World Cup Trimester One: Highlights, Standout Performances, and Progress

After four weeks of racing in the darkness of Kontiolahti, FIN, the sunshine of snowy Hochfilzen, AUT, and variety of precipitation in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, FRA, Team USA will take a pause in competition to rest up and continue training before racing kicks back up after the New Year.  

“The team had a solid start to the season, with some standout individual performances and great potential for improvement,” said U.S. Biathlon Head Coach Armin Auchentaller. “The men’s relay team had two strong sixth place performances, Campbell is holding impressive form, now 16th in the overall World Cup rankings, showing excellent progress and a solid boost to his confidence. Maxime, Sean, Jake, and Deedra have all delivered solid individual performances. Luci and Margie are showing great ski speed, and Grace made her first pursuit qualification, which is a big milestone! Overall, the team is on the right track and has plenty of room for growth, especially if they can minimize mistakes, reduce spare rounds in the relays and continue developing these strong performances!”

Opening the 2024-25 World Cup season, Kontiolahti saw the single mixed relay duo of Maxime Germain (Chamonix-Mont Blanc, FRA/National Guard Biathlon) and Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI/Army World Class Athlete Program) clinched a 10th place finish. The following day, the U.S. men’s relay team of Germain, Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/Wairaou Nordic Skiing), Sean Doherty (Conway, NH/Army World Class Athlete Program), and Jake Brown (St. Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) snagged a sixth place finish. Both Germain and Wright clinched World Cup personal best results in Kontiolahti - Germain in 20th in the men’s short individual, and Wright finishing in 4th place, marking his second career flower ceremony appearance - and Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI/Army World Class Athlete Program) skied to 15th place in the women’s short individual, her fifth-best career result. 

Hochfilzen was highlighted by Lucinda Anderson (Golden Valley, MN/Team Birkie) making her World Cup debut after just three international biathlon races and Wright claiming the U23 blue bib, the first blue bib to be worn by a U.S. athlete in history and first U.S. athlete to wear a biathlon bib since Tim Burke’s yellow bib in 2009! Anderson held a top-20 overall ski time in the women’s sprint and aided in the 16th place women’s relay finish with Irwin, Grace Castonguay (Jackson, NH/Craftsbury Green Racing Project), and Margie Freed (Apple Valley, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project). Castonguay also shot her first perfect 10 for 10 in an international race in the women’s sprint. To top off the weekend, the men’s relay quad of Wright, Germain, Doherty, and Brown raced to another sixth place finish, putting them fifth in the overall men’s relay standings. 

The final weekend of racing took the team to the Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, Germain’s home region in France. Castonguay pulled together a fantastic sprint race to hit a World Cup personal best and qualify for her first-ever World Cup pursuit. Irwin and Freed also qualified for the pursuit, marking the first time in a while that all women racing the sprint made the top-60! Wright, Doherty, and Brown also qualified for the pursuit, putting six U.S. athletes on the start line on Saturday, December 21st. Irwin cleaned her pursuit race, her second 20 for 20 this season, to jump 19 spots and finish in 22nd, making her the biggest mover on the U.S. team and fourth-biggest mover overall in the women’s pursuit! Wright rounded out the race weekend in the men’s mass start with a 15th place finish to hold on to the U23 blue bib heading into 2025.  

With the first trimester now in the rearview mirror, here is where Team USA currently sits in the World Cup overall rankings: Wright wearing the U23 blue bib in 16th with 207 points, Germain in 47th with 21 points, Doherty in 54th with 15 points, and Irwin in 40th with 49 points. Trimester three will bring the U.S. Biathlon Team to Oberhof, GER, Ruhpolding, GER, and finally to Antholz, ITA for the official 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic test event. Happy holidays!