Liatoppen Biathlon Festival Race Report

Craftsbury Junior Bjørn Westervelt (above) traveled to Norway at the beginning of the month, and mom Karen shared this trip report and photos with us. Congrats on the competition, and thanks for giving us a bit of a peek into your experience!

These are photos from Liatoppen Biathlon Festival in Norway March 31-April 2nd. Bjørn Westervelt, Tim Cobb, (EABC) and Ethan Livingood (Jackson Biathlon) werethe New England contingent who joined 4 other U16 biathletes from across the USA to compete in the largest youth biathlon festival in the world. Twelve hundred U16 athletes from Norway, Sweden, France and the USA participated in 3 days of competition. Thefirst day of competition was a relay, the second day was a sprint and the third day was a mass start.

Ethan joined forces with 2 Norwegian biathletes and won the heat on the first day of competition. Bjorn had his best race of the weekend during the sprint and placed 13th out of 84 biathletes tying with an athlete from France and leading the USA boys team. Tim lead the way during the mass start and placed 38th on the third day. It was a fantastic performance all around by the U16 USA Team!

This was the 30 year anniversary of the Liatoppen Biathlon Festival. The event was very well organized and did a great job promoting youth involvement in the sport of biathlon. Biathlon legends Ole Einer Bjorndalen and Tarjei Bø were at the festival signing hats, cheering the youth on, and inspiring young biathletes from around the world.