FasterSkier

Visit FasterSkier.com →

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: USBA trials

  • USBA SoHo Trials Open with Men’s and Women’s Sprint; Dunklee and Doherty Claim Senior Wins

    Susan Dunklee (front) and Clare Egan (l) during a shooting stage of the women’s mass start at Clare Egan (USBA/CGRP) racing to second in the women’s mass start at US Biathlon Rollerski Championships on Aug. 13 in Jericho, Vt. 2017 (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

    US Biathlon team trials kicked off on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, with a total of 47 athletes in attendance. On the line for senior competitors racing this week are starting spots for US Biathlon’s 2018/2019 World Cup and IBU Cup teams.

    The first race of the week involved a men’s 10-kilometer and women’s 7.5 k sprint, with 12 senior women and 14 senior men racing. A junior men’s sprint and junior women’s sprint was held as well, with 11 junior men and 10 junior women participating.

    In the senior women’s sprint, US Biathlon team veteran and two-time Olympian, Susan Dunklee claimed the overall win. Dunklee cleaned her prone stage and missed one standing to finish in a time of 22:17 for first.

    After tying Dunklee’s shooting score, Clare Egan, raced to second place, finishing 25 seconds behind the overall winner’s time.

    Third place went to Emily Dreissigacker, who also tied Dunklee’s shooting score and finished 1:09 seconds behind Dunklee’s time.

    “I always enjoy training in Utah in the fall,” the 32-year-old Dunklee told US Biathlon after the race in Midway. “This winter the World Cup will return to Soldier Hollow for the first time in 18 years and it will be a highlight of our season. Today was a great chance to practice racing at the venue and familiarize ourselves with the range.”

    This February, the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center is slated to host IBU World Cup races from the 14th to 17th. The last major international biathlon competitions held at Soldier Hollow were the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

    buy advair diskus online

    During the first day of competition at US Biathlon’s World Cup trials at Soldier Hollow, Susan Dunklee (bottom) placed first, Clare Egan (top-left) second, and Emily Dreissigacker (top-right) was third. (@usbiathlonwomen Instagram screenshot)

    Following the senior women’s sprint on Tuesday was the senior men’s sprint. Twenty-three-year-old, Sean Doherty, took the win, in a time of 25:26 after missing one prone shot and cleaning while standing.

    “I am happy with my race today. The course here is challenging and the altitude adds a lot of difficulty, especially in the range,” Doherty, who is a native of Center Conway, New Hampshire, told US Biathlon. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow as another chance to sharpen up before the season.”

    Finishing behind Doherty on Tuesday was Paul Schommer, a former skier for the College of St. Scholastica, in second. Schommer finished 51 seconds behind Doherty’s time, after missing one prone shot and two standing.

    The third senior men’s finisher in Tuesday’s sprint, Travis Cooper, missed two prone and one standing, finishing 1:20 seconds behind Doherty.

    Wednesday, racers will return to the venue for a second sprint race.

    Results

  • US Biathletes Race for Final World Cup Spots in Jericho

    US Biathletes Race for Final World Cup Spots in Jericho

    The men's mass start at the 2015 North American Rollerski Cup and US Biathlon National Rollerski Championships in mid-August in Jericho, Vt. (Photo: Paul Bierman)
    American Leif Nordgren (3) and Canadian Nathan Smith (2) are among the leaders of the men’s mass start at the 2015 North American Rollerski Cup and US Biathlon National Rollerski Championships in mid-August in Jericho, Vt. Smith ended up winning, ahead of Jakob Ellingson in second, Sean Doherty in third, and Nordgren in fourth. (Photo: Paul Bierman)

    For the second time in two months, several top U.S. biathletes are headed to Jericho, Vt., for back-to-back rollerski races this weekend — except instead of August weather, they could see frost, and instead of a mass start and a sprint, they’ll compete in sprints both Saturday and Sunday.

    The races mark the second set of trials for US Biathlon, which holds them annually in August and October to determine the final spots for its early season World Cup team.

    “We have 4 start spots for women and 4 for men the entire season,” Bernd Eisenbichler, US Biathlon Association (USBA) chief of sport, wrote in an email. “And we [are] always looking to keep one spot open before the season, so that is an open chance for anyone to qualify through trials.”

    This year, they have one opening on the men’s side and two for the women. USBA A-team men Tim Burke, Lowell Bailey and Leif Nordgren prequalified for the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cups 1, 2 and 3 with top-20 results on the circuit last season, as did A-team women Susan Dunklee and Hannah Dreissigacker.

    USBA A-team rookie Clare Egan competing at the 2015 North American Rollerski Cup and US Biathlon National Rollerski Championships in mid-August in Jericho, Vt. (Photo: Paul Bierman)
    USBA A-team rookie Clare Egan competing at the 2015 North American Rollerski Cup and US Biathlon National Rollerski Championships in mid-August in Jericho, Vt. (Photo: Paul Bierman)

    Annelies Cook, Clare Egan and Sean Doherty made the USBA’s A-team standard this year, but without a World Cup top 20 last season, they have to prove themselves at trials and in training camps.

    “The naming to the A Team gives you the right to train in [Lake Placid] and be part of the camps,” Eisenbichler explained. It doesn’t automatically qualify an athlete for World Cups.

    After this weekend’s races, the USBA staff will decide whom to invite to its Utah training camp, in addition to its five prequalified World Cup skiers, Oct. 18 through Nov. 1. After that camp, they will name the final spots for World Cups 1-3.

    Heading into the weekend, Cook, Egan and Maddie Phaneuf had the best chances for the two women’s positions based on their results at the August trials, according to Eisenbichler. Doherty, Jakob Ellingson, Russell Currier, and Casey Smith are all vying for the lone men’s spot.

    As for what the national-team coaches are looking for, Eisenbichler stressed progression over a long period of time rather than “peaking” for a single race. This extended trial format gives a sense of progression over a longer block of time, and can be a good indicator of what to expect for the winter, he added.

    Rollerski competitions make for “fair and consistent conditions,” he wrote, and eliminate the angst of searching for snow just before the start of the season.

    The format also allows for more time for coaching input “to guide the athletes on the right track,” Eisenbichler explained, and another month of preseason training after trials.

    In August, more than 80 biathletes from North America and Sweden participated in the first set of races, the North American Rollerski Cup and US Biathlon National Rollerski Championships. Burke won the men’s sprint, Canadian Nathan Smith topped the men’s mass start, and Dunklee won both women’s races.

    This weekend’s races at the Ethan Allen Firing Range are open to participants outside of the USBA as well, and results will be posted at http://www.eabiathlon.org/results.html. Racers will likely compete in temperatures ranging from the low 40s to 50-degrees Fahrenheit.