GRP Biathletes Compete at World Cup 1 and the Canmore NorAm

Emily and Hallie on the podium in Saturday's NorAm sprint (photo: @maddie_phaneuf)

Susan racing at World Cup 1 in Oestersund, Sweden (photo: USBA/NordicFocus)

Last Updated: 05.Dec.2016

The 2016-17 biathlon season is underway! This past week the GRP had biathletes competing at both the World Cup in Oestersund, Sweden as well as the NorAm in Canmore, Alberta.

World Cup 1:

Clare Egan and Susan Dunklee kicked off the World Cup season in last Sunday's mixed relay along with USBA teammates Lowell Bailey and Tim Burke. Susan scrambled for the team and, after cleaning both shooting stages while only using three spares, tagged off to Clare in first place. Clare skied with the leaders and cleaned her first shooting, but struggled with the wind during her standing stage. The team finished 8th with a total of two penalty laps.

World Cup racing action continued in Oestersund with the individual race in which Clare finished 40th, cleaning her final two shooting stages. Susan had to contend with gusty winds in three of four shooting stages and finished the race in 73rd. Susan had a comeback in the sprint race finishing 27th with only two misses. Clare placed 44th also with two misses. In the final race of World Cup 1, a pursuit, Susan moved up five places to finish 22nd with five misses and the 17th fastest ski time of the day. Clare moved up from 44th to 30th (her second-best finish in a World Cup pursuit) with only three misses.

World Cup racing continues next weekend in Pokljuka, Slovenia! Results and live race coverage can be found at biathlonworld.com.

Canmore NorAm:

The rest of GRP biathlon crew started off their season with a sprint at the Canmore NorAm. Both Emily Dreissigacker and Hallie Grossman made the podium on the women's side placing 2nd and 3rd respectively. For the men, Alex Howe had the top GRP-result placing 5th with three misses. He was followed by Mike Gibson in 7th, and Ethan Dreissigacker in 12th.

The race weekend wrapped up with a mass start in which Hallie had a repeat podium finish in 3rd and Emily finished close behind in 4th. On the men's side, Ethan had a strong performance finishing second with only three misses. He was followed by Alex in 11th and Mike in 12th.

The biathletes' next races will be in Mount Itasca at USBA trials. Canmore NorAm results can be found here.