February 21, 2015 (Minsk-Raubichi, Belarus) – In his first year as a junior competitor, Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H.) won the bronze medal in the junior men’s 10-kilometer sprint on Saturday at the IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Minsk-Raubichi, Belarus.

Junior M IBU Sprint podium - Doherty (#21) ©

Doherty’s time of 24:59.2, with one penalty, was just 10.2 seconds off the winning time of Russia’s Aleksandr Dediukhin, who shot clean and posted the winning time of 24:49. France’s Fabien Claude was second also with one penalt at 4.6 seconds behind Dediukhin.

“I am very happy with the race today,” said Doherty who shot clean until the last target in standing. “I felt good on the skis and I was able to keep that momentum all the way through the race. On the range, the last shot got me, but I am very excited for tomorrow.”

Doherty was in fourth place as he exited the shooting range with one lap to go but turned in a superb last lap to clinch the bronze medal. His coach, Jean Paquet, talked about the race strategy.

“Sean was to start the race at pace without holding anything back, considering the long uphill and the downhill before the range,” Paquet said. “He was in control at the first shooting stage with five solid hits. He kept a good pace on the second loop and his standing shooting was sharp, but he missed the last target by a quarter of an inch. I am very proud.”

Canada’s Aidan Millar, 20, turned some heads as well as he missed only one target on his way to an eigth-place finish. “I’m pretty excited right now. I definitely wasn’t expecting a top-10,” said Millar. “I was just trying to race my own race and improve my shooting from the Individual. I couldn’t have asked for a much better race, so I’m happy it happened at Worlds.”

Canadians Matthew Strum and Carsen Campbell finished 46th and 55th, respectively. Campbell, who posted the best Canadian men’s result in the Individual earlier this week, struggled on the range, missing three targets. Other US finishers were Jakob Ellingson in 65th and Brian Halligan in 67th.

Doherty, who was the youngest member of the 2014 U.S. Olympic biathlon team, won a gold and two silver medals in the youth divisions at the 2013 IBU Youth/Junior World Championships. He will start just 10 seconds behind Dediukhin in Sunday’s 12.5k pursuit.

Women’s Race

The USA’s Maddie Phaneuf finished 33rd with two penalties in the junior women’s 7.5km sprint while Canada’s Sarah Beaudry was 38th with three missed targets. The USA’s Mikaela Paluszek was 54th with four penalties.

The top-six finishers all shot clean as Lena Arnaud of France won the junior women’s sprint, posting a time of 20:40.6. Taking second place was Galina Vishnevskaya (KAZ) 2.4 seconds back, while Arnaud’s teammate, Chloe Chevalier, was third at 13.1 seconds behind.

Women’s results here
Men’s results here.