Holmenkollen Oslo Norway, March 23. Jeremy Teela (Anchorage, AK) and Sarah Konrad (Laramie, WY) both had season best performances and earned World Cup Points for their identical 30th place finishes in today’s Men’s and Women’s Sprint competitions at the legendary Holmenkollen Ski Stadium.

The World Cup Final in Oslo is known for two things: the spring melt off which leaves the snow running down the streets like a river and the fog which accompanies the melt off and warm weather. 2006 is the exception to the rule. Oslo has been blessed with more snow this year than any time since 1984, according to local sources. Additionally, March remains unusually cold with nighttime temperatures close to minus 12 Celsius.

Under these conditions, this year’s World Cup Final which opened with the Men’s 10K Sprint and the Women’s 7.5K Sprint today boasted great conditions----late winter sun and hard packed tracks conducive to fast skiing. Head US Wax Technician Bernd Eisenbichler stated, “These are the best conditions we have seen for the World Cup Final in Oslo in many years.”

Sarah Konrad, as the sole US woman in the Women’s 7.5K Sprint, drew bib number 1 today, giving her a lot of “face time” on Eurosport as well the opportunity to set a good mark early in the competition. Konrad took the opportunity, producing not only a personal best result of 30th place (1:31.4 back), with eight of ten shooting, but the best World Cup result (and only World Cup points scored) by a US woman this season.  US Biathlon Development Coach James Upham commented as Konrad approached the finish line, “I told Sarah this morning that this was a great opportunity to show some respect for wearing bib number 1 at Holmenkollen and also for the uniform under the bib. Obviously, she took that to heart.”

Konrad’s previous best result in a Sprint came last week at Kontiolahti, where she was 50th. In that competition, she hit seven of 10 targets, equaling her personal best. Today, she came to the prone stage, shot with a fast cadence, dropping four of five targets. This good start was followed by the same result in standing, one penalty giving her eight of ten shooting. Smiling broadly at the finish, the elated Konrad commented, “I am pretty happy to finish the season with that. When the fourth standing target went down, I had to take a second glance.”

“I did probably four or five times more visualizing for this race than normal. That may have helped. I was pretty nervous all night about starting number one, kept going over it in my mind all night, and did not get much sleep. But I have slept well the other nights so it probably did not make much difference in my race. I gave it everything in the race, but my asthma was bad today for some reason. I could not go as fast as I wanted with the tightness I was feeling.”

Konrad’s 30th place, 1:31.4 behind the 21:28 of Martina Glagow of Germany, came in one of the most competitive races of the season. Glagow was chased to the finish by Michela Ponza of Italy, who like the German, shot clean but missed first place by three seconds. Ekaterina Ivanova of Belarus was six-tenths behind Ponza. There was only 24.1 seconds between Glagow and 10th placer Simone Denkinger, also of Germany.

The Men’s Sprint which started three hours after the women was almost as closely contested (after first place Ole Einar Björndalen, 41.7 seconds ahead of second place) as the Women’s Sprint had been. Teela’s 30th place, 1:40.9 back, was less than one minute out of second place and18.1 seconds from 19th place. Second place today went to Ilmars Bricis of Latvia, with third going to Mattias Nilsson, Jr. of Sweden. The top three all had one penalty, with Bricis 41.7 back and Nilsson, 45.8 of the Norwegian’s winning 23:51.7.

Teela, like Konrad was the first US starter at bib 23. He came to the prone stage and shot very deliberately, knowing that the prone targets had to fall for him to have a good result. He has struggled with standing shooting all season. After the clean prone, he had two prone penalties, but was skiing well enough to be competitive. His 30th place was his season best result and the first time this season that Teela has scored World Cup Points.

“I did not feel bad today, but did not feel great, I am happy to be ending the season on a better note than up to this point, As competitive as World Cup Biathlon is these days, scoring points, especially here at Holmenkollen is still a good achievement for me or anyone. ” he commented at the finish line. He added, “I just need to be able to do this earlier in the season, starting in December. I know there are some parts of my training that need to be adjusted for that to happen.”

With Teela’s 30th place leading the way, the US Men did something else that has not occurred all year. All four men made the field of 60 for Saturday’s 12.5K Pursuit. Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) now fully recovered from his illness two weeks ago finished 43rd with two penalties, 2:08.5 back. Unlike Teela, both of Burke’s miscues came in the prone stage. Coach Upham, who works with Burke, Teela, and Bailey at the Maine Winter Sports Center in Fort Kent commented, “Cleaning standing today is good for Tim’s confidence.  I think this is his first clean standing stage in a Sprint all season.”  

Following Burke was Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) in 53rd place, with two penalties, 2:31.6 back. Hakkinen picked up his two penalties in the prone stage. He once again, shot rapidly with extreme confidence in standing to clean that stage. Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY), with three penalties, 2:46.2 back checked in six places behind Hakkinen at 59th.

The two 30th places today combined with everyone who started for the US Biathlon Team making the Pursuit field made this unusually sunny but cold spring day in Oslo seem just a bit more fun than in some previous seasons.

Friday will be training day, with both the Men’s 12.5K and the Women’s 10K Pursuit competitions on Saturday afternoon. Those competitions will close the world Cup season for the US Biathlon Team.

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.