Coleraine, Minnesota- The second day of the Biathlon World Team Trials started off with a low of -12 F. Fortunately, the sun pushed through clouds bringing the temperature to 0ºF and the Men’s 15km Mass Start began after a two-hour delay. Zach Hall, Anchorage, AK won the men’s race and Tracy Colliander, Durango, CO, captured the women’s crown, both in exciting fashion. As USBA development coach James Upham pointed out that the “slight left to...
Thanks to great volunteers that blew snow over the 2.5 km course at Mt. Itasca, the 2010 Team Trials got underway today. While the course was not as difficult as the 3.5 km loop, it was challenging enough for the USBA to evaluate the racing. In the men’s 10 km sprint competition it was National B Team member Mark Johnson skiing away from the field in a time of 26:20. In the women’s 7.5 km...
Today was the second race of the IBU World Cup weekend in Hochfilzen, Austria. The 12.5 km pursuit finish came down to a sprint finish, as Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR), Simon Eder of (AUT), and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (NOR) entered the stadium together and traded leads several times before the finish line. Bjoerndalen, who missed 2 targets in the third stage for a total of 3 penalties was still able to stay competitive with Svendsen and Eder, who only had...
ALL THE COWS ARE IN THE BARN…THE WORK IS DONE; NOW IT’S TIME TO RACE! The Olympic Trials Selection Process is about to begin. Two men, Jay Hakinen and Tim Burke have already pre-qualified, but for the other athletes their journey is about to begin. For the athletes in North America, their trials process begins with five races over nine days. These races will take place in Coleraine, MN, just 15 minutes outside of Grand...
Today’s IBU World Cup races were held in Hochfilzen, Austria. Tim Burke lead the U.S. team with a 20th place finish and two penalties. He was one minute behind winner Ole Einer Bjoerndalen of Norway who shot clean in both stages of the 10km sprint. The second U.S. biathlete to finish was Jay Hakkinen, with one penalty, in 38th place. Womens full results
You may applaud it’s fairness and simplicity, or you may think the policy reads like a paragraph out of Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, but like it or not, the United States Biathlon Association is implementing a “same wax” protocol throughout the December biathlon trials at Mt Itasca. The waxing protocol will apply to both the IBU Cup Team Trials held December 12th – 22nd and the Jr/Youth World Team Trials, held December 19th – 22nd. Standard...
Volunteers from the Mt. Itasca Nordic Ski Association have been working round the clock for the past week to prepare the venue for the start of the Biathlon World Team Trials, Dec 12-22. Making snow is cold, exhausting and dangerous work and not something you usually volunteer to do. Club volunteers have been manning the snow guns over the past week, taking advantage of the cold nights. Crews have been repainting fencing and V- board,...
The Canmore Nordic Center did an excellent job preparing separate courses so that an Alberta Cup XC Ski Race and North American Cup Biathlon Races could be held simultaneously on the same weekend. Since the Biathlon Races were held mostly on the cross country side the preceding weekend – the Biathlon races were held on a 2.5 km loop. It was supposed to be near 0 F races for both Sat and Sun. Warmer then...
Ater two podiums the US scored another Top-10 result today at the relay competition in Östersund, Sweden today. Lowell Bailey, Jay Hakkinen, Tim Burke and Jeremy Teela posted a strong finish in an exciting relay competition on the last day of competition in Östersund. The US biathletes were 1:44.1 behind the winning French team. Bailey started the race and put the US in a good position with just two extra shots needed in the standing...
It has been a big weekend for Tim Burke, and he still has one race to go. Thursday’s second place followed by today’s third place finish at the Ostersund Biathlon World Cups combine to make Burke the only American to have captured 2 podium races at the same event. These were also the first (hopefully just the start!) podium finishes in Burke’s career. Burke admits that he is usually a better sprinter, but hopes that today’s successful distance...
This morning in Oestersund, Sweden, Tim Burke proved that his podium performance on Thursday was no fluke by racing to another podium finish in the second of two individual World Cup Biathlon races. For Burke, whose second place finish in Thursday’s 20km race was one of the top finishes in US biathlon history, this weekend will combine to be a historic set of races for both Burke and the team. Ole Einer Bjoerndalen of Norway took first by...
With the dawning of December comes the flood of races that characterizes the winter season. The US SuperTour moves a bit north to Bozeman, Montana, the World Cup heads to Germany for a weekend of high speed sprints, World Cup Biathlon continues in Sweden, and the US Nordic Combined team makes its 2010 World Cup debut. Women’s Ski Jumping gets underway midweek next week in Finland. SuperTour Last season the Bozeman SuperTour (and the Park...
Yesterday Tim Burke of the US Biathlon Team posted on of the top US results in the history of the sport, finishing 2nd in the 20km World Cup race in Ostersund, Sweden. Burke took some time out from preparing for tomorrow’s sprint to talk with FasterSkier about his historic performance. You have been very close to the podium on a number of occasions. What was different this time? I think the difference for me yesterday...
Tim Burke following his 2nd place finish in Sweden US Biathlon Head Coach Per Nilsson
Tim Burke (USA) finished 2nd place in today’s 20km World Cup Biathlon race. Here he is at the post-race press conference.
Östersund, Sweden, December 3.The Norwegian Team is full of medalists and stars, but on a minus 14 Celsius evening in Östersund, Emil Hegle Svendsen’s star shined the brightest as he won the Men’s 20K individual in convincing style. Like Helena Jonsson in yesterday’s Women’s 15K Individual, Svendsen was near perfect, recording just a single penalty in the first standing stage, on the way to a 52:43.7 victory. Second went to Tim Burke of the USA,...
Competitors in this past weekend’s first biathlon Nor-Am were subject to a wintry mix of high winds and cold temperatures for the season-opener. Held in Canmore, Alberta, the race courses were set on a combination of nordic and biathlon trails which climbed out of the biathlon stadium onto a high point of the nordic trail system before dropping back down a high speed S-turn, a proven difficulty for many racers. The field was not large,...
West Yellowstone, Montana – The cross-country SuperTour was not the only event yesterday in West Yellowstone. US biathletes, battling for Olympic spots, took to the trails for 7.5/10km sprint event. While the World Cup Biathlon Team is currently in Sweden preparing for the World Cup opener, the field still featured elite skiers. 2002 Olympian, Dan Campbell, kicked off his comeback season in strong fashion, winning the men’s race by 26 seconds over US Biathlon National...
“On 24 October, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history. At over 5200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis” (www.steinbockracing.com. More information on 350.org, including thousands of pictures from events around the world, can be found at