The second set of trials for US Biathlon's World Cup team takes place this weekend in Jericho, Vt., with sprints both Saturday and Sunday. Three women are in the mix for two openings for IBU World Cups 1, 2 and 3, and several men are competing for one remaining men's spot.
Note: Two photo captions in this article have been corrected to identify Sun Valley's Rogan Brown as the men's race leader around mile four.
Darya Domracheva tried to shoot standing in a prone stage, then nearly dropped her rifle. But she was 100% focused when it counted, and now looks likely to capture the overall World Cup title. Rosanna Crawford of Canada shot 19-for-20 and moved from 28th up to 19th.
Hannah Dreissigacker rebounded from 75-percent shooting at IBU World Championships to hit 90 percent of her targets on Friday and place 14th for a career best in the final IBU World Cup sprint of the season in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Also for the U.S., Susan Dunklee finished 26th, and Canada's Rosanna Crawford was close behind in 28th.
Germany's Vanessa Hinz relied on fast skiing and precise shooting to give her team a 30-second lead heading into the last leg of Friday's 4 x 6 k relay at IBU World Championships, and teammate Laura Dahlmeier ran away with it to win by more than a minute. Canada achieved its top-10 team goal, and the U.S. matched its season best in 12th.
Leave it to dads to predict medal potential. Ekaterina Yurlova's father did just that, one month before the Russian won gold at IBU World Championships in the women's 15 k on Wednesday. Susan Dunklee placed 12th with her best shooting in an individual race in the last week, and Megan Heinicke tallied her third-straight top 30 in Kontiolahti.
The world's best biathletes battled blowing snow and variable conditions in the women's 7.5 k sprint at the 2015 IBU World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland. In the end it was France's Marie Dorin Habert who walked away with the victory while Canada's Megan Heinicke was the first North American in 23rd.
"Slushfest" was the word that best described the opening race of the 2015 IBU World Championships. Despite the challenging conditions, both the U.S. and Canadian mixed relays skied and shot their way to match their best World Championships results, with eighth- and 12th-place finishes, respectively.
Belarusian Darya Domracheva took the overall IBU World Cup leader's bib from Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen with a 14.3-second win in Saturday's sprint, and Rosanna Crawford finished 1.6 seconds out of 10th in 13th for Canada. American Hannah Dreissigacker had her best result of the season in 16th with perfect shooting.
Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen shot 20-for-20 for the first time to win a 15 k, and Canada's Megan Heinicke and Audrey Vaillancourt cleaned as well to place 12th and 30th, respectively. It was Heinicke's fourth top-15 of the season and Vaillancourt's career best, and American Susan Dunklee raced to 11th overall.
Darya Domracheva literally weathered the storm better than anybody in Nove Mesto, including Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen, to win Sunday's 10 k pursuit by 6.8 seconds. Susan Dunklee started ninth and led the U.S. in 18th with five penalties on an especially challenging Sunday.
Germany's Laura Dahlmeier squeaked ahead of teammate Franziska Hildebrand on the final loop to earn her first-ever IBU World Cup victory. American Susan Dunklee took ninth to capture her third-straight top-10 result, while American Annelies Cook had one of her best World Cup results ever in taking 28th.
Since building his confidence back at Open European Championships last week, Leif Nordgren is still on the rise, using just one spare on Friday to bring his team up to fourth in the IBU World Cup mixed relay. The Americans finished seventh and just 0.2 seconds from sixth.
How often do you see ten biathletes lined up at the firing range, but no one pulling the trigger? In Sunday's World Cup women's relay, patience was the name of the game as strong winds swirled around Antholz, Italy.
Susan Dunklee had her best shooting of the year to move from eighth up to sixth in the World Cup pursuit in Antholz, Italy, on Saturday, the best U.S. result of the year. Canada put two women in the top 30, and American Hannah Dreissigacker moved from 60th up to 42nd - beating former star Miriam Goessner on her final loop.
Darya Domracheva of Belarus won her 21st IBU World Cup race on Friday by nearly 27 seconds over Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen in second, and Germany's Laura Dahlmeier tallied her first podium in third in the 7.5 k sprint. Susan Dunklee executed her plan to place eighth for a season best.
The Canadians got off to a strong start, skiing in second throughout the first leg of Wednesday's 4 x 6 k women's relay at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. The Czech women held steady up front to tally their second-straight relay win in the last week.
With their eyes on the prize of a holiday break (for biathletes and non-Tour de Ski participants, two weekends off of the World Cup), a number of North American skiers notched competitive results, and for some -- even career bests -- in the last week.
Darya Domracheva was the big winner on Saturday in the IBU World Cup 10 k pursuit, but there were some personal victories Canadians Rosanna Crawford and Megan Heinicke achieved throughout the race as well. For one, Crawford clawed her way back into seventh after two early misses, and Heinicke went from 41st to 14th as one of two women to clean.
Biathlon is a roller coaster, but the beauty is that lows can turn into highs: Hannah Dreissigacker wenf from placing 78th in her last World Cup competition to cleaning all ten targets and finishing 17th in today's sprint, good for her first top-20. Susan Dunklee placed 19th with two penalties.