It was shaping up to be another battle between the newest star of the Gross family, biathlon royalty from Germany, and upstart Sean Doherty from the United States. But a Russian swept in to take gold in the youth men's individual race. Nevertheless, two Canadians also made the flower ceremony and two American women were top ten in their own individual competition.
Minnesota native Anna Kubek started off her week right with a sixth-place finish in the junior women's 12.5 k individual at Open European Championships for biathlon. Kubek was just 14 seconds off the podium. In the men's 15 k race, Christian Gow of Canada finished 15th.
After three trials races in Presque Isle, Maine - which will also host the big event itself - the U.S. has selected a team for World Youth and Junior Championships in biathlon.
Once again, early penalties seemed to put Sean Doherty's medal in jeopardy. But clean, fast shooting and quick skiing in the later stages of the youth men's 12.5 k individual put the American back on the podium for a record third time, and he earned his second silver medal of this year's World Youth Championships to go with gold from the pursuit.
While Julia Ransom collected her second top-20 result in as many days, four other Canadian women improved in the youth and junior pursuits in Obertilliach, Austria. The lone American woman to make the pursuits, Anna Kubek moved up to 25th in the youth women's race.
Sean Doherty achieved a personal best and made U.S. history on Friday, placing second in the 7.5 k sprint opener at the IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Obertilliach, Austria. Just 3.6 seconds out of first, Doherty was still soaking up the result.
Sean Doherty (Vermont Collegiate Biathlon) and Anna Kubek (Mount Itasca) dominated their fields so thoroughly that it was tough for anyone else to come close enough tot qualify automatically, thanks to USBA's percent-back system. But with a little discretion, ten young biathletes are bound for Obertilliach, Austria, later this month.
In the first four days of racing in Kontiolahti, Finland, American hopes for its biathletes just hadn’t panned out. In race after race at the World Youth and Junior Championships, the U.S. racers were held back by one thing after another. They notched a few finishes in the high 20’s and 30’s – and mostly placed far lower on the results sheet. On Friday, two Americans broke out of the slump and raced into the...
On Wednesday, Kontiolahti, Finland, became a venue that was hospitable for biathlon for the first time in perhaps several weeks. After the bitter cold of the World Cup races two weeks ago, a general lack of sunlight, and a persistent wind that has dogged even the best shots at World Youth and Junior Championships this week, today’s balmy sunshine was a welcome reprieve. “Today was an amazing bluebird day and there was almost no wind,”...
The top Canadian and American women in the youth individual race at biathlon World Junior Championships on Monday couldn’t have had more different attitudes coming into the event. Canada’s Julia Ransom, for instance, was looking for payback. After a strong showing in 2010 in Torsby, Sweden, Ransom struggled in 2011, producing a top result of just 36th place in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. “Last year was definitely a frustrating year for me,” she told FasterSkier...
SEEFELD IN TIROL, Austria– Every Nordic race director is well versed in Murphy’s Law. Today, Seefeld Stadium was more or less the Titanic—the unsinkable race venue. Temps were cold, the loops were covered with a meter and a half of perfectly groomed snow, thousands of cowbell clanging Tyroleans lined the course, and the IBU’s finest were on hand to supervise. The Women’s 7.5km Pursuit event at the Youth Olympic Games was to go off without...
For the World Cup athletes, Thursday’s announcement by the U.S. Biathlon Association of team nominations for the second period of racing brought no surprises. Just as in the last weekend of World Cup racing in December, three women (Sara Studebaker, Annelies Cook, and Susan Dunklee) and four men (Lowell Bailey, Jay Hakkinen, Tim Burke, and Leif Nordgren) will represent the U.S. on the trails. But the real excitement of the day came from the selection...
The U.S. biathlon community may be small, but one benefit of its size is that almost everyone can gather each year in October for a training camp at Soldier Hollow. This year, the senior national team is joined in Utah by the junior national team as well as biathletes from the Maine Winter Sports Center, Durango and as far as Canada. Inviting everyone brings training quality up, said national team women’s coach Jonne Kahkonen, who...
(Note: This is the second in a series of interviews with athletes who will be competing at the first-ever winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria this winter. The first interview was with Sean Doherty.) Of all the biathletes set to compete at the Youth Olympic Games in January, Anna Kubek of Duluth, Minnesota, might have the least experience: she only picked up biathlon in 2010, and hadn’t even skied before that point. But to...