US Biathlon Trials coming up next week

Mon, Nov  15, 2010 - By Viktoria Franke

As November slowly passes by, the 2010/2011 biathlon season is coming closer by the minute. The first races of the World Cup season will be held at the beginning of December in Östersund, Sweden, the IBU-Cup starts at the end of November in the Norwegian Beitostoelen.

For the US team the season already starts mid of November when the senior teams will gather in Canmore, Canada for this years World Cup trials. On November 16th, 17th and 19th the Canmore Nordic Center will host two sprints as well as one mass start to determine the final World Cup team for the December races.

Tim Burke, Jeremy Teela, Leif Nordgren and Sara Studebaker already have their place within the team secure based on last years results. One spot for the men's team and one spot for the women's team will be filled via the trials. For the men's team there is also the option for an additional place depending on the decision of the coaches and the International Competition Committee.

For High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler it is impossible to predict who will make the final World Cup selection: "The performance in our team is not tight as tight as in other nations, there's still a gap we need to close. So that is certainly a big part we'll be working on over the next years. Nevertheless the team is strong enough that it's not easy to make any predictions on which athletes will advance to the World Cup team after the trials."

One reason for that seems to be the new women's head coach Jonne Kähkönen, who moved to Lake Placid this summer. "To have Jonne in our team made a big difference. I have the feeling that the women's team got even closer over working with him. For Lake Placid itself it was also a great achievement to have him training on-site with the athletes. Together with Patrick Coffey he is doing some great work", says Eisenbichler.

The good work within the team will not only influence the performance during the trials, it will also be seen later during the start of the season. Thanks to the work the US Biathlon Association has done over the past year there will be a small change in the race calendar for the athletes this year: "A good thing is that we will - for the first time in many years - have a small team starting in the December IBU-Cup already. That's a developement and strategy we've been working on for quite some time now and I'm happy that the day finally has come to turn that plan into reality." The reason for that is simple, as Eisenbichler states: "The level within our teams got higher over the last years and now this plan finally makes sense. It's a great developement, as some of the ambitious athletes who will not make the World Cup team will be able to gain some international experience through the IBU-Cup races."

The final teams for the World Cup and the IBU-Cup will be determined after the trials in Canmore.

Stay tuned for the results and decisions from Canmore! (Photo: NordicFocus)