Zach Hall and Tracy Colliander Take Mass Start
Day 2 of the Biathlon World Team Trials started off with a low of -12 F. Fortunately, the sun pushed through clouds and the Men’s 15km Mass Start began after a 2hr delay. The new range approach, an extremely steep 75m climb, played havoc with the shooting for both men and women.
Walt Shepard, Yarmouth, ME, got the drop on the field after the first shooting with an extremely fast and accurate first prone shooting. A classic biathlon duel evolved over the next three stages with Zach Hall, Anchorage, AK, matching Shepard’s shooting accuracy but falling slightly behind in shooting speed. Hall was able to close the gap down over each ski leg. Shepard and Hall left the last shooting stages only a few seconds apart. Hall pounded out the last 3km with Shepard hanging on for dear life, with only 2.6 seconds separting the two at the finish. The battle for third went to Dan Campbell, Bozeman, MT, with Jesse Downs, Jericho, VT and Wynn Roberts, Battle Lake, MN filling out the top 5. Roberts posted the top ski time of the day for the second day in a row, but 8 penalties were too many to overcome.
In the women’s race, Carolyn Bramante, Duluth, MN, took the early lead after the first shooting stage with clean shooting, but as soon as the standing stages began Tracy Colliander, Durango, CO, put on one of her signature displays of fast and flawless shooting. Tracy went on to 60 sec victory. Second and third places changed off several times in the later half of the race. Laura Spector diplayed some of the ski speed that had put her on 2 World Championship team and finished 2nd with 6 total penalties. With the fastest ski time of the day, Susan Dunklee, Barton, VT managed to salvage a 3rd place finish after a disappointing day on the shooting range with 9 penalties.
Competition for the 4 men’s and 4 women’s positions on the IBU Cup Team will resume on Dec 19th at Mt Itasca. Three more races remain in the best 3 of 5 race series. Complete results for all races can be viewed at www.minnesotabiathlon and www.usbiathlon.org.
