Dunklee and Brown Top 30, Egan Advances in Biathlon World Championships Pursuit

Susan Dunklee and Jake Brown both posted top 30 results in the Pursuit race at IBU World Championships in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Clare Egan improved her ranking from the Sprint competition. 

Jake Brown kicked off action in Pokljuka, starting 12th in the 60 man Pursuit field. Brown started well and entered the range in 14th place, only losing three seconds to race leader Martin Ponsiluoma of Sweden. Brown picked up two penalties in his first prone shooting bout and exited the range in 22nd place. Jake held steady across the second loop and was the 22nd man on the shooting mats for the second prone stage. A single miss dropped Jake back to 25th. Entering shooting 3, Jake was in a group of 5. Brown took one miss out of the standing stage and exited in 27thplace, again in a tight pack. 

Maintaining his position, Jake took on the final shooting stage in 27th and courtesy of a single miss exited with the same ranking. With hard skiing over the last loop, Jake earned a 25th place finish, the second best World Cup level result of his career. 

Susan Dunklee and Clare Egan were next to take to the Pokljuka tracks. Susan started 18th and Clare began the race 54th. Dunklee entered the range 22nd and left in 18th after a flawless prone stage. Egan picked up 8 places on the first loop and entered the first prone stage in 46th place. Clare’s single miss moved her back to 54th. Susan stayed 18th over the course of lap two, and Egan advanced to 47th on the second 2km circuit. Dunklee doubled up on clean prone stages and departed the range 18th. Clare also cleaned and moved up to 40th. 

Dunklee dropped to 23rd at the onset of the first standing stage. Clare climbed to 37th. Susan was again perfect on the range, heading out on the penultimate loop in 19th. Clare’s single miss kept her 37th.  

Susan shot on point 20 for the last standing stage, picked up two misses and began her last trip around the 2km track in 24th place. Clare hit the shooting mats in 35th and departed 44th.

Susan fought hard through the finish, ending her race in 27th. Clare finished 44th. 

GRP training partner Johanna Talihärm also competed, finishing 33rd with 4 misses. 

Biathletes will have a day off before the women take on the Individual on February 16th and the men contest the same race on the 17th.  

For full event replays, detailed results and race reports visit www.biathlonworld.com