Back to Back Silver Medals for Campbell Wright at World Championships
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by Sara Donatello
After a historic World Championship silver medal in the men’s 10km sprint, Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/Waiorau Nordic Skiing) is back on the podium in Lenzerheide, SUI with yet another silver medal in the men’s 12.5km pursuit. Missing just one target in his first prone stage, Wright went on to clean the final three stages of his race and solidify his second place position.
“Yesterday after the race I was pretty hyped up, I did not sleep very much last night as you can imagine I was pretty excited,” said Wright after the pursuit. “I got on the start line today and said ‘just enjoy every single meter of this race, man’. I’ve already proven what I needed to prove yesterday that I can really race with these guys and I’m not just a tourist here, but I can actually ski well and shoot well on a good day. I just started this race with nothing to lose and that’s the best place to be.”
Once again, Wright stood on the podium with World Cup overall leader Johannes Thinges Boe of Norway who held on to his title of defending world champion. The third place position was filled this time by Eric Perrot of France who made the impressive jump from 15th position at the start.
With the seventh overall ski time, Wright crossed the finish line just a mere 8.6 seconds behind Boe, closing the gap between them by seven seconds on the final lap. He noted that it was not in an effort to beat Boe, but more so to ski away from Perrot, who also cleaned his final shooting stage. With speedy skis and support from Team USA staff and teammates on course, Wright held Perrot to third by +12.2 seconds.
Maxime Germain (Chamonix-Mont Blanc, FRA/National Guard Biathlon), despite missing four targets on the day, had the 22nd overall ski time to land his third-best result this season in 21st place. Paul Schommer (Appleton, WI/Team Birkie/Ariens Nordic Center) was the biggest mover amongst the U.S. men, jumping 17 positions to land 39th overall. Sean Doherty (Conway, NH/Army World Class Athlete Program) rounded out the U.S. men with a solid 45th place finish.
Earlier in the day Chloe Levins (Williston, VT/Unaffiliated) and Lucinda Anderson (Golden Valley, MN/Team Birkie) both moved up in the field in their first-ever World Championship pursuit races. Levins jumped from bib 52 to land in 48th and Anderson from bib 56 to finish 49th.
A well-deserved training day tomorrow for the U.S. Biathlon Team before the women are back at it on Tuesday, February 18 at 9:05 EST/15:05 CET for the 15km individual. The men’s 20km individual will begin the following day, February 19, at 9:05 EST/15:05 CET.
