Methow Valley biathlon competitor Claire Waichler, left, qualified for a trip to Romania with the U.S. team.
Waichler, Nielsen qualify for U.S. teams
Two Methow Valley biathletes — both students at Liberty Bell High School — qualified for international competition at last week’s Junior and Youth World Trials in Anchorage, Alaska.
Senior Claire Waichler was selected for the World Youth and Junior Championship team, and her travel and expenses for the event in Chelei Grandestei, Romania, will be fully funded by U.S. Biathlon. Fourteen American biathletes in four age/gender categories will compete in that event, beginning on Jan. 25. Methow Valley Biathlon alumni Paul Everett will also compete in Romania as a junior male competitor.
Eli Nielsen qualified for a trip to Norway with the U.S. team.
Liberty Bell sophomore Eli Nielsen was one of two young male competitors named to the 2016 Youth Olympic Games team. The opening ceremony for that event, which is staged every four years, will be on Feb. 12 in Lillehammer, Norway.
The Alaska skiing-and-shooting venue for last week’s competition was Kincaid Park. Coach Betsy Smith made the trip with Waichler and Nielsen.
The first race, on Dec. 28, was a sprint with two bouts of shooting. Raging winds made shooting straight extremely difficult, but the snow stayed firm for the day. Competitors need to adjust their rifles to compensate for the gale. In the 19-person Youth Men field, Nielsen ended up 10th after missing seven targets. His group skied 10 kilometers on the man-made snow trails at Kincaid.
Waichler missed six shots in the opening race, but other competitors also struggled to shoot consistently, so she was able to ski her way to second place on the 7.5K Youth Women course.
The morning of Dec. 29 brought Alaska’s seasonal darkness and wind gusts forecast up to 50 miles per hour. Fences, signs, mats and even people were blown over at the biathlon range, but the race went on as planned. The event was a 10K pursuit race for all athletes, starting in order of their finish from the previous day.
A slushy and dirty 2K loop, intermingled with four stages of shooting into the wind, made the event chaotic. Nielsen finished in seventh place, and Waichler was second again in her 24-person field. Both Methow valley biathletes missed 11 total shots.
The final race, another sprint, was plagued by the same strong winds, and also by extremely icy ski trails. Nielsen knocked down seven out of 10 targets, the cleanest shooting of any athlete that day. He also took second place in the 8K Youth Men category, a strong performance for a Youth Olympic hopeful.
Waichler had a challenging day on the range, hitting just three targets. She finished fourth in the 6K youth women’s’ race.
Both international competitions will involve three or four races with the top young biathletes in the world.
Additionally, Methow Valley native Casey Smith is on his way this week to compete on the international circuit representing the United States senior men’s team in the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. Qualifying was in December.
