GRP Biathletes contest Sprint Competitions in Oberhof

Written by GRP Biathlete Raleigh Goessling

The IBU Biathlon World Cup’s 5th stage got underway from Oberhof, Germany with Sprint competitions for men and women. Men tested themselves on a 10km course on the 13th, while the women competed over 7.5km on the 14th of January. 

Jake Brown posted the top ski time for American men in the sprint race, but one prone and two standing misses pushed Brown down to 69th place. Despite three misses on the day, Brown is happy with the progress he has made in shooting this season, “I’ve been really pleased with my improvements in shooting this year. It doesn’t come to fruition in every race, but I’m much more confident each time I enter the range that I can execute a solid shooting stage.” Jake is looking toward to January 15th Relay competition to put his shooting progress into practice.  

Susan Dunklee and Clare Egan represented the GRP in the Women’s Sprint competition. Clare Egan once again led the US women and the GRP with a 36th place finish. Clare cleaned her prone stage and left the range in 33rd place. After incurring a single penalty loop in standing, Egan dropped to 42nd place. The 39th fastest last loop allowed Egan to push up to the 36th ranking on the day. 

Susan Dunklee missed one shot in prone and two in standing. After the first loop, Dunklee ranked 74th in the 98 person race. After the standing shooting, Dunklee was ranked 80th, but a fast last lap allowed Dunklee to recover two places to finish the day in 78th place. 

Susan and Clare will make up half of the US women’s relay team which will take to the tracks and range in Oberhof on January 16th. 

For full event replays, detailed results and competition analysis visit www.biathlonworld.com.