Biathlon Women Historic 6th in Nove Mesto: Men 13th

GRP Biathletes Clare Egan and Susan Dunklee combined with Joanne Reid and Deedra Irwin to finish a historic 6th in the Relay competition at the 9th stage of the IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto Na Morave Czech Republic. 

It was clear from Susan Dunklee’s first shooting stage that the US Women would have a chance at a season best result. Susan cleaned her prone targets and left the range in 1st place. Susan skied the next loop at the front of the pack and retained her grip on the lead into the range for standing. Dunklee required two extra rounds to clean her standing targets. Over the course of her final loop, Susan stayed in touch with the leaders and tagged Joanne Reid in 6th place, about 10 seconds from first. 

Reid kept Team USA in 6th and tagged Clare Egan in touching distance of the medals. Clare produced an outstanding relay performance which featured fast skiing, clean prone shooting, and only a single spare round in standing. Clare’s effort pushed the US women into second place just 6.6 seconds from first. 

Deedra Irwin also produced a sterling performance with fast skiing, only two spare rounds, quick shooting and an incredible finishing sprint against some of the best athletes on the circuit to bring Team USA home in 6th. 

For a time, Team USA was ranked 5th, because the Ukrainian team made a mistake tagging in the 3rdexchange. The athlete finishing the 2nd leg touched the rifle and not the body of the next racer, a breach of IBU rules. The body tag rule was reviewed by the race jury and after deliberations, Ukraine’s 4th place ranking was restored.  

After the race Clare stated, "Today's race was great from start to finish, which is what it takes for a World Cup relay top-6," Egan said. "There are so many pieces...four fit and focused athletes, eight perfectly prepped skis, 24 kilometers of fast skiing, 40 shots which need to be fast and almost all hits, plus many coaches and support staff working behind the scenes. It was really satisfying to put together a total team effort today."

6th place is the best result for a World Cup Women’s Relay since 1994, with the exception of the Sochi 2014 Olympic relay, where the US team placed 7th behind a Russian team which was later found to be participating in a state sponsored doping scheme. 

The following day, the US Men took to the ski tracks and shooting range for their relay competition. The race began well with GRP training partner Sean Dougherty, tagging GRP athlete Jake Brown in 6th place. Jake skied well through his first loop and only needed one spare round to clean his prone targets. Unfortunately, Brown struggled shooting standing and skied 3 penalty laps. Jake limited the damage with fast skiing, and other teams also struggled along the way, which allowed the US men to salvage 13th. 

For full race replays, race reports, competition analysis and photos from all IBU competitions visit www.biathlonworld.com