Chloe Levins was sick before IBU Youth/Junior World Championships and performed below her own expectations. But she has found redemption at the Youth Olympic Games, turning in the best individual performance ever by a U.S. biathlete and cleaning her first four-stage race in the process.
The 2016 Youth Olympic Games kicked off in Lillehammer, Norway, this past weekend with a brand-new XC-ski cross sprint event on Saturday, followed by biathlon races on Sunday and Monday. American Chloe Levins placed fourth in Monday's pursuit. "The pursuit in Lillehammer was a dream," she said.
With darkness quickly setting in on Presque Isle's World Cup trails early Saturday evening, the Czech Republic won the women's relay by 25 seconds over Ukraine and Germany, respectively, while the U.S. women combined for their best result of the season in 10th.
The third and fourth legs in the IBU World Cup men's relay on Saturday, the Bø brothers led Norway to a 30-second win over France, while Germany picked off three places on the last leg to notch third. The U.S. came close to an unprecedented fourth, finishing fifth behind Russia in a photo finish.
Friday was all about focus for Susan Dunklee. Coming off a historic second-place finish in the IBU World Cup sprint the day before, the U.S. biathlete was looking for more success in the pursuit, starting 18 seconds behind the race leader. On a challenging and cold afternoon, she finished fifth for her best result in a pursuit, while the U.S. women had a banner day with three in the top 25.
The third starter, Martin Fourcade overcame a 29-second deficit and two penalties on a tricky shooting day to win the IBU World Cup pursuit in Presque Isle for his 44th World Cup win. Tim Burke tied his season best in seventh, and Germany's Arnd Peiffer crashed into a tree on his final loop and suffered a severe concussion.
Three American men finished within 16.5 seconds of one another in the top 20 of Thursday's sprint at the IBU World Cup in Presque Isle, Maine, setting themselves up well for Friday's pursuit. The youngest man in the field, Sean Doherty, 20 led them with a career-best 13th.
Susan Dunklee had been looking forward to racing at a home World Cup for the better part of the last five years, and then some. She found her "happy" place on Thursday to achieve a historic career-best: second place in the women's IBU World Cup sprint. "In order to have my best performances in biathlon or anything in life … I really have to find what I love about it,” she said.
Olga Abramova, a 27-year-old Russian-turned-Ukrainian, was identified as the mystery athlete who tested positive for a drug recently added to the WADA Prohibited List. Abramova had two top-10s at last year's World Championships in Kontiolahti, and won double gold at Summer Biathlon World Championships in August.
Considering anything better than sixth would have been a first-ever for either the U.S. or Canada in Sunday's IBU World Cup mixed relay, that put Lowell Bailey in a bit of a position heading into the final loop. He ended up catching Canada's anchor, Brendan Green for fourth and came within 1.7 seconds of third.
France stacked its single mixed relay on Sunday in Canmore, putting Marie Dorin Habert and Martin Fourcade in the team-sprint-like event, and the two got what they set out for: first by 45 seconds over Austria and 55 seconds over Norway in third.
Despite four penalties, Italy’s Dominik Windisch overcame difficult conditions on the course and shooting range for his first IBU World Cup victory and podium on Saturday. Meanwhile, Tim Burke skied around a sick competitor on the last loop and rose above three penalties for a season-best seventh.
One early miss didn't bog Dorothea Wierer down. Coming off a podium in Friday's sprint, the Italian raced to her third-career IBU World Cup victory in Saturday's mass start, by 20 seconds over France's Marie Dorin Habert. The lone North American in the women's mass start, Susan Dunklee missed 10 targets to place 30th.
The 43rd starter, Ukraine’s Olena Pidhrushna picked off the places to achieve her first World Cup win in four seasons after "retiring" from racing last year. "I realized how much I miss biathlon and how I need it," she said.
Canadian biathlete Megan Tandy was set to race her first home-turf World Cup, before a fall on a morning jog left her with a broken wrist. Now her season is over and, having not yet met Sport Canada carding criteria, she's unsure if she will be able to continue her career. "Iʼm not going to give up on another two years without a fight," she said.
Martin Fourcade and the rest of the top three agree, something about racing in Canmore is hard. "None of us felt they were skiing really fast," Germany's third-place finisher Simon Schempp said. He finished more than 18 seconds behind Fourcade and 3 seconds out of second, which went to Russia's Anton Shipulin.
An athlete is provisionally suspended after their "A" sample tested positive for either an insulin-mimicking drug or for mildronate, both of which were added to the Prohibited List on January 1. However the IBU hasn't named the athlete and made the strange move of saying that the finding is "not considered a positive doping case".
The IBU World Cup is back in North America with races in Canmore starting Thursday and lasting through Sunday, a week before the circuit moves east to Presque Isle, Maine. Here are some photos from official training in Canmore.
It was another sunny one at the Canmore Nordic Centre for the final official training day before six competitions take place in a span of four days (Thursday through Sunday) at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Canmore, Alberta. Daniel S. Guay caught more of the action on Wednesday. See his complete gallery here. To watch the races live, Canadians can tune into CBC (IBU’s Eurovision website.
If you’re wondering who will be on the start line for the U.S. and Canadian teams at this week’s IBU World Cup in Canmore, Alberta, we’ve got answers: For Canada, the host, it’s a lineup of