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Sara Studebaker

US Just Misses Top Half in Presque Isle Mixed Relay

It’s not often that the U.S. biathlon team gets to race a relay in front of a home crowd—in fact, it hasn’t happened in more than seven years. So when the American squad of Sara Studebaker, Haley Johnson, Jay Hakkinen and Jeremy Teela took to the course in Presque Isle in Saturday’s World Cup mixed relay, the race was just as much for the hundreds of red-white-and-blue-clad spectators as it was for the athletes themselves....

Studebaker Races to Best American Finish in Years; Ekholm Wins in PI

Sara Studebaker could not have picked a better day for it all to come together. Thanks to clean shooting and a strong day on her skis, the 26-year-old American raced to a career-best 14th place in front of a home crowd in northern Maine, for what U.S. Biathlon staff called the top women’s World Cup result for an American in at least five years, if not a decade. In the 7.5 k sprint in Presque...

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

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...

Only The Strong Survive In Rainy Rupholding Shooter’s Duel – Updated

To say that it was raining in Rupholding, Germany, on Thursday would be an understatement. “It was pouring rain, perhaps the worst rain I’ve ever skied in, winter or summer,” said U.S. biathlete Sara Studebaker. “It was tough out there… today was all about fighting through the conditions.” For most of the women’s World Cup field, it was a tough fight as the tracks slowed to a cement-like consistency and the downhills became rutted and...

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

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....

In the World Cup sprints in Pokljuka, Slovenia on Saturday, two athletes took their first wins of the season. But while they hadn’t been atop the podium in Ostersund, Sweden, or in Hochfilzen, Austria, their strong performances weren’t entirely surprising: both Bjorn Ferry (SWE) and Magdalena Neuner (GER) were gold medalists at the Vancouver Olympics last year. Canadians led the North American contingent in both the men’s and women’s races. Men When FasterSkier

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...

Studebaker Career-Best 26th In Hochfilzen

Sara Studebaker was the only woman the United States Biathlon Association had enough confidence in to pre-select for the first period of World Cups this year. And after last weekend’s racing in Ostersund, Sweden, some people were wondering why: she finished 72nd in the individual race and 88th in the sprint. But in Ostersund, Studebaker had water-borne parasites to contend with. When the World Cup moved to Hochfilzen, Austria this week, she was ready, and...

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...

US Biathlon Preview: 2010-11 (corrected!)

(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...

Biathletes Make Most of Altitude at Soldier Hollow

With only seven weeks until the first race of the World Cup season, biathletes around the world are making their final preparations and fine-tuning their training. For the Americans, this meant a two-week training camp in Soldier Hollow, Utah, which finished Friday. Coaches had two main goals for the camp: to take advantage of training at altitude, and to solidify shooting skills in “combination” workouts with rollerskiing. Coach Patrick Coffey said that the staff worked...

For the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA), the winter of 2010 was one of ups and downs. High points included Tim Burke’s podium performances in the early season, which culminated with his donning of the yellow bib of World Cup overall leader after a race in Slovenia. The Olympics were less successful, with Jeremy Teela’s ninth-place leading the way—but the team’s dissatisfaction with a single top-ten is a testament to how far the program has come...

Lanny Barnes is known as a good shot. But coming into the Olympics, she said she had never shot perfectly in a race with four shooting stages over her entire ten-year international career. That ended today, as the Colorado native went 20 for 20 to propel herself to a 23rd place in the women’s 15k individual start race—the best Olympic result from an American woman since Joan Smith was 14th in Lillehammar in 1994. “It...

Despite Mistake, Neuner Holds On for Gold

Magdalena Neuner (GER) left the door open in the women’s 10k pursuit. But Anastasia Kuzmina (SVK) couldn’t shut it. When a penalty by Neuner in the final shooting stage left Kuzmina trailing by just six seconds, the Slovakian had a chance to reel in the leader over the final two k loop. But Neuner put the hammer down, steadily pulling away to win her second medal in three days. After hitting all 20 shots, Marie...

Broken Bones Can’t Stop Slovakian Biathlete

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...

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

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...

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...

First Round of U.S. Biathlon Olympic Trails Compete in Altenberg

ALTENBERG, Germany — The first phase of the U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team selection began today in Altenberg. U.S. biathletes competing in Altenburg are vying for two open spots on the Men’s Olympic Team and three spots on the Women’s Olympic Team. Trials began today with a time-trial Sprint race which was contested between the U.S. athletes, and was scored using percent-back – a formula in which the three top times are averaged together to get...

The IBU Continental Cup , which is the final phase of the U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team selection begins on Thursday, January 7th in Altenberg. U.S. biathletes competing in Altenberg are vying for two available spots on the Men’s Team and three spots on the Women’s Team. The roster of athletes competing in Altenberg includes: 2006 Olympian Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY), 2006 Olympian Lanny Barnes (Durango, Co), 2006 Olympian Tracy (Barnes) Colliander (Durango, Co), BethAnn...