Kontiolahti, Finland, March 18. Rachel Steer (Anchorage, AK) closed her Biathlon World Cup career by moving from 43rd at the start, to finish 40th in the Women’s 10K Pursuit competition today.

The thoughts of spring in Finland were dashed today, as morning sunshine turned to midday snow. It was nothing like the blizzards of the previous week in the Alps, but enough to force everyone to zip up the parkas, put the hats over the ears again and forced the wax teams into a new plan. Today was simply a reminder by Mother Nature that biathlon is a winter sport.

The intensity of the snow and wind increased as the women lined up for the five 2K loops here, which on a good day would be described as “demanding”. Each loop features “the wall” a steep climb of more than one minute that makes even the strongest skiers grimace as they top it, heading for the shooting range, with muscles fatiguing and hearts racing at their limit.

From her 43rd starting position, Steer moved up a spot on the first loop, had a single penalty and left in roughly the same position. Throughout each of the four shooting stages, the result was the same for Steer. Each time she came to the shooting range, a clean bout would have moved her up significantly, but each time, one target failed to close. She finished with one penalty in each of the four stages. At the finish, she commented,”It was not windy. The tracks held up (with the new snow) good. I actually think it was faster than yesterday. The last loop was pretty good.”

Steer, in her final World Cup appearance, crossed the finish line in 40th place, 5:22.8 behind Anna Carin Olofsson of Sweden, with three penalties who won in 33;53.6. Germany’s Kati Wilhelm, with three penalties was second, 17.5 seconds back, followed by Olena Zubrilova of Belarus, 40.6 seconds back.

 The 40th place finish probably did not meet Steer’s own high expectations, but she was smiling and relaxed at the finish. Asked if she was ready to move on to another chapter in her life; she smiled, replying with a simple, “Yes.” Her comments a few weeks ago at the Olympic winter Games when she finished her Olympic career probably described how she felt after today’s competition.

Asked about the end of her Olympic career, she said she was not satisfied, adding, “Maybe when I look back at this in the future I will not be so hard on myself. I am not exactly sure how I will feel later on, when I am done competing. The sport is so demanding…it is just you, the course, the rifle and the targets.”

With her simple reply today and those thoughts from just 3 weeks ago, the number one US woman left the competitive biathlon world, leaving big shoes for a new generation of biathletes to fill. Steer had been ranked number one in the US five of the last six seasons; won countless US Championships; competed in two Olympic Winter Games with 31st and 35th place finishes in 2002 and 2006, respectively; had 23 top-25 World Cup finishes, including three at the 2005 World Championships; ranked 36th in the World Cup Overall the past two seasons, and had two 12th place finishes in World Cups.

The other US woman in the Pursuit, Sarah Konrad (Laramie, WY) did not have a good day in the challenging conditions. She had nine penalties when she was lapped after the third shooting stage, which ended the competition for her.

Jeremy Teela (Anchorage, AK) was the sole representative in the Men’s 12.5K Pursuit which took place just 45 minutes after the women finished. As the men left the stadium, the now heavy snow continued to fall. Teela, who has been plagued with shooting inconsistency all season, cleaned both prone stages today. Coming to the first standing stage, he was in 31st position. He explained what happened after that. “On that loop, my glasses fell apart. I had to squint after that and I was really off balance going down hills from there on. I am not going to say that is all that caused me to miss the five standing shots (in the final two stages), but I was having trouble seeing the targets and keeping my balance. The combination of the heavy snow and squinting (in very poor light), did not help.”

After the five standing penalties in the two stages, Teela fell back to 44th at the finish, 4:30.1 behind Ole Einar Björndalen of Norway. Björndalen, winning the Pursuit fro the second week in a row, plowed through the new snow in 36:18. The Norwegian star had three penalties today. Raphael Poiree of France, with two penalties, finished second, 4.5 seconds back, while Lars Berger charged from fourth to in the final 2.5K to grab third, 29 seconds back.

The final competitions here will be the Men’s and Women’s Mass Starts. Jay Hakkinen is expected to get a starting position as he is ranked 36th in the World Cup Standings and seven men are not here, which would put him in the top 30.

The United States Biathlon Association is the National Governing Body for the sport of Biathlon in the United States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Biathlon Union. The US Biathlon Association supports the US Biathlon Team and development of the sport on all levels within the United States.