December 13, 2012 (Pokljuka, Slovenia) – US Biathlon’s Tim Burke (USA) placed just outside the medals in fourth spot for a superb performance shooting clean in the men’s 10km sprint at round 3 of the IBU World Cup in Pokljukain, SLO today. Local star Jakov Fak (SLO) took the win on home turf, besting rivals Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) and Martin Fourcade (FRA) to the delight of Slovenian fans.

“I am really happy with today’s result,” said Burke in a team release. “Of course it would have been nice to find a few more seconds to get onto the podium, but I really did everything I could out there today so I am very happy with that. I felt very solid on the shooting range today.

“I was able to execute the techniques that I have been working on in practice. I am still missing my top gear on the skis, but hopefully that will show up at World Championships in February. Now I am looking forward to Saturdays Pursuit. I will be starting only 15 seconds behind first place so everything is still possible!”

Fak posted a time of 24:41.7 and a spotless shooting record to nab the victory by a mere 0.8s over Svendsen, who suffered a penalty on the second round of shooting. Fourcade finished 6.1s behind after shooting clean in both rounds. Burke who also shot clean finished 15.2s back.

Scott Perras was the fastest Canuck on the day, sprinting into 34th place, with Lowell Bailey (USA) close behind in 36th. Other North American results include Scott Gow (CAN) in a tie for 50th, Jean Philippe LeGuellec (CAN) in 83rd, Russell Currier (USA) in 89th, and Jay Hakkinen (USA) in 92nd.

Results
1. Jakov Fak (SLO) 24:41.7
2. Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) 0.8
3. Martin Fourcade (FRA) 6.1

4. Tim Burke (USA) 15.2

Full results HERE.

March 01, 2012 (Rupholding, Germany) – The 2012 IBU World Championships open Mar. 1 in Ruhpolding, Germany with the 2×6+2×7.5 km Mixed Relay featuring a team of two women & two men. Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID), Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT), Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) and Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) will start for Team USA.

“The team arrived here in Ruhpolding on Monday after our final preparation in Ridaun, Italy. We think that we have done everything we can now, and everybody is looking forward to the start of the races ,” said US Biathlon Head Coach Per Nilsson. “The team has had an up-going trend in January and February, which we wanted due to the late date for the World Championships, so we know that we have a good capacity. The key is to continue to stay with the routine that every athlete has. They should just do the normal work and focus on things that they can impact. Then we will have some good results over the next 10 days.”

“The team really feels at home here in Ruhpolding. We’ve had several summer camps here, so it feels natural for them to be here,” said Bernd Eisenbichler, US Biathlon High Performance Director. “Everyone has done their work – the athletes, coaches, wax technicians, the physiotherapists – and now it’s time to go ahead and execute what we’ve been working on over the last year.”

The World Championships continue through March 11th. Ruhpolding has a 34 year history of hosting of World Cup and World Championship event. Ticket sales have reached 30,000 per day and the TV audience is expected to exceed 25 million viewers per competition.

Competition begins at 9:30 am (EST) Mar. 1 and will be webcast live HERE.
Please visit HERE for a link to the complete World Championship schedule and results.

2012 U.S. Biathlon IBU World Championship Team

Men
– Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) – World Cup Ranking: 13th – two 5th place finishes
– Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) – World Cup Ranking: 22nd – 6th & 8th place finishes
– Russell Currier (Stockholm, ME) – World Cup Ranking: 47th – two 6th place finishes
– Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) – World Cup Ranking: 33rd – 9th & 14th place finishes
– Leif Nordgren (Marine, MN) – World Cup Ranking: 94th – 33rd & 48th place finishes

Women
– Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO) – 2nd & 4th place finishes in IBU Cup 7, Canmore
– Annelies Cook (Saranac Lake, NY) – World Cup Ranking: 76th – 33rd & 39th place finishes
– Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT) – World Cup Ranking: 48th – 17th & 27th place finishes
– Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID) – World Cup Ranking: 55th – 15th & 23rd place finishes

February 16, 2012 – Russell Currier, 24, a rising star on the US men’s biathlon squad, surprised even himself when he scored a career-best sixth place in the 10k sprint at the IBU Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic last month – read more HERE. He then proved he could do it again when he matched his sixth place in Kontiolahti, Finland last weekend. It was an historic day for the entire US squad, with the team’s best showing ever in a World Cup. Lowell Bailey finished 5th, while Tim Burke placed 13th and Jay Hakkinen was 16th. SkiTrax caught up with Currier after his breakthrough results and here’s what he had to say:

The coaches and I had no idea what to expect out of the sprint race on Saturday. I came down with what I think was food poisoning the day before and wasn’t even sure if I should race. I didn’t feel 100% Saturday morning, but I was close, and with the way shooting and ski speed had been going lately, I made the call and decided to go for it.

I like the course profile in Kontiolahti. It’s very basic and has a good variety of climbs. The -15 Celsius weather wasn’t as fun. I’m not a fan of racing in a buff or with tape on the face, but I didn’t have much choice in the sprint race.

My shooting has felt good the past couple of weeks. Our coach and I worked on bringing my range times down a little bit. I was able to shave off a few seconds for the race on Saturday, which ended up making a huge difference.

Ski speed felt decent considering I had to duck out of the mixed relay the day before. I don’t know what food it was, but this is not the first time this has happened to me in Finland. I didn’t have anyone that I knew was fast around me. All I could do was break the course down into increments and do each one as best as I could. On the last loop, I only had a few splits. Hearing that I was in the top eight helped get me through the last flat section before the finish.

The whole race felt surreal. My goal was to get in the top 40. With the way I had been feeling the day before, I was just hoping to make the top 60 for a pursuit start. The whole day for the men’s team was a tremendous success. It was officially the best day the US men had ever had. I was honored to be able to say that I was part of it.

The pursuit was another good day for our team. I moved down to 23rd, but it was still a good race for me. Prone was decent with one in each stage. I would have liked to have shot a little better in standing, but I wasn’t the only one struggling with shooting that day. Pacing and tactics were much more professional in Sunday’s pursuit than the pursuit in Nove Mesto. My legs felt a little heavy and stiff so I was very surprised when I found out afterwords that I had the 10th fastest ski time.

The IBU Cup field is more competitive than ever. You could say the same thing about the WC field to, but the IBU field has taken the biggest increase the past couple of years. Biathlon is such an up and down sport it’s not always fair to compare results from day to day. I can finish a race and give a better analysis of how it went than the result list can. I’ve had a few mediocre days on the IBU and WCup circuit this season. The sprint race in Kontiolahti was just one of the very good days.

Both races this past weekend were a confidence boost for the athletes and staff. We’re not working any less hard or professionally than the Euros. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be up on the result list. The weekend was simply a good example of this and our organization as a team.

February 12, 2011 (Fort Kent, Maine) – Emile Hegle Svendsen of Norway took the men’s 12.5km pursuit competition today after a thrilling final lap duel with Martin Fourcade (Fra) than ended in a photo finish. Both men had a single penalty and were timed at 35:46. Third went to Tarjei Boe of Norway, with three penalties, 1:00.3 back.

From the outset, the battle was between Svendsen and Fourcade. Although both shot clean in the first prone stage, Svendsen held a 9-second lead leaving the stadium. Fourcade quickly closed the gap and was locked on the Norwegian’s shoulder for the next two loops. They both shot clean simultaneously in the second prone. Their initial tight battle ended when Fourcade had a penalty in the first standing stage, while Svendsen shot clean and got a gap.

The tables reversed in the final standing stage, when Svendsen had to tour the penalty loop and Fourcade was perfect. They went back into the Maine woods separated by just 2 seconds. Fourcade quickly closed the gap and they were elbow-to-elbow for the next 2.2km. They entered the stadium in a full sprint side-by-side. Fourcade seemed to have the edge until the final five meters when Svendsen pulled up just a bit and out-leaned Fourcade who tumbled to the ground.

Svendsen almost seemed relieved that he won the competition after the battle with Fourcade. “I saw Martin shoot clean as I was on the penalty loop and thought, ‘Oh my god’. We were not actually skiing that fast in the first part of the final loop. I knew he was a very strong skier and I knew he was there with me.

“I tried to save some energy for one last attempt. I tried to do that over by the wax cabins and hold it until the finish. But he was super strong and stayed with me. It came to a sprint and I was sure he was before me at some point. But I think I was stronger in the final meters. I managed to pull it off and am very happy about that.”

Fourcade had similar feelings to Svendsen as they approached the final loop. “I saw Emil on the penalty loop and had to make a decision, take it easy and go on the final loop by myself or try to catch him. I decided to go after him and hit all five.”

He was philosophical about second place. “This is a strange weekend. In the sprint I missed the podium by a half second and today miss the win. I hope tomorrow to reverse that trend.”

Boe retained the yellow Jersey, but said he let down a bit in the final standing stage, missing two shots while knowing he could not move up. “I saw Martin hitting all of the targets and knew Emil was away. I thought ‘no chance to take the top two.’ I knew there was a big gap and I had no chance so I took it too easy.”

Lowell Bailey of the US continued his run of strong performances with a move from 31st at the start to 25th at the finish despite a rookie move as he came into his third shooting stage two clips short losing about 40 seconds. Despite the blunder, which likely cost him a top-20 result, he maintained his composure shooting clean and missed only two shots – one in the first prone stage and the second in the final standing stage – to finish 3:23.7 behind Svendsen.

“That was such a stupid mistake. I can’t blame anyone but myself,” said Bailey in a US Biathlon release. “I just took two out of the four needed clips with me. I had some troubles zeroing and focused more on the wind and my problems in prone. I simply forgot to take the two other clips with me. I waved at the coach but I probably lost more than 40 seconds waiting for some extra clips. Of course it’s not their fault. Something like that shouldn’t happen in the first place.”

American Jay Hakkinen also had another solid day, as he got away with just three penalties to finish 34th at 4:35.5 back. Beyond those two men, it was another less-than-stellar day for North Americans.

Canada’s Brendan Green had three penalties in 39th place at 4:51.1 back, just ahead of the USA’s Leif Nordgren, with five penalties. Canuck JP Le Guellec finished 44th, while Scott Perras was 48th, one place ahead of Tim Burke of the USA.

Michal Slesingr of the Czech Republic after falling back in the middle of the competition had a brilliant last 2.5km to move into fourth, with three penalties, at 1:19.6 back, just ahead of Sweden’s clean-shooting Carl Johan Bergman, 1:20.1 back. Sixth went to Christoph Sumann of Austria, with three penalties, 1:56.2 back.

Full results HERE.

February 05, 2011 (Presque Isle, ME) – Here are some more photos from the IBU World Cup Sprints in Presque Isle, Maine. Helena Ekholm (SWE) took top honours in the women’s 7.5km event, while Arnd Peiffer (GER) grabbed gold in the 10km men’s race. Sara Studebaker (USA) scored a personal best 14th place finish in front of her home country fans, while Lowell Bailey (USA) was the top North American man in 25th.

Click HERE for women’s story and results.
Click HERE for men’s story and results.