Valcartier, Quebec March 23 - 26 . Two weeks ago the U.S. Biathlon National Championships were rained out forcing race organizers to move and combine the event with this week’s North American Championships in Varcartier, Quebec.  Snow is not scarce conditions are exceptional allowing for the event to take place, but not without a little sign from Mother Nature that spring is on its way.  Temperatures failed to make it below freezing leaving a deep layer of slushy ice for the athletes to maneuver through in today’s Individual race and rain showers teased organizers and teams with multiple periods of showers.

Athletes skied five loops stopping four times to take aim and strike down a total of twenty targets (five per stage) with precise mechanics knowing that each shot missed would result in a 1-minute penalty.  Not to add more pressure to the picture, but National Championship titles and North American bragging rights were up for grabs as well!

2006 Olympian Brian Olsen set a strong pace early on hitting 13 of his first 15 targets.  Eventual winner and member of the 2006 Canadian Olympic Team David Leoni matched Olsen’s shooting, but appeared to have found another gear and the right pair of skis as he out skied the field by over 2-minutes on his way to winning the overall NorAm title.  In Olsen’s final stage nerves or maybe the wind seemed to gain a slight edge as he missed three shots dropping him back to 5th place in the end at the finish line.  “I worked really hard to get that last shot and it took me some extra time, maybe too much”, Olsen commented afterwards.

Newt Rogers of Ft. Kent won his first National Title of the week.  The U.S. Jr. World Team Member got back into his groove after a short trip to the Cross-Country Jr. Nationals hitting 13 of his 20 targets.  Rogers struggled in his middle two stages where he earned 5 of his 7 penalties.  “Skiing was really tough today.  The conditions were really slow, you felt it as you raced and you could see it in other racers’ faces”.  Maxime LeBoeuf of Quebec was the overall NorAm Champion with four penalties.

In the Sr. Women’s competition, Haley Johnson hit 16 of her 20 targets cleaning her final stage on her way to winning her first National Title.  BethAnne Chamberlain finished second with seven misses.  In the NorAm standings, Canadian Olympic Team members Sandra Keith, Martine Albert and Marie-Pierre Parent of Quebec swept the podium.  Laura Spector or Massachusetts was the Jr. Women’s National Champion and finished 2nd overall in the NorAm rankings.  Janna Widness of Alaska won the Youth Women’s competition

March 25: In the Sr. Men’s field the top two finishers flip-flopped positions today.  Hitting 5 of his 10 targets, Brian Olsen missed out on his second National Title by just eight seconds finishing with a time of 38:42.  The famous line of “if I would’ve just hit one more shot” fit as Robert Rosser hit 6 of his 10 shots to edge out Olsen with a time of 38:34.  Former U.S. Olympian Duncan Douglas finished in 3rd with 5 hits and a time of 40:47.

Denise Teela of the U.S. National Guard won the overall U.S. and North American title hitting 8 of her 10 shots and finishing in a time of 33:01.  Haley Johnson finished as the 2nd American with 3 penalties in a time of 35:26.  BethAnne Chamberlain hit 8 of her 10 shots including hitting all five prone shots to finish 3rd with a time of 36:08. 

World Jr. Team member Nigel Kinney won his second National title hitting 6 of his 10 shots to finish with a time of 36:47.  In the Jr. Women’s field Laura Spector won her second National title and was just 11 seconds away from winning her first North American title finishing 2nd overall.

In the Youth Men’s field Russell Currier of Stockholm, ME came searching for his first National and North American titles of the year.  Unfortunately a rookie-like mistake prevented him from gaining both titles.  In his first shooting stage Currier arrived at the range to shoot from the prone position, but chose a standing point where he proceeded to fire all five of his shots.  After seeing Currier’s mistake MWSC Biathlon Coach informed Currier that he needed to ski five penalty loops to avoid additional penalties.  “It was hard watching him shoot prone on that point; there were at least four hits and this would’ve helped him today,” said Colliander.  Currier still managed to finish 3rd overall (1st American), 2 minutes and 57 seconds off the pace of Maxime Lebouef of Quebec.  Newt Rogers of Ft. Kent, ME finished 7th overall (2nd American) with 6 penalties.

MWSC athletes showed their strength in the Youth Women’s field by sweeping the top three places.  Meagan Toussaint of Madawaska, ME won her first National title hitting 7 of her 10 targets to finish with a time of 32:17.  Teammates Hilary McNamee struggled in prone leaving 4 of her 5 targets standing, but rebounded in her second stage hitting 4 of her 5 targets.  Justine Cyr finished with 7 hits on the day and was one of only a few who were able to clean a single stage, by cleaning her prone.

Competition concludes Sunday with the Pursuit.  Athletes will start in the order of finish from the Sprint competition, but an individual start format will be used with 5 second intervals between each starter.

The United States Biathlon Association is the National Governing Body for the sport of Biathlon in the United States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Biathlon Union. The US Biathlon Association supports the US Biathlon Team and development of the sport on all levels within the United States.