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

Tag: US Biathlon Rollerski Championships

  • Egan Sweeps USBA Rollerski National Championships; Doherty and Schommer Lead Men’s Field

    Egan Sweeps USBA Rollerski National Championships; Doherty and Schommer Lead Men’s Field

    The women’s podium from the 7.5-kilometer sprint competition at USBA Rollerski National Championships. Clare Egan led the way ahead of Deedra Irwin (right) and Susan Dunklee (left). (Photo: Instagram @usbiathlonwomen)

    This post will be updated with men’s comments as available. 

    The 2021 U.S. Biathlon National Rollerski Championships were held this past weekend in Jericho, VT, hosted by the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club. 

    As the annual event was held in a virtual format in August 2020 due to COVID-19 safety restrictions, the weekend marks a welcome return to public national level biathlon competition. Participants from clubs throughout the U.S. made their way to Northern Vermont to race a sprint on Saturday, followed by a mass start on Sunday.

    Apart from the elite senior men and women’s fields, the races saw nearly 50 participants from the U15 youth level to the senior veteran age class. These athletes competed in a 10/12.5-kilometer pursuit stage on Sunday rather than the mass start. 

    “It was great to see athletes and coaches from across the country get back together,” commented US Biathlon team member Clare Egan in an email. “I was also happy to see an increase in numbers of participants — in the past we have had similar numbers, but almost half the field was Canadian. This year without the Canadians we hit those same numbers, so that was exciting. It’s a reflection of the growth happening at the club level in places like Bozeman, Craftsbury, Soldier Hollow, Truckee, Anchorage, Grand Rapids MN, Lake Placid, and others, where there are good facilities, coaches, and training groups now.” 

    Clare Egan celebrates a double at the USBA Rollerski National Championships with a homemade poptart, courtesy of team dietitian Megan Chacosky. (Photo: Instagram @clareeganbiathlete)

    Egan posted strong results this weekend, winning both the sprint and mass start events — and lots of maple syrup, the Vermont classic podium award. In the 7.5-kilometer sprint, she missed one target while shooting prone to finish with a time of 20:33.6. She finished 33 seconds ahead of Deedra Irwin of the National Guard Biathlon Team who missed one target per stage (1+1), with USBA teammate Susan Dunklee one second behind in third (1+2). 

    In the 12.5 k mass start, Egan again missed only one target, this time standing (0+0+1+0), leading her to double up on her victories with a finish time of 37:08.1. Dunklee missed three targets during her standing stages (0+0+1+2) and skied to second place in 38:03.8. Kelsey Dickinson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) took the third podium spot in 39:22.2 (1+1+2+2). 

    “I was satisfied with my racing this weekend, especially the shooting,” Egan wrote. “I only missed 2 targets out of 30. That’s an excellent percentage for me and definitely what I am aiming for as I head into the World Cup and Olympics season. I had a really hard time on skis, but I think that it was entirely due to the intense heat and humidity.”

    Both days saw temperatures in the upper 80’s with high humidity — which makes for hot radiating pavement and very sweaty ski boots.

    “My training has been going well and I’m confident about where I’m at and the direction I’m headed,” Egan concluded. 

    The men’s 15k mass start podium at the USBA Rollerski National Championships. Paul Schommer took the win ahead of Sean Doherty and Leif Nordgren. (Photo: Instagram @usbiathlonteam)

    On the men’s side, Sean Doherty of the National Guard Biathlon Team shot clean in the 10 k sprint, skiing his way to the top spot on the podium on his home course in a time of 24:33.3. Doherty was followed by Leif Nordgren of the VT Army National Guard who missed two targets (1+1) to finish in 25:24.8. Paul Schommer of the Crosscut Team in Bozeman, MT, rounded out the podium with two misses (1+1) and a time of 25:45.1.

    The men’s podium rearranged itself in Sunday’s 15 k mass start. Schommer improved his shooting percentage, missing one shot in two of the four stages (0+1+1+0) and crossed the line in 38:15.6 for the win. Doherty followed 40 seconds behind with four missed targets (1+2+1+0) and a final time of 37:55.7. Nordgren took the third podium spot with a time of 38:36.8 with five misses (2+0+1+2). 

    “I have been working on some new things this summer and having them come together in Sunday’s race was a huge confidence boost,” Schommer wrote in a post-race email. “I still know there is a lot to work on, but it’s always great to see improvement. As I continue into the fall, I hope to keep the level of focus I have had thus far in the training year and continue to identify and address areas where I can improve. I don’t want to think about the next races, I just want to focus on becoming the best biathlete I can be.”
    Schommer also reflected on the experience of being back on the tracks and range in Jericho with the broader biathlon community, and the contrast in his ability to adequately prepare for biathlon last summer versus the present.
    “Coming back to Jericho after a year off was great! Last year at this time I hadn’t been at a range with a roller loop yet, so to be here this year is a real blessing. It also was great to see the biathlon community with a large turn out. Lots of young biathletes coming up which is great to see!”

    Sprint Results | Mass Start Results | Pursuit Results

  • US Biathlon Rollerski Championships Photos

    US Biathlon Rollerski Championships Photos

    Photos from the two-day US Biathlon Association (USBA) Rollerski Championships held last weekend, Aug. 12-13, at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vt.

    Photographer John Lazenby’s full collection can be found here.

    Read more

  • Dunklee Doubles Up at USBA Rollerski Champs; Bailey and Smith Win (Updated)

    Dunklee Doubles Up at USBA Rollerski Champs; Bailey and Smith Win (Updated)

    Susan Dunklee (USBA/CGRP) leading the pack in the women’s mass start on Sunday, Aug. 13, at USBA Rollerski Championships in Jericho, Vt. She won by nearly 47 seconds. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    Special thanks to John Lazenby for providing photos from 2017 US Biathlon Rollerski Championships in Jericho. For a full gallery, click here.

    Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Lowell Bailey, Susan Dunklee and Bernd Eisenbichler.

    ***

    This past weekend, the US Biathlon Association (USBA) Rollerski Championships returned to Jericho, Vt., for two days of racing at the Ethan Allen Firing Range inside a National Guard military base. Just as it has in the past, the format included men’s and women’s sprints on Saturday followed by mass starts on Sunday, and this year, the races drew nearly 100 competitors from across the U.S. and even some from Canada.

    US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey (r) on his way to winning the men’s sprint at US Biathlon Rollerski Championships on Aug. 12 in Jericho, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    A perennial winner at Jericho, Lowell Bailey won the senior men’s 10-kilometer sprint on Saturday in 24 minutes, 58 seconds with a single standing penalty (0+1).

    “Summer nationals is a good chance to assess where you are in the training season,” Bailey wrote in an email. “Of course, roller skiing is quite a bit different than on-snow skiing, and it is important to keep that in perspective when assessing the results. However, I’m happy with the way the weekend went and I feel like I am on track in terms of where I want to be in the training season.”

    Fellow US Biathlon A-teamer Sean Doherty placed second, just 5.2 seconds back, with two prone misses (2+0). Rounding out the top three, Biathlon Canada’s Nathan Smith (the lone Canadian in that race) placed third, 21.4 seconds behind Bailey with a single standing miss as well (0+1).

    Another 0.2 seconds back in fourth overall, Travis Cooper of National Guard Biathlon was the third American after shooting two prone penalties (2+0). A total of 23 racers competed in the senior men’s event on Saturday, compared to 11 in the senior women’s sprint. (Other categories included girls, boys, youth, junior, and masters.)

    Susan Dunklee (US Biathlon/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) racing to a win this past Saturday, Aug. 12, in the women’s sprint at US Biathlon Rollerski Championships in Jericho, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    In the women’s 7.5 k sprint, Susan Dunklee, of US Biathlon and the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP), won despite five penalties (2+3) in a time of 22:10.7.

    In an email, Dunklee described the conditions as “very hot and muggy.”

    “Between that and the uphill range approach, these races have some of the most difficult shooting conditions we see all year,” she explained in an email.

    “I’ve been working on learning new wind shooting skills this summer,” Dunklee wrote. “It has been going well in practice but truly trusting those skills under race pressure is a mammoth challenge.  The goal is to build that trust before winter.  My shooting percentages weren’t great this weekend, but I am happy about the way I stuck to my work plan on the range.”

    Dunklee finished 46.9 seconds clear of her teammate and runner-up Joanne Reid (USBA/Colorado Biathlon), who had a miss in each stage (1+1).

    A minute behind Dunklee, Kelsey Dickinson, representing Craftsbury’s Collegiate Summer Team, placed third with four penalties  (3+1). No Canadian senior women competed on either day.

    On Sunday, racers returned to the range for the men’s and women’s mass starts, where Dunklee proceeded to take another victory with a time of 40:12.8 and seven penalties (1+2+2+2).

    Her teammate Clare Egan (USBA/CGRP) placed second, 23.6 seconds back with five misses (1+0+2+2), while Dickinson repeated in third (+33.8) with five penalties as well (2+0+1+2).

    Biathlon Canada’s Nathan Smith (14) leading US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey (l) up a climb in the men’s mass start on Sunday, Aug. 13, at US Biathlon Rollerski Championships in Jericho, Vt. Smith went on to win by 21.3 seconds over Bailey. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    In the men’s mass start, Smith cleaned two stages and tallied three penalties (1+0+0+2) en route to the win in 38:09.8. Bailey finished 21.3 seconds back in second after three misses (1+0+1+1), and his teammate Tim Burke (USBA) took third (+1:09.8) with five penalties (2+1+2+0).

    “I was happy with how the first day of racing went, but I definitely could have been more aggressive in the Mass Start’s standing stages,” Bailey reflected.  “The wind came up during the shooting and I let that distract me a little bit when I should have stayed with my planned cadence and shooting speed.”

    “With faster shooting, I may have been able to catch Nathan’s wheel and contended for the win on the last loop,” he continued. “As it was, those two standings left me with an insurmountable gap for the final loop.”

    Paul Schommer was the third American in fourth overall (+1:23.0) with six misses (2+1+2+1). 

    The USBA Rollerski Championships typically serve as the first of two weekends of trials (the other being in October) for US Biathlon in selecting a pre-World Cup training camp group. From that group of athletes, the U.S. usually fills out its early season International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup roster.

    In an email, USBA Chief of Sport Bernd Eisenbichler explained that two athletes particularly stood out with their performances this weekend.

    “On the women’s side Kelsey Dickinson and on the men’s side Travis Cooper made a big improvement compared to last year and even last season and both will get rewarded for that with a camp invitation to [Lake Placid] in mid-September to work with the A Team and the National Team Coaches,” Eisenbichler wrote.

    “I was happy to see a very competitive men’s field and a growing women’s field as well,” he continued. “We could see, that it was the first real races this summer and as Jericho is a pretty hard range to shoot at, we saw a good reminder what to work on still, especially on the shooting side. The A Team comes from a really long and hard block of training, so they weren’t fresh at all going into the races, so for sure, you make a few mistakes more, as if you would be preparing fully for a race weekend like you would e.g. do for a [World Cup] weekend.”

    Complete results: Sprint | Mass Start

    US Biathlon’s Sean Doherty (front) and Lowell Bailey (12), along with their competitors, taking aim during a prone shooting stage of the men’s mass start at 2017 USBA Rollerski Championships on Aug. 13 in Jericho, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)