11 Days till First World Cup: Final Preparation in Sweden

While the better part of the US Biathlon Team is heading to Europe in the very moment, one week ago the first athletes already landed in Östersund, Sweden to start the final preparation for the upcoming World Cup season. For that first training week head coach Per Nilsson wanted to focus on the most promising athletes that included Tim Burke, Lowell Bailey and Jay Hakkinen. “Although Jeremy Teela is also part of our National A Team we wanted him to stay one more week in the altitude back home in Utah”, explains team manager Bernd Eisenbichler.

Winter Wonderland in Sweden

Instead of staying in the warm and rainy Östersund, the three athletes traveled a few hours to find a place that could offer really the best snow and skiing conditions. The only problem that came though was the question: “Where are we?” Or as Lowell Bailey put it: “The name of the town could be Rambudgerbergerbaguh. But I am not that sure.”

It was in "Bruksvallarna", Sweden where they found the perfect conditions. While lots of other nations cramped three hours east in Östersund on a small 4k track, the US team had over 30k of well groomed trails for their preparation. “I am glad that we arranged things like that. We had perfect conditions and the athletes were really happy to get back on skis. I think it was a good fact that we really had the space to ski and that there was not just a short and crowded track”, reports team manager Bernd Eisenbichler. Head coach Per Nilsson is sure that those few days of training helped the athletes to take another step forward. Although Lowell Bailey suffered from a light sickness the feeling for the snow and the eagerness to finally start the season seems to grow by the minute.

Reunion of the whole team in Östersund

Yesterday the group left Bruksvallarna again and traveled back to Östersund where they will be joined by the rest of the team this weekend. Jeremy Teela and Kevin Patzoldt will complete the men’s team; the women’s team will consist of Haley Johnson, Sara Studebaker and Lanny Barnes.

Patzoldt was named to the team after the three week training camp in Utah at the end of October. All the US biathletes gathered in Soldier Hollow to race for the last spots in the World Cup team. According to Eisenbichler “it was a good camp and a really tough decision but in the end Patzoldt was slightly better than the rest of the competitors.”

Important last preparation days in Östersund

Those last days before the first races in Östersund will not be essential for training purposes due to the fact that the summer is the most important training time for an athlete in winter sports. But nevertheless this week is important for the final individual preparation of each biathlete. The most important task though will be the ski tests and the work with the ski technicians. When the first race starts on December 2^nd not only the athletes but also their equipment should be on top of its game.

More coming up on the US Biathlon website

Stay tuned next week for more impressions from the last training days in Östersund and the goals for the Olympic season.

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