October 14, 2015 (Jericho, Vt) – Upon the conclusion of the final two roller ski races held in Jericho, Vt., last weekend, the U.S. Biathlon International Competition Committee is pleased to announce the following team nominations for the three World Cup races in December, as well as those athletes invited to this month’s training camp at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, and to the November training in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Pre-qualifed for the Utah Camp and the three World Cups in December are:
Women: Susan Dunklee (Barton, Vt.) and Hannah Dreissigacker (Morrisville, Vt.)
Men: Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, N.Y.), Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, N.Y.) and Leif Nordgren (Marine, Minn.)

Named to the team for the Utah Camp and the December World Cups are: Annelies Cook (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) and Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H.).

Named to the team for the Utah Camp is: Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine). Invited to Lake Placid for training in November are: Russell Currier (Stockholm, Maine) and Jakob Ellingson (Minnetonka, Minn.)

Nordgren, Doherty and Bailey claimed the top-three men’s spots on both days of the roller ski races over the weekend. Nordgren won Saturday’s race while Bailey took Sunday’s top spot, with Doherty finishing second both days.

Cook swept the weekend’s women’s races with Egan and Maddie Phaneuf (Old Forge, N.Y.) flip-flopping second and third place on both days.

Saturday’s race results can be found HERE, and Sunday’s results are HERE.

“The shooting level could have been for sure higher for both genders and there is still work to do,” said U.S. Biathlon Chief of Sport Bernd Eisenbichler about the competition in Jericho. “But the training went well the last weeks and we still have seven weeks till the World Cup starts and I am very confident that we are on the right track.”

The team’s focus now shifts to the Oct. 16-31 training camp in Utah where the athletes will fine tune their skills before the demanding World Cup season gets underway.

“The camp in Utah will be focused on good, quality biathlon training and more of a shift toward the race execution with everything we do, especially to have that mental mindset,” said Jonne Kähkönen, U.S. Biathlon Women’s National Team Coach. “It does not matter whether we do an easy slow fire session, drills or intensity, the execution and the routines should be the same. One of the things we always look forward to is the good fall weather that Utah typically gets, so we’ll use that as well to charge the batteries before the season starts.”

The International Competition Committee has also updated the Athlete Selection Procedures for the upcoming season, specifying which races will be scored at IBU Cups 4 to 6. Please see the updated procedures HERE.