Women:

1) Chloe Levins
2) Jackie Garso, Craftsbury GRP
3) Zoe May Noble, National Guard Biathlon

Men:

1) Bjorn Westervelt, Craftsbury GRP
2) Eli Nielsen, National Guard Biathlon
3) Paul Schommer, Ariens Nordic Center/Team Birkie

Chloe Levins skis toward sealing a sweep of the week. - Photo Josh Hummel

Day 3 brought a mass start to the 2.5k loop. While the intrigue and nuance of an interval start race has its charms, it's hard to argue with the easy to follow spectacle that a mass start provides, and today did not disappoint.

The women's race featured another dominant win by Chloe Levins as she went 3 wins from 3 starts this week. She did miss 2 in the first standing shooting, but still took 1:34 out of the rest of the pack.

Second place Jackie Garso, GRP. Photo - Josh Hummel

That pack was led by the GRP's Jackie Garso. Despite her solid shooting slipping a bit today, Jackie found another gear to her ski speed to take the silver by 38s over Zoe Noble of National Guard Biathlon. Noble rode a shooting performance with only 2 misses on the day as she held off Lexie Madigan of Team 1,5.

Zoe Noble, National Guard Biathlon, 3rd. Photo - Josh Hummel

Men’s field takes off. Photo - Josh Hummel

The men's podium had a shakeup after two days of dominant performances by Ariens Nordic Center/Team Birkie athlete Paul Schommer. Eventual winner Bjorn Westervelt of the GRP and Eli Nielsen of National Guard Biathlon had gone back and forth behind Schommer much of the race. Then Schommer missed 3 on the first standing stage and the race was back on.

Bjorn Westervelt, GRP, takes the win over Eli Nielsen, National Guard Biathlon. Photo - Josh Hummel

Westervelt led into the range for the last shooting, trailed by Nielsen and then Schommer. Then Bjorn had his own off round as he missed 3, Nielsen 2 and Schommer 1. When the trio left the penalty loop, Nielsen led with Westervelt and Schommer in hot pursuit 9 seconds later. When the threesome reached the finish Westervelt had pulled clear for a 2 second victory over Nielsen who held a fraction of a second lead over Schommer. Mass start racing at its finest!

Paul Schommer heading into the range for the first shooting. Photo - Josh Hummel

Now USBA turns to the math to determine which of the athletes will make the IBU cup and European championships. Athletes' best 2 scores from the 3 races will be used to rank them. Our understanding is the top three women will get IBU cup starts and a 4th will get the Euro Champs race starts, while on the men's side the top 2 men will get the IBU starts and a 3rd will get the Euro Camps race starts. Chloe Levin, Paul Schommer and Bjorn Westervelt seem locks in back of the napkin calculations, but we wait the announcement of the remainder of the teams.

Find photos from today at Josh Hummel's gallery here.

Reults at Bullitt Timing.

2024 USBA Trials: Day 3 Mass Start