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

January 14, 2011 (Ruhpolding, Germany) – Norway’s Lars Berger took no prisoners as he raced to victory Friday in the 10km Sprint at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding. Berger, who topped the podium for the first time since 2008, earned the third no-miss race of his career to finish with a time of 23:55.1.

“It is too bad that it does not happen so often, but I had a really good feeling in the 20K the other day,” Berger told Biathlonworld.com referring to the gap in his victories, “I felt very much in control today – I shot fast but felt secure.”

France’s star competitor, Martin Fourcade, claimed 2nd, posting the same result in Wednesday’s Individual 20km competition. The 22-year-old Frenchman also had a clean shooting day, finishing 21.7 seconds behind Berger. Ivan Tcherezov (RUS) grabbed the ninth bronze of his World Cup career with a no-miss performance that left him with a time of 24:18.9.

Canada’s Marc-Andre Bedard posted the top North American result with a 44th-place finish. The former Olympian shot clean for a time of 25:59.6 while team mate Brenden Green finished close behind, hitting 9 of 10 targets to finish 48th. Scott Perras took 54th place with two misses and a time of 26:21.5, and Jean-Phillipe Le Guellec missed a pair of targets in the final lap to finish 74th.

Lowell Bailey lead the US team again making 7 of his 10 shots to finish 50th, less than two minutes out of a podium spot. Tim Burke, a Lake Placid native who is still struggling to regain his form from last season, missed four shots and finished with a time of 26:22.6, putting him in 56th. Three-time Olympian Jeremy Teela took 58th place after hitting 7 of 10, and Leif Nordgren missed a pair of shots in each stage to finish 64th with a time of 26:34.5.

The conditions on Friday at Ruhpolding’s new arena were an improvement on Thursday’s rain trodden course, though the warm temperature hovered around 10˚C, making the course slow once again for the racers.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)
1. Lars Berger, NOR (0+0) 23:55.1
2. Martin Fourcade, FRA (0+0) 24:16.8
3. Ivan Tcherezov, RUS (0+0) 24:18.9

44. Marc-Andre Bedard, CAN (0+0) 25:59.6
48. Brenden Green, CAN (0+1) 26:08.6
50. Lowell Bailey, USA (1+2) 26:09.6
54. Scott Perras, CAN (1+1) 26:21.5
56. Tim Burke, USA (1+3) 26:22.6
58. Jeremy Teela, USA (1+2) 26:29
64. Leif Nordgren, USA (2+2) 26:34.5
74. Jean-Phillipe LeGuellec, CAN (0+2) 27:00.9

January 13, 2011 (Ruhpolding, Germany) – Russia’s Olga Zaitseva battled through torrential rain and sloppy racing conditions on Thursday to win the women’s 15km Individual race at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding. Zaitseva, who was one of only three racers to shoot clean on the day, grabbing the ninth win of her career, and first of the season, in a time of 41:46.1.

“I felt very good today, [I] had a good performance today both on the shooting range and skiing,” said Zaitseva in an IBU report, “Starting early was a big help. It maybe was a little bit easier for me than some of the athletes who started later. I also had good skis for this kind of weather.”

The rain, which began early in the morning and persisted throughout the competition, made the snow incredibly slushy, namely on the downhill portion of the course.

“The downhill was not the best part of my race today,” said Andrea Henkel of Germany, “In the final loop, I went out with 6 seconds to make up. By the top of the hill, it was 5 seconds; I knew when I left the shooting range that if I did not have the lead by the top of the hill I would never have it.”

Henkel grabbed her second silver medal of the season, shooting clean in all four stages for a time of 42:00.6, and Sweden’s Helena Ekholm took the last podium spot also with clean shooting and a time of 42:23.5.

Megan Imrie of Canada posted the top North American result placing 35th – a career-best for the 24 year-old Alberta native who missed just one shot on her way to a finishing time of 47:17. “I knew shooting would be critical because of the difficulty of the course and the insane amount of water dumping from the sky,” said Imrie who hails from Falcon Lake. Man. in a Biathlon Canada release, “Shooting is always the difference for me. Finally today I realized I don’t have to think about each target, but I just have to see every target and it worked out.”

Melanie Schultz, also from Canada, placed 70th after a 2-miss performance, and Zina Kocher hit 11 of 20 to finish 82nd.

The top US biathlete of the the competition was Sara Studebaker, who made 17 of her 20 shots to finish 55th. Fellow American Haley Johnson finished 62nd with 4 misses and a time of 50:21.2, and Laura Spector, who is coming off a record performance in the previous world cup, placed 67th after hitting 15 of 20 in the range.

Full Results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Olga Zaitseva, RUS (0+0+0+0) 41:46.1
2. Andrea Henkel, GER (0+0+0+0) 42:00.6
3. Helena Ekholm, SWE (0+0+0+0) 42:23.5

35. Megan Imrie, CAN (0+1+0+0) 47:17.0
55. Sara Studebaker, USA (0+2+1+0) 49:14.7
62. Haley Johnson, USA (1+0+1+2) 50:21.2
67. Laura Spector, USA (1+2+0+1) 50:49.4
70. Melanie Schultz, CAN (1+0+0+1) 51:02.1
82. Zina Kocher, CAN (3+2+2+2) 54:27.6