GRP at Biathlon NorArm and World Cup

Hannah Dreissigacker finished 39th in the World Cup Sprint in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic on Saturday.

Last Updated: 10.Feb.2015

While the cross-country skiing SuperTour grabbed our attention last weekend, the domestic and international biathlon race circuits continued with NorAm Cup #6 in Jericho, Vermont, and World Cup #7 in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. 

A pair of podium finishes per day for the GRP men in Jericho! GRP biathletes Ethan Dreissigacker and Mike Gibson went one-two in Saturday's men's sprint in Jericho, with Ethan missing only one shot, and Mike three. On Sunday in the pursuit, Casey Smith (Maine Winter Sports Center) moved up from 3rd place to win, with only three misses over four shooting stages. Ethan moved into 2nd place with five misses and Mike moved into 3rd with eight. 

Third Straight Top-10 for Susan Dunklee! World Cup 7 kicked off last Friday with back-to-back relays in Nove Mesto. After the US team of Tim Burke and Annelies Cook took 9th in the inaugural single mixed relay event, GRP biathletes Susan Dunklee and Hannah Dreissigacker toed the line in the four-person mixed relay. Susan went first, moving up dramatically from 17th place to 4th over the course of her 6k leg, despite using two spares in each shooting stage. She boasted the fastest ski time for the first leg. Hannah went next, and fell back to 7th after using three spares in prone. Then she used only two in standing, and tagged off to Leif Nordgren in 10th place. Leif had the 5th fastest ski time for his leg and used only one spare total, bringing the team back into 4th place. Finally, the youngest member of the team, 19-year-old Sean Doherty, used just one spare in prone and two in standing, leaving the range for his final lap mere seconds ahead of World Cup overall leader, Martin Fourade (FRA), as well as multi-time World Cup winner Jakov Fak (SLO) and the young German talent, Benedikt Doll (GER). The three chasers quickly caught Sean, and Fourcade passed him, but Sean led the other two most of the way around the course. In a finishing sprint, the German lunged passed Sean to take 6th by two tenths of a second. But, Dougherty held off Fak for 7th place!

Three GRP women competed in Saturday's sprint, with Susan Dunklee leading the way in 9th with a single miss for her third straight top-10 World Cup finish! Hannah Dreissigacker also qualified for the pursuit (top-60) and scored World Cup points (top-40) by finishing 39th with only two misses. In her first individual World Cup race, Clare Egan got off to a strong start, shooting clean in prone and leaving the range in 37th place. But then she missed four in standing, and finished in 73rd. In Sunday's pursuit, Susan and Hannah battled weather that ranged from sunny and calm to full blizzard. Susan had five misses but held onto a top-20 result, finishing 18th. Despite eight misses, Hannah only slipped back two places to 41st. Susan and Hannah skied the 13th and 19th fastest course times for the day. The three GRP women now head to Oslo, Norway, for World Cup 8, which kicks off Thursday with a 15k Individual.