We are sending info on both the IBU Cup Trials in Craftsbury, VT, Dec. 15-18, 2022, and the Youth/Junior World Championships Trials in Anchorage, AK, Dec. 27-31, 2022. Please find invitations for both events attached. Note that coaches are required to register for both events.
NOTE: YJWCH Trials registration fee increases on Dec. 1, 2022! Please have athletes register ASAP to avoid late fees. Register here: https://zone4.ca/register.asp?id=29840
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Sara Studebaker-Hall (she/her/hers) Director of Operations U.S. Biathlon 208-340-5489
In addition to the Y & Jr World Championships, USBA will be selecting some athletes from Anchorage Trials to go to the Open European Jr Championships and the Jr IBU cup races. This is a great opportunity for those who are near the top of the local races, as we have historically placed many MN athletes on the YJr World team!! This will go below that to give more athletes the possibility of participating in International Biathlon Competition!!
The ‘open class’ is both Seniors and Juniors combined together. Then the Juniors are also on a separate class result. I think both age classes carried rifles on the entire course while the Youth and younger did a shorter course plus some ‘rifle loops’.
There are a number of Canadian biathletes competing also—and they often come down with really fast roller skis..almost rollerblade fast.
Mass Start and Pursuits tomorrow!! The link to the start times is posted on the main sheet of the same webpage.
US Biathlon and the Olympic Regional Development Authority are pleased to invite you to the US Biathlon National Championships in Lake Placid, NY March 23-27, 2022.
Please find the invitation attached, as well as a link below to find more information. Please reach out to ORDA with any questions.
Well, Trials are behind us! It was a pretty brutal experience between the altitude, heavy snow and a lot—a whole lot of wind on some days! The Midwest group had 14 athletes including Emily Broderson racing in the Masters class. Of those with MN connections, we placed 4 of the 17 now named to the US Teams!! In order of success:
Emma Stertz—top Junior woman Cheresa Bouley—2nd Junior woman Matej Cervenka– 4th Youth man Alexandria Rud– 4th Youth woman—Alexandria is a dual citizen from Norway with family connections in MN! She has raced with our group twice now.
Unfortunately, it takes a number of weeks at high altitude for the bodies to adjust, produce more red blood cells, and to allow full performances! As student/athletes, that is pretty much an impossibility for those of us living around 1200 feet above sea level when we have to race at 5900 feet!! Most of our athletes did improve as the race series progressed..and all certainly felt better! However, the Youth and Junior World Championships will be held this year at the same venue in Utah, so picking a team that can have success there was both important and an early opportunity to see and experience the same venue as those races in February!!
So while our skiing suffered, especially the first days, we again did very well on the shooting side. There were a total of 59 Youth and Juniors doing the 3 races—or a total of 3 x 59= 177 “individual races”. Of all those, 32 had ‘races’ shooting 80% or better—13 of them were our athletes. Only 14 shot a race 90% or better—and we had 6 of those. And only 3 had clean races, and we had 2 of those: Kaisa and Saylor both shot a clean race!!!!
To give you an idea of the conditions during the long 10km pursuit race—only 2 of the 59 shot 80% or better. It was nasty windy!!!
I think we can all thank Jeff Bosek for passing on his expertise on the ranges over the past 3 yrs—Kaisa has now cleaned 3 races in Soldier Hollow alone… still looking for that clean 4 stage race yet!!
So of the above three MN athletes and plus Amanda Kautzer, who is headed for the IBU events in Europe, with an eye on the last spots on the Olympic team—only Emma Stertz qualified for any financial help and that is for Worlds in the US, the European trip is self pay. Matej qualified just for the Utah events on a self pay basis. Cheresa and Amanda are totally on a self pay basis. With that in mind, if anyone wants to donate to help fund their expenses, Minnesota Biathlon is a 501c3 corporation and your donation is tax deductable. If you prefer to designate a recipient, the donation can go directly to that athlete, if not, then it will be divided equally between Emma, Cheresa, Matej and Amanda.
For this coming week—most have races next weekend—so should concentrate on easy distance skiing. Coming up on the 15th/16th weekend are the next Regional races –down in Middleton [Madison] WI. Mark Torresani indicates conditions should be good and the invitation will be forthcoming early this week!! And the 29th/30th will be Regionals in Elk River!
So enjoy the snow, keep racing, and for sure, enjoy the Journey! Bill Meyer, Coach