Laura Spector – Page 2 – FasterSkier.com

U.S. Women Strong in Last Sprint of World Cup Period 2; Berger Picks Up Third Consecutive Win

Chelsea LittleJanuary 22, 2011

While there’s a full schedule of World Cup racing scheduled in Antholz, Italy this weekend, Friday’s sprint might very well have been the last individual race the U.S. women had a chance to contest in Europe before World Championships. With a relay on Saturday and a mass start, capped at thirty athletes, on Sunday, and then the entire World Cup circuit picking up and heading to the U.S. for a few weeks in February, the...

Biathlon General World Cup

Rupholding Courses, New for 2012 World Champs, Get Rave Reviews

Chelsea LittleJanuary 20, 20111

When the small town of Ruhpolding, Germany, bid to host biathlon’s 2012 World Championships, they knew they had their work cut out for them. “Preparations for the World Champs 2012 start now,” said Mayor Claus Pichler in August 2008 when Ruhpolding won the bid. “I got plenty of feedback from the delegates at the IBU Congress.” And they have been busy ever since, completely renovating and reconfiguring the area’s stadium as well as giving the...

Biathlon General Results World Cup

With World Cup Pursuit Victory, Tora Berger Gives Family Three Wins in Three Days

Chelsea LittleJanuary 17, 2011

Laura Spector led he U.S. women with a 41st-place finish, while Rosanna Crawford of Canada finished the first World Cup pursuit of her career.

Biathlon General Results World Cup

Ekholm Edges Henkel in Mass Start; Spector, Struggling in Standing, Finishes 25th

Chelsea LittleJanuary 10, 20112

After going six years without qualifying a woman for a World Cup mass start, U.S. biathlon finally had its day in the spotlight in Oberhof, Germany on Sunday. “During warmup, I think people were surprised to see an American out there,” said Laura Spector, the first American woman since Rachel Steer to compete in a mass start. “But I saw a few American flags on the side of the course, and it was really motivating...

Biathlon General Racing Results World Cup

Spector 19th in Oberhof, Earns Spot in Mass Start – Corrected

Chelsea LittleJanuary 9, 20111

Note: FasterSkier originally reported that Laura Spector was the first U.S. woman to compete in a mass start race. She is not; but she is the first since Rachel Steer, who started in three World Cup mass starts and one at World Championships between 2003 and 2005. With a 19th-place finish – her best ever in a World Cup – Laura Spector has earned something coveted by many a U.S. woman before, but seldom attained....

Biathlon General Results World Cup

Berger and Makarainen Duel, Leaving Rest of Biathlon Field Behind

Chelsea LittleDecember 16, 2010

For most of Thursday’s 15 k individual race in Poklujuka, Slovenia, it looked like Kaisa Makarainen of Finland was firmly in control and would ski – rather easily – to her third World Cup win of the season. In the last shooting stage, Makarainen missed one target, but thanks to her superior skiing, she still had a jump on the field. When she crossed the finish line, she led the race by an astonishing margin...

Biathlon General News Racing World Cup

100 Starts Later, Finn Takes First Biathlon Win; Imrie 69th

Nathaniel HerzDecember 3, 2010

For Kaisa Makarainen, 112 is the magic number. That’s how many starts it took for the 27-year-old Finnish biathlete to win her first World Cup race, which she did Friday on a freezing course in Ostersund, Sweden. Using clean shooting, and skiing that was as hot as the weather was cold—temperatures on the trails were as low as negative 19.2 Celsius, .8 degrees above the legal limit—Makarainen won the women’s 7.5 k sprint, 19 seconds...

Biathlon General Results

Zidek Wins Biathlon World Cup Opener; Spector a Sensational 25th

Chelsea LittleDecember 1, 20101

The biathlon World Cup opened in parasite-infested Ostersund, Sweden on Wednesday, with the country’s own Anna Carin Zidek riding clean shooting through four stages to a nine-second win over France’s Marie Laure Brunet in the 15 k individual competition. Hometown favorite Helena Ekholm finished third. Further down the results sheet, but not too much further, Laura Spector led the U.S. with a 25th-place finish. It was the best race of her career, and the best...

Biathlon Results

Barnes, Leguellec Win Last Biathlon Trials Races; Seven Named For Races in Europe

Chelsea LittleNovember 20, 2010

Independent U.S. biathlete Tracy Barnes and Jean-Phillipe Leguiellec, a member of the Canadian national team, won mass start races in Canmore, Alberta on Friday. It was the end of a three-race series put on by the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) to select American athletes to send to World Cup and IBU Cup trips. In the women’s race, Barnes had the cleanest shooting on the day, missing only two targets in four stages, which translated to...

Biathlon

Spector, Once Again, and Bedard Prevail in Second Biathlon Trials Sprint

Chelsea LittleNovember 19, 2010

After winning the second sprint race of the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) selection trials in Canmore, Alberta, on Thursday, Laura Spector seems like almost a lock to join teammate Sara Studebaker, who was pre-qualified, for the first period of World Cups this winter. Meanwhile, Canada made it two-for-two as Marc-Andre Bedard won the men’s race. The Canadian athletes are not competing for spots on the World Cup, as their selection trials were held earlier this...

Biathlon

Perras, Spector Prevail in First Race of Low-Snow Biathlon Trials

Chelsea LittleNovember 17, 2010

With only a 1.2 k race loop and no penalty loop, the United States Biathlon Association (USBA) faced some major challenges in Canmore, Alberta, on the first day of senior trials racing on Tuesday. The stakes were high: top finishers from the race series will be able to join Sara Studebaker, Tim Burke, Jeremy Teela, and Leif Nordgren at early-season World Cups in Europe. But the race organizers got creative and and ultimately pulled off a...

Biathlon General

US Biathlon Preview: 2010-11 (corrected!)

Chelsea LittleNovember 16, 20101

(Note: FasterSkier initially made an error and reported that Lanny Barnes was not re-named to the National Team. Since then, we have corrected the article – it was in fact her sister, Tracy, who was not re-named. FasterSkier apologizes for the error.) Last year was a historic season for U.S. biathlon. In late December, Tim Burke captured the yellow World Cup leader bib, and continued to wear it through part of January; it was the...

Biathlon General Olympics Racing

Will Biathlon Mixed Relay Create Opportunity For U.S. Olympic Medal?

Chelsea LittleNovember 9, 2010

For the nordic world, the highest profile issue on the agenda at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) recent executive board meeting in late October was the inclusion of women’s ski jumping in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. But besides other events like the figure skating team event and a luge relay (FasterSkier isn’t sure how that works, but we want to see a hand-tag halfway down the luge track…), the IOC board also looked “favorably” towards...

Biathlon Continental Cup General News Racing US Ski Team

Spector Bests USST Women on Windy Whiteface

Nathaniel HerzOctober 8, 201012

Chalk one up for the biathletes. Just over halfway through Friday’s Climb to the Castle race on Whiteface Mountain, U.S. National Biathlon Team member Laura Spector went to the front of a five-strong women’s pack and left behind four of the country’s best cross-country skiers. Churning her way through fierce gusts of wind—which staff at the summit estimated at 60 miles per hour—the diminutive Spector crossed the line with a big gap on U.S. Ski...

Biathlon Continental Cup General News Racing

Dunklee Deprives Barnes-Colliander of Third Straight Title in Fort Kent

Nathaniel HerzMarch 21, 2010

Seven penalties would normally be enough to take a biathlete out of a race. Not Susan Dunklee. In the North American Biathlon Championships 12.5 k mass start, Dunklee overcame some sketchy shooting to win a sprint finish with Tracy Barnes-Colliander, who was deprived of her third straight victory. It was the first North American championship for Dunklee, and it looked impossible after she missed six of her first ten shots—three penalties in each of the...

Biathlon Continental Cup General Juniors Masters News Racing

Biathlon Championships Set to Blast Off in Maine

Nathaniel HerzMarch 18, 2010

You can always count on snow in northern Maine. Throw in skis and guns, and you’ve got a recipe for a pretty good week. Three days of racing kick off this morning at the North American Biathlon Championships in the biathlon-crazed town of Fort Kent, Maine. The fields are small, but competitive at the top, with four biathletes racing fresh off the 2010 Olympic Games: Americans Haley Johnson, Laura Spector, and Wynn Roberts, and Canada’s...

Biathlon General News Olympics Racing World Cup

Broken Bones Can’t Stop Slovakian Biathlete

Nathaniel HerzFebruary 13, 2010

Breaking two bones in your hand a month before the Olympic Games doesn’t sound like good preparation. But it sure didn’t hurt Anastasia Kuzmina. Shaking off an early miss, as well as the injury she suffered in early January, the Russian-turned-Slovakian won her country’s first Olympic medal in biathlon—and its first-ever gold in the Winter Games—on Saturday in the women’s 7.5k sprint. The announcers characterized Kuzmina’s win as a surprise, but her win comes after...

General News Uncategorized

Team GreenLaces – Vancouver 2010

January 20, 20101

“GreenLaces is a movement. It is an opportunity for elite athletes to promote environmental stewardship and conservation through their own behavior. . . . If you care about the environment and want to make a difference without having to compromise your training, this is one small way to do something positive with your athletic success.” – Lowell Bailey, Captain of Team GreenLaces: Vancouver 2010 Natalie Spilger is a professional soccer player for the Chicago Red...

Biathlon General News Olympics Racing

USBA Announces Athlete Nominations to the U.S. Olympic Committee

FasterSkierJanuary 11, 2010

NEW GLOUCESTER, Maine – The International Competition Committee of the U.S. Biathlon Association conducted a final review of results from the IBU Cup races in Altenberg, Germany this morning. As a result, the U.S Biathlon Association will forward the following list of athletes to the United States Olympic Committee. Men’s Olympic Team Nominations: 1) Tim Burke, Paul Smith’s, NY- prequalification from 2008-2009 season (2 top 15 results at WC) 2) Jay Hakkinen, Kasilof, AK- prequalification from...

Biathlon Racing

Second Round of U.S. Biathlon Team Selection Races Continue in Altenberg

FasterSkierJanuary 9, 20101

The second phase of U.S. Biathlon Team Selection Races took place today in Altenberg at the IBU Cup Sprint events. The U.S. biathletes competing in Altenburg are vying for two open spots on the U.S. Olympic Team for men’s biathlon and three spots on the women’s team. Like their teammates in Oberhof, the U.S. athletes had to deal with similar weather challenges. Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) put his game together at the shooting range...

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