Levins Earns First Flowers at Home in Lake Placid

Chloe Levins (Rutland, VT/Mansfield Nordic Pro) raced to an IBU Cup personal best and her first flower ceremony in today’s women’s short individual. Tied for sixth place with Sweden’s Emma Nilsson, Levins successfully navigated the cold, windy conditions on the opening day of competition for the first-ever IBU Cup event at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, NY. 

“I had my best finish at an international IBU Cup competition ever and it feels amazing to get to do that at home,” said Levins post-race. “I honestly felt like I was just in a training session out there today. It was just really natural for me to approach the range as I usually do during those sessions, and everything just kind of came together effortlessly which is a dream come true in a sport like biathlon where it’s a really short way from the bottom to the top. I feel really fortunate to get to do a sixth place result at home and hoping to continue the momentum into the weekend.” 

Levins, shooting a near-perfect 19 for 20 on the range, crossed the line tied with Nilsson +1:59.4 back from the victorious German Julia Kink who was joined on the podium by Gro Randby and Guro Ytterhus, both of Norway. 

Grace Castonguay (Jackson, NH/Soldier Hollow Elite) raced to a season best 26th place, having her best-ever 4-stage shooting performance at an international race, hitting 18 for 20 targets. Joanne Reid (Grand Junction, CO/Colorado Biathlon Club) raced to 36th with four misses on the day. Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, WA/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) and Jackie Garso (Lake Clear, NY/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) landed 47th and 48th. Lina Farra (Heber City, UT/Unaffiliated) raced to 51st. 

Earlier today, Jake Brown (St. Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) led the U.S. men in 31st, holding the 12th overall ski speed of the day. Vincent Bonacci (Salt Lake City, UT/Unaffiliated) raced to 46th, with the 15th overall shooting time. Logan Moore (Durango, CO/Mansfield Nordic Pro), in his international racing debut, landed 55th, Vaclav Cervenka (Grand Rapids, MN/National Guard Biathlon) finished right behind in 56th, and Thor Sheppard (West Yellowstone, MT/Team Altius), also in his IBU Cup debut, landed 61st. 

IBU Cup racing in Lake Placid will resume on Saturday, February 28th, with the men’s 10km sprint beginning at 10:45 ET/16:45 CET, followed by the women’s 7.5km sprint at 14:30 ET/20:30 CET.