ljuka (Bled), Slovenia, January 17. Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO), missing only one of ten shots, placed 43rd in today’s Women’s 7.5K Sprint.
“It was tough,” is how Barnes described today’s competition. She added, “Of course that is how the conditions have been all year. The steep uphill was very soft and deep, but the rest of the tracks were pretty good. I was a little tired today, after a very hard workout on Monday. It would have been better to do it on Sunday, but since there was no training on Sunday in Ruhpolding, I had to do it on Monday. I think I will feel better on Friday.”
Barnes finished 2:23.5 behind Anna Karin Olofsson of Sweden, who clocked 21:45 today. Olofsson, and like Barnes, had one penalty. The winner missed her final shot, while Barnes missed the first prone shot. “I shot the first one too fast,” Barnes lamented.
Russia’s Tatiana Moiseeva, with clean shooting was 6.8 seconds behind the Olympic Gold Medalist from Sweden. Third went to Kati Wilhelm, with one penalty, 17.4 seconds back. Wilhelm confirmed Barnes’ comments on the conditions today, “This was a hard race, as the snow is deep in places, a bit dirty and accordingly slow.”
Pokljuka is always the spot on the World Cup Circuit where snow is virtually guaranteed. Unfortunately, like the rest of Europe, it has seen little this year. Still, conditions here are the best since the competitions in Hochfilzen last month. There is little natural snow in Pokljuka, but the organizers made snow whenever possible over recent weeks, providing good coverage on the tracks, even though there is no more that 30 cm in most spots. Cold nights at this one-mile high venue make the conditions overall much better (yet not perfect) than the slush of recent weeks.
With her 43rd place finish today, Barnes qualified for Friday’s 10K Pursuit competition.
Tim Burke, Jay Hakkinen, Jeremy Teela, and Lowell Bailey are all scheduled to compete in the Men’s 10K Sprint on Thursday.
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