The Chiemgau Arena, a shooting range with paved rollerski loops just outside of Ruhpolding, Germany, is a venue unlike almost anything in North America, with the exception perhaps of a few former Olympic sites. And even if Soldier Hollow has nice rollerskiing, too, Ruhpolding has a bit more: other teams, for one, but also spectators who show up even in the summer just to watch some of the world’s top biathletes train.
Here are a few of our photos from a morning of training earlier this week, when the U.S. national team and the National Guard team joined three German groups as well as the Ukrainians to use the range for a workout.
The view from the end of the range into the mountains.
Two members of a German junior team run through the range as part of their foot-based shooting combination workout.
U.S. and National Guard coaches line the range; women’s coach Jonne Kahkonen holds up a magnetic board showing an athlete where their shots fell on the target.
U.S. shooting coach Armin Auchentaller looks on as Jay Hakkinen takes a standing stage.
Lowell Bailey on the range.
National Guard coaches Sarah Lehto and Travis Voyer observe their athletes.
U.S. women’s coach Jonne Kahkonen discusses a shooting stage with Susan Dunklee.
Annelies Cook lines up in prone as Russell Currier skates away.
Annelies Cook in a standing stage.
Tim Burke hones his shooting.
Russell Currier speeds by in front of the stadium.
Spectators show up to the Chiemgau Arena even in the summer!
Susan Dunklee (front) and Sara Studebaker click their magazines into place before a prone stage.
Per Nilsson checks in on Lowell Bailey after a prone stage.
Lowell Bailey in the midst of a speed.
Leif Nordgren on the range.
Leif Nordgren doing one of the ten speeds in his workout.
Looking down the range at the beginning of the Americans’ training session.
Russell Currier shooting prone.
Jake Dalgren of the National Guard skates through the range.
Sara Studebaker training in Ruhpolding, Germany this summer.
Part of the German women’s biathlon team practicing shooting drills.
Jay Hakkinen (front) and Tim Burke drop in for a speed.
German men ski past, cooling down from a sprint workout.
Chelsea Little is FasterSkier's Editor-At-Large. A former racer at Ford Sayre, Dartmouth College and the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, she is a PhD candidate in aquatic ecology in the @Altermatt_lab at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. You can follow her on twitter @ChelskiLittle.
