GRP Biathlete Susan Dunklee on the Podium at Presque Isle World Cup

Last Updated: 15.Feb.2016

This past week the World Cup took place on U.S. soil in snowy Presque Isle, Maine with friends, family, and fans present to cheer on the American athletes. Susan Dunklee, Hannah Dreissigacker, and Clare Egan competed in all three races and posted some impressive results. 

In Thursday's 7.5k sprint, Susan had a dominating performance racing to a career-best second place. She cleaned both stages and finished only 17.8 seconds back from race winner Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic. This was Susan's second time on a World Cup podium with the first being a sprint two seasons ago in Oslo where she placed third. Her second place finish ties the best World Cup result by a U.S. biathlete. Hannah and Clare also had strong races in Thursday's sprint finishing 27th and 32nd respectively. Hannah missed one shot in her prone stage and cleaned her standing while Clare cleaned her prone and missed one in standing. For Hannah, 27th was her fourth-best sprint result, and for Clare, 32nd was her second-best result ever. All three women qualified for the 10k pursuit the following day.

In Friday's pursuit, the U.S. women's team had one of it's best days in recent history. Susan finished 5th with four misses for her best-ever pursuit finish and her second best result of the season. Susan cleaned her first prone stage, but the wind started to pick up part-way through the race which made shooting more difficult. Clare and Hannah both moved up throughout the race to place 23rd and 24th respectively. Clare cleaned her first prone shooting stage and then missed one shot in each of her remaining stages for a total of three misses. Hannah cleaned her first and last shooting stages, but missed two in her second prone stage and one in her first standing stage for a total of three misses.

The following day, all three GRP women and their teammate Annelies Cook raced in the 4x6k relay, which was originally scheduled from Sunday, but got moved up to Saturday afternoon due to the forecasted cold temperatures. Susan scrambled for the team and cleaned both stages using one spare in prone and two in standing. She tagged off to Hannah in fourth who also cleaned both stages using one spare in prone and two in standing. Clare was the third leg of the relay and cleaned her prone shooting stage. The relay team placed 10th for their best relay result of the season.

Racing action continues back in Europe at the beginning of March with World Championships in Oslo, Norway.

Results can be found at biathlonresults.com.

Hannah racing to 27th place in Thursday's sprint (photo: USBA/NordicFocus)

Susan with her parents following her career-best second place finish in Thursday's sprint (photo: USBA/NordicFocus)