Oslo Norway, March 25. Jeremy Teela (Anchorage, AK) in 37th and Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) in 41st were the top US finishers in the World Cup Pursuit competitions here today.

Teela did not match his 30th place in the Sprint, but still had a strong finish to his season, while Burke moved up from 43rd at the start, despite three penalties in the first standing stage.

Today, on the next to last day of the biathlon season, the legendary Holmenkollen stadium hosted two diverse competitions.

On another bright, but cold spring morning, the Youngstars Competitions were conducted for 15-16 year old boys and girls. The names of Lindblad, Andersen, Stokke Bauck, and Bjontgaard may be unfamiliar now, but could be the Norwegian stars in 2014. They embody the skills that have given Norway such a great winter sports heritage. Likewise, their youthful enthusiasm and competitiveness reemphasized just how exciting this sport is at all levels. This group got their first exposure on national television today, just hours before their heroes toed the same starting line for the marquee World Cup Pursuit competitions.

The two Pursuit competitions this afternoon, featuring all of the World Cup stars, were at the other end of the spectrum. Several competitors including Norway’s sweetheart, Liv Grete Poiree and fan favorite Uschi Disl are probably ending their careers this weekend, while Björndalen will probably go on 2010 and compete against some of these youths before he retires. Still everyone on the start today showed the same enthusiasm for their sport as the youth did in the morning. This was despite the fact that the World Cup competitors are truly both physically and mentally fatigued from the more than 30 competitions this season. It has been a long Olympic season that started back in November in Ostersund. It is only fitting that it comes to an end at Holmenkollen in front of 10,000 screaming fans, showcasing stars of the future and bidding farewell to some of the stars who have embodied biathlon for so long.

In the Men’s 12.5K Pursuit, Björndalen won as expected in front of his adoring fans, who filled the stadium with the repeated roar of, “Ole Einar! Ole Einar!” each time he approached the stadium. In his fan’s eyes, Björndalen could do no wrong although on the shooting range, he proved to be mortal, picking up four penalties. Still he finished in 33:27.3, 51 seconds ahead of Tomasz Sikora of Poland and 71 seconds better than Ricco Gross of Germany. Sikora had two penalties, while Gross put on a shooting clinic with four fast clean stages, making the competition interesting for the fans and television audience.

“We all know that we need to shoot better to get better results,” was Jeremy Teela’s assessment of his four penalty day. “I think we are all committed to improving our shooting. It is the only way we will get the results on a day like this.” Teela had a single penalty in each of the two prone stages, staying just out of the top 30. In his first standing stage, he added two more errors, falling to the mid forties. A clean last stage and a big sprint down the final 100 meters brought him back to 37th. Despite his disappointment at not cracking the top 30 again, Teela had his best three results of this season in the past week. He finished 44th in the Pursuit at Kontiolahti, then 30th in the 10K Sprint here, followed by today’s 37th place, 3:02.9 behind Björndalen.

Burke continued to be excluded from the top 30 once again, finishing 41st, with five penalties, 3:42.3 back. Three of his penalties came in the first standing stage, just after he moved up to 33rd position.  “I wish I had that stage back today. I was skiing so easily at that point, passing people. It was a frustrating day.”

Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) matched Teela on the shooting range today with four penalties, one in each stage. Despite solid shooting, he finished 51st, 5:13.3 back after starting in 59th position. “My skis did not feel very fast except in the sunny places. I felt like I just could not go like I wanted to,” he said with more than a hint of disappointment in his voice. Coach James Upham turned to him and quickly rose a bit of a smile from Bailey with, “You had a great year!” Even with his finish today, Bailey scored his first ever World Cup points in Ostersund, Sweden and finished 27th in the Olympic 20K Individual. That is a “great year” for an athlete who had been out of biathlon for more than two years.

Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) did not start today, due to illness.

Sarah Konrad (Laramie, WY), the only US entrant in the Women’s 10K Pursuit, could not match the magic of her 80% shooting, 30th place in Thursday’s sprint competition. She finished 50th today, with 12 penalties, 8:20.2 behind the runaway victory of Germany’s Kati Wilhelm. Wilhelm, with clean shooting padded her lead in the Overall World Cup Standings today finishing in 32:17.7, 51.5 seconds ahead of Anna Bogali-Titovets of Russia. The Russian also shot clean, to claim second place 11.5 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Olympic Champion Anna Carin Olofsson. Olofsson finished with three penalties.

 Wilhelm, with one competition to go tomorrow will win not only the Overall World Cup, but also the seasonal Sprint and Pursuit titles. Olofsson will be the runner-up in all of the same categories.

The Pursuit competitions at Holmenkollen concluded the World Cup season for the US Biathlon Team. The relief that the long season is over was evident in everyone’s faces, after a season of both success and disappointment. At the same time, looking through the fatigue, there was a determination and enthusiasm to improve in every aspect of the sport in the coming seasons.  There really is not much difference between “Youngstars” who competed at the Holmenkollen for the first time today and the World Cup athletes.

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.