Biathlon Period 1 Recap
By Luke Brown
GRP biathletes have had a full two months of early season racing already this season, highlighted by Jake Brown pre-qualifying for the Olympic Games. Jake, Susan Dunklee, and Clare Egan (who had already pre-qualified for the Olympics based on their performances last season) started the World Cup Season in Oestersund, Sweden. There, Jake posted a twenty-third place in the season opening Individual which earned him his Olympic berth. Jake and Susan then traveled to race in Hochfilzen, Austria and Le Grand Bornand, France to round out Period One on the World Cup. Both of these athletes will now head to Oberhof, Germany for the next World Cup, beginning on January 6th.
November and December also saw GRPers racing the IBU Cup. Hallie Grossman, Kelsey Dickinson, and Luke Brown raced in Idre, Sweden and Sjusjoen, Norway. Highlights included Kelsey’s 35th place in the Idre Sprint and Luke’s 41st in the Sjusjoen Super Sprint. GRP’s own Micheal Gibson was team leader for the USA squad.
Luke (Moose) Brown gets some great cheering from GRP Row teammates (Photo: Caitlin Patterson).
The IBU Cup athletes then returned stateside to race December trials at home in Craftsbury. These competitions acted as the qualifying races for both European on-snow Olympic trials and for IBU Cup 5 and 6. The GRP women won each trials race - Kelsey took the first Sprint, Hallie placed first in the Mass Start, and Susan won the last Sprint (followed in second by GRPer Tara Geraghty-Moats). On the men’s side, Carsen Campbell placed second in the Mass Start, shooting 19/20, and Luke won the final Sprint.
Hallie and Kelsey in the mass start (Photo: Caitlin Patterson).
Kelsey and Hallie both qualified for Olympic trials and are currently in Arber, Germany preparing for the competitions. Luke and Raleigh earned spots for the next IBU Cups and will be headed to Osrblie, Slovakia to race starting January 12th.
It has been a big month for the GRP biathlon squad and the team is ready to go full bore into the next month of racing. You can follow along with World Cup and IBU Cup results here.