Back in Action

After taking a break from racing in the beginning of February, I headed to Presque-Isle, Maine for World Cup 8. I was nervous because I had not raced fast on the World Cup since November, but had a boost of confidence coming off a 5th place finish in a 5k cross-country Super Tour ski race in Craftsbury, VT. I was desperate to ski fast and shoot well in Maine so that I would stamp my ticket to the 2016 World Championships. Check out this Portland Press Herald article about me and my journey to my home-state World Cup.

Biathlon on the front page! This photo from Hochfilzen, Austria was
on the front page of the Portland Press Herald.
Photo NordicFocus

It turned out to be my best World Cup weekend yet! In the sprint, I shot clean in prone and then missed a single standing target. I took my time on the range in standing as I had major nervous shakes. After missing my middle target, I took a moment to reset my position, and then hit the final two. This was a big victory for me because in past shaky stages, by the time I've realized that I need to take a deep breath and refocus, I have already left the range having fired off my shots into who-knows-where. I paired the 90% shooting with a 26th-rank ski time and an 88th-rank shooting time (second-to-last!) to finish 32nd, for my second-best World Cup result to date. Twenty-sixth is by far my fastest ski rank time, with my next best being 40th! I was psyched. I still need to work on the shooting time.

Getting some rest.
Photo rusbiathlon.ru

Getting into prone position, opening my front site cover.
Photo Portland Press Herald

Prone shooting.
Photo Portland Press Herald

The next race is the one I am most proud of. I started 32nd in the pursuit, based on the sprint results. My teammate Hannah was wearing bib 27 and started about 5 seconds in front of me, and I caught her and a group of other athletes on the approach to the first shooting stage. Hannah and I had zeroed our rifles (when we adjust our sites for the day's wind conditions) on shooting point 2 at the rightmost end of the range where there was a ton of wind. But we arrived at the shooting range for the first prone stage in 29th and 30th place, which means we had to shoot on points 29 and 30, at the leftmost end of the range where the wind was totally dead. Our coach had prepared us for this scenario so we knew what to do (thanks, Jonne!). We both adjusted our sites 7 or 8 clicks, which translates to the width of the whole prone target. It is very unusual and nerve-racking to take so many clicks in a race, however it was the right move and we both shot clean! I missed one target on each of the next three stages and skied another fast course time (22nd) to finish 23rd. My only miss on my last stage was my final target; I will get it next time!

On course in the pursuit, moving from 32nd to 23rd!
Photo Portland Press Herald

Big smiles in the finish area: Hannah and I skied most of the race together
and both set new personal bests for the pursuit, finishing 24th and 23rd.
Photo Portland Press Herald 

Unfortunately in the final race of the weekend, the women's relay, I let my team down with a penalty loop in my standing stage. The first part of my race went really well; I cleaned prone and skied well to move us up into 6th place. But after the standing penalty I fell far back and handed off in 12th. Still, we finished 10th-- our best finish of the year so far and our best finish ever with this group of four athletes.

This is the face you make after finishing a hard race with a lot of mistakes.
Photo Portland Press Herald

My parents made the trip up from Florida despite the bitter cold forecast, and joined a crowd comprised mostly of school kids cheering for Team USA. It was a new and very motivating experience to have people on course cheering for me by first name! I am looking forward to World Championships in Oslo where both my brothers will be cheering live.