FasterSkier’s Coverage of the Biathlon World Championships is made possible through the generous support of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center: New England’s finest snowmaking, world class race venues and touring trails, healthy food in abundance, comfortable accommodations at Craftsbury: Sports, Sustainability, Stewardship.
On Saturday in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, the American quartet of Vincent Bonacci, Sean Doherty, Campbell Wright, and Jake Brown made history for US Biathlon, finishing fifth among 24 nations: the team’s best-ever World Championship or Olympic Men’s Relay result. After more than an hour and 15 minutes of racing, the team finished just 1:22 behind the winners from Sweden. Norway out-sprinted France for the silver, and Germany was fourth.
The first leg was full of surprises. Estonia, Czechia and Kazakhstan led at the first exchange. France and Norway tagged in eighth and 12th after going into the penalty loop. For the US, Bonacci needed two spare rounds in prone but then cleared all five of his standing targets and tagged just ahead of Norway in 11th, 43 seconds out of the lead. Bonacci did his World Cup debut last season and has been steadily improving his results as he builds his ski speed. In late January he became one of the last two athletes named to this year’s World Championship roster after he took sixth at the European Championships with 20/20 shooting in the 20 k Individual. His reliable shooting earned him relay starts here in Nove Mesto, and he rose to the challenge of the World stage, scrambling with success in both the Mixed Relay and the Men’s Relay.
Doherty caught a draft from Tarjei Boe (NOR) on the first loop of the second leg. Germany briefly took the lead but then went into the penalty loop, and just as France was making a comeback from their penalty loop on the first leg, they went back in twice more. This opened the door for Boe, who out-skied the field by 30 seconds, to bring Norway all the way from 12th to first at the half-way point. Doherty cleaned his prone targets but needed all three spares in standing. Thanks to the changes at the front of the race, he only lost about 13 seconds on the leg, tagging Campbell Wright in 10th place in a tightly packed field, still within one minute of the lead.
Wright continued his streak of outstanding performances, using just one spare and skiing the fourth-best course time on the third leg to bring the team all the way up to sixth. He tagged Jake Brown for the anchor leg just 12 seconds out of third place. In the last men’s relay before World’s, Brown suffered on the shooting range, incurring two penalty loops in prone, but on Saturday he hit all five prone targets with no spares. He arrived at the shooting range for the final bout in fifth place, and used two spares to hold his position.
Shooting on lane one, Norway’s Vetle Christiansen experienced a biathlon nightmare, missing all but two of his eight bullets, incurring three penalty loops and throwing away a huge one-minute lead! Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden capitalized on his Norwegian rival’s misfortune, shooting fast and clean. He skied to the finish with enough time to glide in waving the Swedish flag, celebrating Sweden’s first gold medal of the Championships. Behind Samuelsson, France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet used just one spare and left the range as Christiansen was exiting the penalty loop. Ultimately Christiansen hunted down the Frenchman and claimed an anticlimactic silver for Norway.
After second-ranked Germany arrived at the finish line visibly disappointed in fourth, Brown arrived visibly thrilled in fifth. Since longtime US Biathlon stars Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey retired in 2018, the men’s team has been in a rebuilding phase, developing young athletes as well as experienced cross-country skiers like Brown. They have had three head coaches in five years, but throughout that period Brown has been a steadying force and has played a key role in building a positive and united men’s team culture. While 31-year-old Brown has not indicated any plan to retire, he summed up the importance of this result for his own career and for the team, saying, “Now I can retire in peace.” R.I.P.!
Full Results Men’s 4×7.5 k Relay
Earlier in the day, the French women won their first-ever World Championship relay, followed by Sweden and Germany. Estonia shocked the biathlon world with a historic fourth-place finish, anchored by former Montana State bobcat and Craftsbury Green Racing Project training parter, Johanna Talihaerm. Norway absolutely melted down, finishing tenth, followed by the Italian defending champions in 11th. To the 30,000 fans on-site plus millions watching on TV, the race offered biathlon drama at its best: equal parts miracle and collapse. The US was unfortunately in the latter category on Saturday, getting lapped and finishing 21st.
Full Results Women’s 4×6 k Relay
Next Up
The last day of racing at 2024 Biathlon World Championships will feature the premier Mass Start events, in which the 30 top-ranked athletes compete head-to-head over four shooting stages. Campbell Wright and Sean Doherty will represent the US starting at 10:30 eastern time.
Sunday 18 Feb Women’s 12.5 k Mass Start 08:15 eastern time
Sunday 18 Feb Men’s 15 k Mass Start 10:30 eastern time
