My First IBU Cup Trials Experience

In the third week of December, Mike, Ethan and I kicked off our biathlon racing season in Minnesota at the IBU Cup Trials. We competed in 4 races in 5 days: 2 sprints followed by a mass start, and a final sprint. In biathlon, “sprint” refers to an individual-start race comprised of three skiing laps and two shooting stages- 1 prone and 1 standing. Mass starts have five laps and four shooting stages- 2 prone followed by 2 standing. The distances of each format remain constant; sprints always measure 7.5k for women (3 x 2.5k loop) and 10k for men, while a mass start is always 12.5k  for women (5 x 2.5k loop) and 15k for men. (Why the International Biathlon Union insists on these minute differences for each gender is beyond me.) Of course, if you end up skiing 11 penalty laps in the mass start, your race is decidedly longer!

After my first race at IBU Cup Trials (blog post) did not go as well as I had hoped, I got better and better over the next three races, and kept climbing the steps of the podium until I found myself on top!

My shooting improved from 40% of shots hitting the target in the first race to 50%, 55% and finally 70% in the last race. In practice leading up to these races, I would say that my average shooting was somewhere around 60%, so I was glad to stay fairly consistent with that percentage in the race environment. I also felt much better skiing towards the end of the week. I think I just needed a few races to shake off the cobwebs from a long training season. It warmed up (from below 0 degrees to just above 0 degrees) which helped with the ski speed a bit, too.

I just about doubled the total number of biathlons that I’ve done in my life at these trials, so I am still enjoying a very steep learning curve. I learn so much from every race, and can apply that knowledge and experience right away toward the next one.

Winning smile on top of the podium!

Happy with 2nd in the Mass Start.

Casual wear for outing grocery across the street.