    Besides training, which takes him tow or three hours from home to places like Jericho or Craftsbury, Vermont, for weekends with his coach and teammates, Doherty has prepared by doing a few biathlon races in North America and some ski races as well. Earlier this winter in Craftsbury, he was the third junior and first J1 in a 12 k Eastern Cup race, right in with several racers who earned trips to U23’s.

    But as a biathlete, Doherty turned heads when he crushed the World Juniors qualification field, typically winning by two or three minutes. That can give an athlete confidence, but it’s also completely different than competing against a strong field at an event like World Junior Championships.

    On the podium for the second time this weekend. With second-place Rene Zahkna of Estonia (left) and third-place Fredrik Roervik of Norway (right). Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.
    On the podium for the second time this weekend. With second-place Rene Zahkna of Estonia (left) and third-place Fredrik Roervik of Norway (right). Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.

    Luckily, Doherty has been to two previous Championships, as well as the Youth Olympic Games. And he also has Shalna’s guidance.

    “It’s just a lot of good coaching,” Doherty said of his preparation for big races. “Algis and Vlad [Cervenka] and the whole staff is really great. So it’s relying on some previous experience and trusting that my coaches have a good plan for me. That’s really all you can do. Maybe you can watch some online and get a feel for the environment, but it’s nothing compared to when you’re actually there.”

    Doherty will have one more chance to add to his medal tally at these Championships, in the individual race on Tuesday. With no other American men qualifying for the 60-racer pursuit, a team relay medal seems unlikely.

    After Obertilliach, Doherty will focus on the junior races at Open European/U26 Championships, to be held in Bulgaria later this winter. In previous seasons he has also raced at home for Kennett High School, but with his biathlon focus growing every year that’s no longer a possibility.

    “Unfortunately, because I’m traveling so much I’m not actually doing the high school races,” he said. “I feel like I can’t really be a part of the team because I’m not there enough. I’d love to, but I’m not doing that this year.”

    Instead, he’s soaking up an experience that only a few Americans are lucky enough to earn: racing in Europe, and carrying that flag home across the finish line.

    Results

    More fun with the flag.
    More fun with the flag. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013 .
  • Two Top-20s for Canada in Biathlon World Junior Sprints; Gow, Ransom Strong in Junior Debuts

    Two Top-20s for Canada in Biathlon World Junior Sprints; Gow, Ransom Strong in Junior Debuts

    Laura Dahlmeier of Germany on her way to her first World Championship, in the junior women's sprint. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.
    Laura Dahlmeier of Germany on her way to her first World Championship, in the junior women’s sprint. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.

    Several Canadian juniors entered the World Youth and Junior Championships with big expectations after successful runs last season. But in 2013, both Christian Gow and Julia Ransom had an additional challenge: moving up an age class.

    In 2012 in Kontiolahti, Finland, Ransom had medaled and Gow finished 11th in the youth races. After turning 19, they were bumped up to juniors.

    “The level this year does seem a bit more elite to me, especially the lead group of guys,” Gow told FasterSkier. “I think that makes it more difficult to get a good result, but it is better to see where I stack up against the very best.   knew this year would be tougher, but I trained a lot harder and more focused than any other year so I feel prepared.”

    In both the men’s and women’s sprint races in Obertilliach, Austria, on Saturday, the very best were indeed a step above the rest. Laura Dahlmeier of Germany won the women’s 7.5 k by 48 seconds over Olga Podchufarova of Russia; pairs of Russians and Norwegians fought it out in the men’s 10 k race, but fifth place was almost a minute behind.

    Starting with bib 16, Gow was well-ranked early in the race, especially after cleaning in prone. But then the veterans hit the trails.

    Alexandr Loginov, champion in the junior men's sprint. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.
    Alexandr Loginov, champion in the junior men’s sprint. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.

    Russia’s Alexandr Loginov prevailed, picking up his fourth individual medal at this event and first gold; Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway, twice a World Champion last year, placed second. For third-place Maxim Tsvetkov of Russia, bronze was surely a disappointment after two gold medals at each of the last two Championships. And in four Championships Vetle Sjastad Christiansen of Norway has never not won a medal – so despite fourth place in the sprint he can’t be counted out of future races.

    So while Gow ultimately placed 14th after accumulating two penalties in standing, he was still only a minute out of the top five. And he knows he can do better.

    “I was really happy with the start of my race…. but I am disappointed with my standing,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It was not windy at all today. However, there was some strange lighting because the sun was really bright on the carpets, but the targets were really dark. I found it difficult to get a good sight picture, but I still feel like I threw two shots away. I wish that I could have at least one of them back.”

    He had the best North American race of the day, although Ransom almost matched his result, placing 16th in the women’s sprint. With a single penalty, Ransom was steady on the trails and also sits just over a minute out of the top five. Going into the pursuit races on Sunday, both have strong chances for a top-ten showing or better.

    The women’s field shook out a bit differently than the men’s. Dahlmeier hasn’t been on the podium in several years, but more recent medalists struggled: Hilde Fenne, who was superb in the youth races last year and has since scored World Cup points and participated in two winning World Cup relays, was the third Norwegian across the line in 13th. Grete Gaim, who won last year’s youth pursuit, was 26th. Chardine Sloof, who became the first Dutch World Champion, placed 31st.

    But Ransom’s success isn’t the only thing the Canadian women’s team has to be excited about. They placed all four racers in the 60-woman pursuit, with Emma Lodge and Rose-Marie Coté finishing 41st and 43rd and first-time World Juniors competitor Erin Yungblut sneaking in by the skin of her teeth, in a tie for 59th.

    The lone American in the race, Tara Geraghty-Moats, placed 63rd.

    Macx Davies also turned in a strong ski performance for the Canadian men, placing 30th. That was despite five penalties; Davies had the tenth-fastest ski time of the day, and Gow the 15th.

    Menno Arendz just missed the pursuit, finishing 64th with one penalty, and Jasper Mackenzie placed 73rd. In his second trip to the Championships, Mackenzie was hoping for more.

    Vetle Sjastad Christiansen of Norway on the range; he placed fourth. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.
    Vetle Sjastad Christiansen of Norway on the range; he placed fourth. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.

    “To be honest I’m a little disappointed with my results today,” he wrote in an e-mail. “One of my main goals coming into this year’s Championship was to qualify for the pursuit… My shooting wasn’t to good, I felt solid on the range coming into the race today but I honestly don’t know where I went wrong on my prone misses. 7/10 shooting at this level of competition just isn’t good enough. It was a lot of fun to get out and race today but I know I can perform better than that.”

    While Arendz is a first-timer at this level of competition, Mackenzie, like Gow and Davies, feels like his is settling in to the international scene a little more.

    “Last year I was very nervous coming into the Championships,” Mackenzie told FasterSkier. “This year I have been feeling way more confident, I feel like I have improved a lot of the summer, my skiing and shooting have both improved significantly. It’s just a bummer that today’s race did not reflect my true potential. This year I really just wanted to be able to walk away from my races knowing that I did the absolute best I could, and I’m confident that I’ll do just that in the races to come.”

    For the U.S., Casey Smith finished 43rd and Jacob Dalberg 71st.

    Results: men / women

     

  • Doherty Races to Silver in Biathlon Youth Worlds Opener

    Doherty Races to Silver in Biathlon Youth Worlds Opener

    Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H./Vermont Collegiate Biathlon) skis to a career-best second place, 3.6 seconds out of first, at the IBU Youth World Championships on Friday in Obertillach, Austria. (Photo: USBA/Nordic Focus)
    Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H./Vermont Collegiate Biathlon) skis to a career-best second place, 3.6 seconds out of first, at the IBU Youth World Championships on Friday in Obertillach, Austria. (Photo: USBA/Nordic Focus)

    Sean Doherty knew exactly what he was in for heading into his third International Biathlon Union (IBU) Youth World Championships. The 17-year-old New Hampshire resident had been to two junior world championships before: first in 2011 in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, and again last year in Kontiolahti, Finland.

    His best individual result had been 13th, which he took in the 2012 sprint and pursuit. Pretty good, but Doherty wanted more. Last year, he won bronze in the mixed relay at the Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

    Back in Austria – this time in Obertilliach – Doherty proved to himself and everyone else that he was capable of not only a podium, but nearly a win, in the 2013 youth worlds opener. The Vermont Collegiate Biathlon member raced to silver in Friday’s 7.5-kilometer sprint, finishing just 3.6 seconds behind winner Fabien Claude of France.

    Doherty skied the fourth-fastest time of more than 100 competitors in the men’s youth race, rising five places on the last of three laps to place second. Seventeenth after the first lap, he finished in 21:16.0 with two misses – one at each stage.

    The youth men's sprint podium at the IBU Youth and Junior World Championships on Friday. American Sean Doherty (l) was second, 3.6 seconds behind winner Fabien Claude of France (c). Rene Zahkna of Estonia was third. (Photo: USBA/Nordic Focus)
    The men’s 7.5 k individual sprint podium at the IBU Youth World Championships on Friday in Obertilliach, Austria.
    American Sean Doherty (l) was second, 3.6 seconds behind winner Fabien Claude of France (c). Rene Zahkna of Estonia was third. (Photo: USBA/Nordic Focus)

    Claude, who won in 21:12.4, shot clean on the first stage and missed two on the second. Estonia’s Rene Zahkna took third, 14.9 seconds behind Claude, with one penalty.

    And while Doherty’s ability to fight for first was hardly a surprise, he was still taking it all in. For U.S. Biathlon, it was the best result at IBU Youth and Junior World Championships since national-team member Jay Hakkinen won gold in the 1997 sprint.

    “It is hard to believe that I have worked all of this time towards this goal,” Doherty said in a U.S. Biathlon press release. “Now it is here I am still a little bit in shock.”

    His game plan had been relatively simple: start in control then pick up the pace. He felt good throughout the race, but expected that after starting conservatively, he wrote in an email.

    “The shooting went well but not flawlessly,” Doherty explained. “The last lap came around and I got a split from our coach [Vladimir Cervenka] that I was very close to medal contention and I just really turned up and went as hard as I could.”

    While the sprint went exceptionally well, it wasn’t an event Doherty had especially eyed.

    “Honestly I try very hard to go into every race I do without expecting a number result,” wrote Doherty, who lives in Center Conway, N.H. “But I am extremely satisfied with this result. … I am focused on all of these events equally. I mean it is the Junior world championships so I am focusing every race.”

    Doherty said he’ll try to “keep calm” in Sunday’s 10 k pursuit and approach it like he would any other race, aiming to have a good one.

    “We are very exited about Sean’s race today,” Cervenka said in the press release. “He did great and according his plan he saved his best for the last loop. It will be fun to watch the pursuit on Sunday.”

    Also notching a top result on Friday, Canadian Stuart Harden made it into the top 20 in 20th, 1:02.6 behind the winner with two misses, both on the second stage. Harden had the fourth-fastest time after the first lap. Also for Canada, Carsen Campbell was 30th (+1:31.7/0+2), Arthur Roots was 59th (+3:07.3/1+2), Matthew Strum was 69th (+3:40.3/2+3).

    For the U.S., Jakob Ellingson was 62nd (+3:25.5/3+1), Jordan McElroy was 79th (+4:08.0/2+3), and Brian Halligan was 88th (+5:09.2/4+5) of 108 finishers.

    In the women’s 6 k sprint, American Anna Kubek of Duluth, Minn., was the top North American in 34th. She had two penalties, both on the first stage, and was 3:18.2 back from Russian winner Uliana Kaisheva, who completed the course in 18:08.7 (0+1).

    Canada’s Sarah Beaudry was 36th with three misses (+3:24.2/1+2). Teammates Leilani Tam Von Burg was 71st (+5:34.3/1+1), Emily Dickinson was 75th (+6:05.7/2+1) and Charlotte Hamel was 80th (+6:50.4/1+1).

    For the U.S., Mikaela Paluszek was 65th (0+4), and Aleksandra Zakrzewska was 84th (2+4).

    Men’s results | Women’s results

    — Audrey Mangan contributed reporting