Flowers For Campbell Wright At Home World Cup
by Joseph Bonacci
Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/U.S. Biathlon) rewrites his World Cup personal best for the fourth time at home at Soldier Hollow with a sixth place finish in the men’s 10km sprint and a ticket to his first World Cup flower ceremony. Shooting nine for ten, Wright crossed the line just 20 seconds behind the leading Frenchman Eric Perrot and seven seconds back from a podium finish.
“The home World Cup has greatly exceeded my expectations,” Wright said, “I’ve been on a roll recently, but I am aware that the roll can end aggressively at any point, so I am just enjoying today and look to do the same tomorrow.”
Perrot was joined on the podium by French teammate Emilien Jacquelin and Norwegian Johan-Olav Botn, with Sturla Holm Laegreid also of Norway and Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden being the only two who crossed the line with a time better than that of Wright.
Wright started in bib five today, with World Cup overall leader Johannes Thinges Boe hot on his heels in bib six. “My race plan was when [Boe] catches you, not if he catches you, but when, just hold on,” Wright said after the race, “So when I looked back and didn’t see him I thought, ‘I am doing quite well right now.’”
With this result, Wright extends his top-20 streak to 12 races across World Cup and World Championship competitions and jumps to 30th in this season’s sprint standings and 33rd in the World Cup overall standings.
The rest of the men’s team carried Wright’s momentum, with all four U.S. men qualifying for Sunday’s pursuit, along with Margie Freed (Apple Valley, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) and Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI/Army World Class Athlete Program) on the women’s side. Jake Brown (St. Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) finished in 44th, Sean Doherty (Center Conway, NH/National Guard Biathlon) in 50th and Maxime Germain (Chamonix-Mont Blanc, FRA/National Guard Biathlon) in 56th.
The final day of racing at Soldier Hollow will kick off with the women’s 10km pursuit at 10:00 MT/12:00 ET, followed by the men’s 12.5km pursuit at 11:50 MT/1:50 ET. For information on how to watch, visit usbiathlon.org/how-to-watch. For spectator resources, visit usbiathlon.org/spectator-resources.