The U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) has completed its roster for World Youth and Junior Championships, to be held in Minsk, Belarus, in mid-February. After automatically selecting the top two competitors in each age/gender category immediately upon completion of trials racing, the federation’s International Competition Committee met on January 1 and added more discretionary selections.
The U.S. can start up to four athletes in each competition.
To the existing roster (which you can find here, along with a summary of the trials races held in Mount Itasca, Minnesota) USBA added two youth women: the third- and fourth-ranked athletes from the trials series, Hannah Streinz of the Maine Winter Sports Center (who won the sprint on the final day) and Amanda Kautzer or Loppet Nordic Racing.
In the junior women’s category no more than two women were competing, so the roster remained at just two.
In the youth men’s division, the third- and fourth-ranked men from the trials were added to the roster: Alexander Kilby of Skiku Biathlon, and Sam Zabell of the Auburn Ski Club.
Finally, in the junior men’s category, Jakob Ellingson of Mount Itasca joined the action. More junior men competed, but none surpassed the maximum percent-back requirement from Ellingson and trials winner Brian Halligan over the course of the trials series.
In addition, USBA named several juniors who will compete in the junior competitions at Open European Championships in Otepää, Estonia: Maddie Phaneuf, Mikaela Paluszek, and Halligan of the Maine Winter Sports Center, and Sean Doherty of the USBA “X” Team.
The full press release from USBA can be found here.
Lake Superior Biathlon coach Daniel Guay also shared some great photos of the action from December 28, the first day of competition at Mount Itasca. The shots are primarily of the men’s field, but a few of the women appear as well. Check out his photos below.
