January 25, 2012 (Cable, WI) – Many of the world’s top adaptive athletes are ready for the start of an historic IPC Biathlon World Cup set to kick off tomorrow at the famed Telemark Lodge in this well known Northern Wisconsin resort community. It’s the first of a number of days here under the auspices of the International Paralympic Committee, that features a week of racing, followed by cross-country World Cup events next week in Minneapolis. This marks the first time since the IPC Worlds were held in Maine in 2005, that top para-athletes are competing again in the United States.

More than 100 athletes from 12 nations are on hand – amidst good snow conditions – to take part in this event.

The USA High Performance Director, John Farra, said today that this series of races is very important for the further development of the sport in the US. “For us, it was time to hold another IPC event on US soil. It helps our athletes a great deal to have the race at home without having to have a lot of travel involved. It helps level the playing field, and it really helps in athletic development,” he said in an interview with SkiTrax today.

The US squad will bring forth a strong team of 17 Americans, 16 of whom are sitskiers. “Our objective,” Farra noted, “is to improve our representation over time for the standing and visually impaired categories, while we seek to maintain a large field of sitskiers. We are focused on both development of the sport and on performance objectives.”

Leading the US team here will be standing skier Kelly Underkofler of St. Paul, MN, a veteran of three Paralympic Games, along with Andy Soule of Pearland, TX, who lost both legs will serving in Afghanistan in 2002. Soule claimed a historic bronze medal in 2010 in Vancouver in biathlon and is looking strong.

Farra also noted several other Americans who are making rapid progress in the sport. “Athletes like Dan Cnossen, who was recently injured as a Navy SEAL and is a double amputee, had a seventh place in a Norwegian World Cup in December. He is making incredible progress and is training full time at Winter Park along with Sean Halstead and Jeremy Wagner… they’re all coming along and improving with every race. Their collective progress is really remarkable,” added Farra.

The competition starts Thursday at 10am and we will have updates from Telemark during the week.