New Gloucester, ME – The International Competition Committee of the US Biathlon Association named a team of five men and four women who will compete in the upcoming December Biathlon World Cups.
The nine-person team is the largest in several years, due to recent changes by the International Biathlon Union in allocating start positions. Under the new start rules, based on Nations Cup Points and World Cup Points, the US men can start five athletes, while the women can start four.
Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) tops the US roster. Burke is the top-ranked US biathlete, who finished 29th in Overall World Cup last season with 171 points, while placing 5 times in top 15 and twice in the top 8. He scored a milestone last March, becoming the first US Biathlete to record the fastest time in an international biathlon competition in the 12.5K Pursuit competition at the Oslo World Cup.
Joining him on the men’s team are Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) who had a season best 9th place in the Individual competition at Kontiolahti, Finland; Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) who had a personal best 11th place in the Pursuit competition at Pyeong Chang, Korea last season; two-time Olympian Jeremy Teela (Anchorage, AK) and Russell Currier (Stockholm, ME).
December will mark the World Cup debut for Currier, a first year senior competitor. Last season, while still a junior level competitor by age, he competed at the World Championships in Ostersund, Sweden, as well as in the Junior World Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany. Currier began his ski/biathlon career in the Maine Winter Sports Center youth program and is the first Aroostook County (Maine) athlete to progress through the MWSC program to the World Cup level.
