Sad in Siberia

The title sums it up! After traveling all the way to central Russia, ten time zones away from the US east coast, my goal for Thursday's sprint race was to finish in the top 60 and earn a start spot for Saturday's pursuit race. In my two most recent sprints I have skied and shot well enough to qualify for the pursuit; in Maine at World Cup 8 I missed one shot (0,1) and finished 32nd, and in Oslo at World Championships had the same shooting and would have placed in the mid 40's if it weren't for forgetting my penalty loop and getting smacked with a 2-minute time penalty. 

A warm welcome to a cold place, at the Khanty-Mansyisk airport.

Unfortunately I was unable to repeat that good shooting thrice. I started out with clean prone shooting once again and faster skiing than I've done most of the season. Then when I came in for standing I was nervous, shaking, and not lucid enough mentally to take the necessary steps to calm my body down. Instead of relaxing onto the target, I was fighting against the natural aim of the rifle and using tension to try to get onto it. This is an instinctive response but it does not work! In my mid-race state of mind, I forgot Lesson Number One from my first biathlon coach, Algis Shalna: "Do not try to hit the target!"

Algis Shalna, my first biathlon coach, is a hero here.
He became Lithuania's first winter Olympic medalist when
he won gold for the USSR in the 1984 Olympic biathlon relay.

Alas trying to hit the target didn't work, and I missed three standing targets, tying my worst shooting performance of the year. I skied as hard as a could to the finish, knowing I would be very close to the top-60 cut off. When all was said and done I was 63rd, about 10 seconds too slow.  I would not get another opportunity to race. Siberia is a long way to go for one 20-minute race and my team spent precious funds to send me here. It was so disappointing. If I had hit my last target, or shot as fast as the average World Cup shooter, I would have made it. But each penalty loop takes about 25 seconds, and I am still the slowest shooter in most races, with shooting times around 40 seconds-- that's 10-15+ seconds lost to the fastest person per stage. Biathlon lends itself to the "what if" game, which is as unproductive as it is tempting. 

Tim Burke finished 6th in the sprint, making it into the Flower Ceremony!
Here he is with our World Cup 9 staff L-R: Jean, Gara, Tim, Fede, and Max.

Russian dolls waiting to hand out flowers and medals.

Tim followed up his season-best sprint with another 6th place in the pursuit!

This year I finished the World Cup season ranked 67th overall, by virtue of my three top-40 results (16th, 23rd, 32nd), each of which earned me a corresponding number of World Cup Points. Last year, I was the last ranked person on the list, having placed 40th exactly once to earn a single point. While I am happy with my improvement overall, and especially in terms of my average shooting percentage (64% last year versus 79% this year), 67th is a hard place to be because I am often just outside the qualifying cut-off for the pursuit. With relatively few race opportunities, it is hard to improve.

Here I am riding a reindeer-drawn sleigh (usually reserved for medal-winners). 

For the last three days I have been cheering for my teammates and continuing to train in preparation for US National Championships in Fort Kent, Maine, which take place next weekend and will be my last races of the season. I may have failed to meet my goal in this week's race but DON'T WORRY!!! I am going to get first place at the World Cup finals dance party tonight.

Selfie with Jean. He is our head development coach and
our only coach here this week. Usually he does not travel
on the World Cup level so this is a fun change of faces.