This past weekend Craftsbury biathletes competed at IBU Cup Trials at home on the new range as well as abroad on the IBU and World Cup.

World Cup:
In Le Grand Bornand, France, World Cup #3 kicked off with a sprint race. Clare Egan had the top GRP result and was the only GRP athlete to qualify for the pursuit placing 42nd with two standing misses. She was followed by Susan Dunklee in 67th and Emily Dreissigacker in 94th. In the men’s race, Jake Brown, who was bumped up from the IBU last week, placed 61st with one miss per stage. Next up for the men was Alex Howe who placed 79th with two prone misses. In the following day’s pursuit, Clare had a strong race moving up to 29th with only two misses. There will be a brief World Cup hiatus for the holidays and racing action will resume on January 9th in Oberhof, Germany. 

IBU Cup:
Meanwhile in Obertilliach, Austria, the IBU Cup got underway with a short individual race in which Kelsey Dickinson placed 38th with three misses and Hallie Grossman placed 41st with only two misses. In the next day’s sprint race, Kelsey finished 42nd. She was followed by Hallie in 69th. The IBU Cup will also take a holiday break resuming in Ruhpolding, Germany on January 15th. IBU and World Cup info and results can be found at biathlonworld.com.

IBU Cup Trials:
Back on home turf, GRP athlete Raleigh Goessling and Craftsbury junior Bjorn Westervelt duked it out with other top domestic biathletes in IBU Cup Trials. The three race weekend kicked off with a sprint race. Raleigh had a strong performance placing second while Bjorn finished 6th. In the following day’s mass start race, Raleigh dominated the field winning the race by over 50 seconds. Bjorn finished 7th. In the final race of the weekend, which was another sprint, Raleigh had a repeat win and Bjorn placed 5th. Within the next few days two biathletes will be nominated from these trials to fly across the pond and race against the current US squad competing over there. This trials event, to be held in Germany, will determine who earns IBU Cup start rights after the holiday break. Stay tuned and happy holidays!

Results:

Sprint 1 | Mass Start | Sprint 2