Bailey Fifth in Pursuit at IBU Rollerski Biathlon Cup

 
After the sprint competition, US Coach Per Nilsson was quite pleased with the effort of all three men in their first competitive biathlon since last March. “All three men shot well today, and had good efforts on the tracks. It was good to see how we stack up at this early part of the year against the Swedish team who have some of the best biathletes in the World Cup.”
 
Teela, who used a new rifle stock for the first time this week, was satisfied with his shooting. “I really do not take these summer competitions as seriously as some of the athletes. Nevertheless, they are a good marker to see how the training has gone so far. I have adjusted to my new stock pretty quickly. It still needs some adjustments, but it is good. I am probably not as far along with my shooting overall as some, but I feel like I am on track.”
 
Sharpshooting Ferry and Jonsson Take Sunday Pursuit Competitions
Helena Jonsson started the today’s 10K Pursuit competition with a 17-second buffer between her and Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek. However, by the finish, the gap had increased to 1:46.4 and Östersund’s favorite daughter had won both of the weekend’s biathlon competitions over her illustrious teammate.
 
Ferry Jumps For Joy
Bjorn Ferry was so happy after his victory in the Men’s 12.5K Pursuit competition that he jumped for joy. Ferry is known as an unpredictable character, so his antics seemed normal. However, his win was surprising because Carl Johan Bergman had dominated everyone in the field including Ferry in the two previous competitions this weekend.
 
Today, Ferry was not to be denied the win. Like Helena Jonsson, he missed only two shots, one in the second prone stage and another in the final standing stage. Bergman lost his 11-second gap on Ferry in the first two prone stages, when he accrued three penalties and slipped back in the field. He eventually finished seventh. Second place went to surprising Fredrik Lindström, who despite six penalties held off Mattias Nilsson Jr., for second place. Nilsson, who started just 2 seconds back, had eight penalties.
 
Bailey Battles Eckholm to Finish Fifth
David Eckholm of Sweden and Lowell Bailey had a spirited battle for fourth place, with Eckholm getting just ahead of the American at the finish line. Bailey had four penalties today, giving him a shooting percentage over 80% for the weekend. After his outstanding Sprint, Burke slipped back to ninth with five penalties, with Teela on his heels in tenth, with six penalties.
 
Commenting on the weekend competitions, Nilsson added, “Our shooting was better this year than in recent years. Lowell was over 80% and Tim was near 80%. It is good training to have the athletes in a highly competitive Pursuit at this time of the year. They all responded well. These competitions are strictly for training and we are working on technique and many other things. We will continue with another week of hard training, before a day off on Friday and laboratory testing next Saturday.”
 
He continued, “The ski times in some of these competitions are not necessarily representative of the athlete’s conditioning. The roller skis are supposed to be evenly matched, but we found that there was a big discrepancy in the various pairs (which are drawn by lottery for the competitions). In the Sprint, Tim had a very fast pair and did not get a fast one today. The same went for the Swedish Team. Bergman had a super pair in the cross-country and with a slower pair barely won the Sprint. The coaches all discussed these with the organizers after the competitions, so they were aware of the problem. Still this was a very good early season training weekend for us.”