Ufa, Russia, September 6, 2006. Doug Hoover (Williamsport, PA) and Deborah Nordyke (Day, NY) were the top US Finishers in the first day of competition at the Summer Biathlon World Championships here today.

The 2006 Championships, in this city of 1.1 million people, 1200 Km southeast of Moscow, opened under sunny, warm conditions with a slight breeze. Fans filled the seats for this first major competition held at Ufa’s new riverside venue.

Hoover, the winner of the US Trials in July had the best shooting for the US Team in today’s Sprint competitions, with only two penalties in prone. He finished 2:32.6 behind Sergei Balandin of Russia, who shot clean. Balandin toured the challenging 4K tracks in 14:51. Long time international competitor from Estonia, Indrek Tobrulets, with two penalties finished 20.9 seconds back. Russian Dimitri Nikiforov, with one penalty took the bronze medal, trailing Tobrulets by a mere nine seconds.

Former US Olympic biathlete Erich Wilbrecht (Jackson, WY), despite five penalties finished 21st, 21.2 seconds behind Hoover. Keith Woodward (E. Corinth, VT), the only competitor in the Championships over 50, matched Wilbrecht’s five-penalty shooting, but finished in 26th, 3:27.4 back. Pat Bragassa (Rigby, ID) in 28th place had only two prone penalties, but an additional four in standing, to trail Woodward by 1.2 seconds.

Both the Men’s 4K and Women’s 3K Sprint had live coverage via streaming video provided by the European Broadcast Union, for the first time on the internet today. The women started at 3:30 local time, with Erin Graham (Jericho, VT) as the fourth starter in a field of mainly eastern European countries, with the exception of Germany and the US. Graham had solid prone shooting with one penalty, but missed four standing targets to eventually finishing 21st, 4:05.8 behind Natalia Sokolova of Belarus. Sokolova, probably the shortest world-class female biathlete at well under 5 feet, won in a time of 14:46.3. She had two prone penalties, but shot clean on standing. Russian Ekaterina Sidorenko finished second, with three penalties finished 2.3 seconds back, while teammate Tatiana Moiseeva, with five penalties, was 9.1 seconds from first place

Deb Nordyke, a 1998 US Olympian, was the top US woman in 18th place. Nordyke had three penalties in both prone and standing used her running skills to finish 3:02.9 behind the diminutive Sokolova. Tracy Dooley, with seven penalties, finished 22nd, 4:47.6 back.

All of the US athletes will compete in tomorrow’s Pursuit competitions.

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.