The Sun was shining at Mt Itasca this morning, and the temps were in the 20’s….. but dropping. AND the wind was blowing across the range at 15-20 mph with gusts up into the 30’s. Shooting today was rough for most. A 40 grain 0.22 Long Rifle bullet at 50 meters will be blown sideways about 3” in that wind..and the target is only about 1 3/4” in diameter in prone. In standing—the wind simply blows the rifle back and forth–

Results IBU Cup Sprint 12.19.17

In the Women’s 7.5 km Sprint, Maddie Phaneuf of USBA again dominated, missing 0 in prone and 3 in standing to finish in 23:34. She was followed closely by Chloe Levins, a 19 yr old skiing for USBA who also missed 3 and finished 16.5 sec behind. In 3rd was Kelsy Dickenson, St Scholastica, missing 2 shots, and finishing 45.4 sec back.

In the Men’s 10 km event, local excitement prevailed. Vasek Cervenka, Mt Itasca Biathlon, was the only Man to clean in prone—and with that adrenaline boost, he skied very strongly; and even missing 2 in standing, he finished 1st in 25:42. Following closely behind, past MN State Champion from Esko, Raleigh Goessling missed 1 each in prone and standing—to finish 27.9 sec back. He was followed in 3rd by previous winner Alexander Howe, skiing for Craftsbury in VT, missing 5 shots and finishing 58.2 sec behind.

The USBA International Competition Committee will now go over the results. The Trials are based on each athlete’s best 2 of the 4 races on a percent back basis…The committee will then make a recommendation as to who will make the IBU Cup Team.

The next races in MN are coming right up next week. While the temperatures are forecast to drop quickly, Mt Itasca will host the US Team Trials for Youth and Juniors for the team that will compete at the YJr World Championships in Estonia in Feb. Races will be on the 29th, 30th and 31st, with Official training on the 28th. Mt Itasca will be closed to public skiing until 1:00 each of those days.