Laura Spector starts season with personal best
Biathlon
Sat, Dec 4, 2010 - By Viktoria Franke
For the US women the start into the season went better than anyone could expect. Laura Spector finished on a sensational 25th place – the best result of her career. Given the circumstances around Laura’s training during the summer the result stands out even more. Sara Studebaker finished on place 72. Given the stomach problems and pain Sara suffered from during the competition the result is worth way more than the result list shows.
Laura finished 25th with 3:48,7 minutes back on today’s winner Anna Carin Zidek from Sweden. A great shooting with just one miss was the basis for a result like that.
“I started with one miss so that could actually get to you. But somehow I focused on the skiing and shooting just at the right moments so it worked great”, Spector stated. Head coach Per Nilsson joked when congratulating her: “You probably thought about biology more than about sports so you didn’t put too much pressure on you!”
There could be some truth in that joke since Laura spent the last weeks and months studying. “I’ll actually have my final exam in biology here in Östersund. I will be at the university here on Friday and Saturday and my US-profs will send me the documents.” When it comes to how those studies influenced her training in the past, Laura seems to see it positive: “It helped me keep my balance I guess. It is not too good if you just think about training all the time. It could get too overwhelming…”
Overwhelmed was the right word for what Laura felt today: “It was not only my best race when it comes to shooting, it also was my best race ever. So of course I feel great about that.”
Studebaker caught stomach parasite
“I was among the ones that caught the stomach parasite through the drinking water here. So I thought I am actually better today but after the second shooting I could really feel the symptoms again. So I am happy that I am over with the first race of the season. It takes some pressure away. As for the result I am satisfied because I knew I could not give 100%. So there is definitively more to come!”, said Studebaker after the race. She finished on rank 72 with three misses overall.
Coach Nilsson also stated that he could see her problems during the race: “I am glad that Sara did race today. She started well with zero misses but you could really see when the pain hit her. She couldn’t train so much the last days so it’s understandable that she was out of energy starting with the third loop.”
Right now with the first women’s race done it’s time to think about the men: “I’m not sure how many can start tomorrow. All three that have been here earlier with me – Jeremy Teela, Tim Burke and Leif Nordgren – are having stomach problems as well. So we just hope for the best!”