Good results for US Women at German Champs
Tue, Sep 22, 2009 - By US Biathlon Association
After spending two weeks of training in Italy, BethAnn Chamberlain, Lanny Barnes and Tracy Barnes arrived in Altenberg at the beginning of the week. “That stop just fit well in our plan and thanks to the competitions it’s not only a opportunity for us to see where we stand but also a chance to get to know the track better!” explains Tracy Barnes. In January, the US Olympic Trials will take part in Altenberg so it’s probably not the worst idea to spend some more training time at the training spot at the Czech boarder.
Strong Competition in Altenberg
Given the fact, that two amazingly hard weeks of altitude and snow training laid behind the women the three showed an incredible performance during the two races that took part this weekend. Being part of the German Championship the Sprint and Pursuit competitions hosted some of the world’s best biathletes such as Kati Wilhelm, Simone Hauswald or Magdalena Neuner.
Lanny Barnes at German Championships
“For us it was an incredible experience”, stated BethAnn Chamberlain after the races. “I am not completely satisfied with places 29 and 26 but I learned so much during those two days. And of course you can’t expect too much on the track at the end of our long training tour!”
The Barnes twins showed some good results in comparison with their German World Cup competitors. In the Sprint Tracy finished 13 and moved up on spot in the pursuit. Lanny did an even bigger step by advancing from 21st place in the Sprint to 13th in the Pursuit. “I was so shocked that Lanny suddenly was behind me! I couldn’t even believe it!”, laughed Tracy after the race. With only two penalties Lanny Barnes showed one of the best shooting results of the day. In the sprint on the other hand, Tracy was one of the three women that stayed clean at the range. “I really like it when there’s distraction while I am on the range. In Altenberg the spectators kept on cheering so it was never too silent when I was shooting.”
Perfect Way to End the European Trip
Though they showed some good results the girls were quite happy after they finished today’s competition. “We are all pretty tired. It’s been a long trip and I guess we never did that much skating within three weeks. And now the competition on that really hard track was just the perfect way to end the European tour”, stated Lanny Barnes while packing things for their leave back home.
The whole trip was an idea of the three training colleagues and friends. “We paid for it ourselves and planned it ourselves as well”, explains Chamberlain.
At tomorrow’s article you’ll learn more about what the three of them experienced during their trip through Italy and Germany. If you want to know why Italian kids can be intimidating, how a hike in the fog can scare even the toughest biathletes and how hard it is to make your way by just speaking English:
Stay tuned!