Ostersund, Sweden, August 27. Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY), finished seventh in all three rollerski competitions which included a 12.4k cross country event, as well as Biathlon Sprint and Pursuit competitions conducted this weekend at the World Cup venue in north central Sweden.

Burke had three solid performances, outdistancing his teammates on Friday, Saturday and today. Only Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) was close to Burke as he finished one place and 15 seconds back in the 10K Sprint, and two places and nine seconds back in today’s 12.5K Pursuit.

The competitions this weekend came in the middle of the US Biathlon Team’s extended training camp in Sweden. Coach Mikael Lofgren commented on the weekend and the ongoing camp. “We have trained very hard for the past two weeks and going into the competitions, everyone is tired, but these competitions were good for us. We have not done very much combo training so far, so we are not surprised that the shooting was not the best. Still this has been a very good training camp for us so far.”

With weather conditions that Lofgren described as “perfect—sunny with some small shifting wind,” the three days of competitions attracted competitors from Sweden, Norway, Great Britain, the US, and Switzerland.

The weekend kicked off with 7.5K (women) and 12.4K (men) cross-country competitions, followed by 7.5K (women) and 10K (men) Biathlon Sprints, concluding with 10K (women) and 12.5K Biathlon Pursuits.

Burke started with seventh in the cross country, 56 seconds behind Bjorn Ferry of Sweden. On Saturday, Matthias Simmen of Switzerland captured the 10K Sprint in 21:44, with a single penalty. Burke had one prone penalty and two on standing to again place seventh, 54 seconds back. Today, Burke tried to get out of the seventh place rut, but six penalties found him 2:37 behind Sweden’s Carl Johan Bergman at the finish. Despite finishing seventh again, Burke was just one second from sixth place and two seconds out of fifth. In both of the biathlon competitions, Lowell Bailey stayed close to Burke, matching his friend’s shooting, but finishing eighth in the Sprint, and ninth in the Pursuit, 15 and nine seconds, respectively behind Burke.

Despite having a solid cross-country race, with 13th place, 48 seconds behind Burke, Jeremy Teela (Anchorage, AK) finished 21st and 19th, with seven and eight penalties in the two biathlon competitions. Brian Olsen (Jericho, VT) had the US Team’s best shooting result of the weekend, in the Pursuit competition with only one penalty in the first standing stage. This catapulted him from 18th start position (with four penalties in the Sprint) to 11th at the finish in the Pursuit.

In the women’s competitions, Sarah Konrad (Laramie, WY) posted the best US result of the weekend in the 7.5K cross country race on Friday with a 10th place finish. Konrad finished in 19:10, 1:09 behind Sofia Domej of Sweden, who beat Olympic Gold Medalist Anna Carin Olofsson by four seconds. Konrad was followed by Denise Teela (Anchorage, AK) 13th , 1;25 back; Tracy Barnes,17th, 2:04 back and Lanny Barnes 18th, 2;31 back. In the 7.5K Sprint and the 10K Pursuit, Konrad, placed 22nd (with seven penalties) and in a tie for 18th, 9:12 back (with eight penalties).

Lanny and Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO) were the top US finishers in the two biathlon competitions, with Lanny in 11th (two penalties) in the Sprint and 12th in the Pursuit (five penalties), 1:48 behind Olofsson in the Sprint and 5:09 behind her in the Pursuit. Tracy (15th place) matched her twin with two penalties in the Sprint, but had an additional miscue in the Pursuit (15th), finishing 2:08 and 7:23 behind respectively.

Teela, with four penalties, 2:10 back, finished 16th in the Sprint and 17th, with six penalties, 8:14 back in the Pursuit. Carolyn Treacy (Duluth, MN) placed 18th, 2:37 back in the Sprint, with three standing penalties, while tying with teammate Konrad for 18th in the Pursuit, 9:12 back with eight penalties.

After two hard weeks of training and the three competitions (and a long drive down to Torsby), the US Biathletes are getting a well-deserved day off on Monday, according to Lofgren. He added, “Starting Tuesday, we will be on snow (in the ski tunnel in Torsby) and we intend to get in as many hours of work on snow as possible in the next six days, to finish this training block and camp.”

The camp will end next Sunday, with some of the team heading back top the US, while several of the men will spend some additional time testing skis and training in central Europe, before going home.

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.