a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_T8lplfcx_Ro/SzNQYB6F_oI/AAAAAAAAAXg/6uQnFA-vdvc/s1600-h/caseysmith.JPG”img style=”margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 204px; height: 320px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_T8lplfcx_Ro/SzNQYB6F_oI/AAAAAAAAAXg/6uQnFA-vdvc/s320/caseysmith.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418763150416019074″ border=”0″ //aA quick congratulations to Casey Smith from Winthrop, WA.br /br /Casey qualified for the Biathlon World Jr Championships this past weekend. The qualifying races were in Mt Itasca (MN), and for the youth men it was a best-two-out-of-three format. Casey finished 2nd, 5th, and 1st. br /br /His good performances were credited to good shooting and fast skiing. Casey commented that with the ‘same wax rule’ in place for the qualifying races, it was important to have good skis with the right grind. He took two pairs of Madshus skis to Minnesota, one pair with an “i5” grind and the other have the “s2″ structure.br /br /Casey has been working hard toward this goal for the past 3 years. He’s a no-nonsense young guy with a great work ethic.br /br /He’ll be traveling to Torsby Sweden in late January 2010 for his first taste of competition in Europe.br /br /Casey competes as a member of Methow Valley Biathlon, and also competes in XC with Methow Valley Nordic.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7250441303676475856-2306644940213068172?l=blog.ultratune.net’ alt=” //div
