Schommer is Back, Personal Best Results for Madigan and Westervelt

A team of mostly new faces to the IBU Cup circuit this season took to the course in Arber today, highlighted by the return of 2022 Olympian Paul Schommer (Appleton, WI/Team Birkie/Ariens Nordic Center), two IBU Cup personal best results from Lexie Madigan (Truckee, CA/Auburn Ski Club) and Bjorn Westervelt (Stowe, VT/Craftsbury Green Racing Project), and international racing debut of Zoe May Noble (Anchorage, AK/National Guard Biathlon).

The race day began with the women’s 7.5km sprint. Noble reported that “the course was slushy and wet and warm, which was a challenge, but despite the tough snow, the wax techs gave [the athletes] great skis and [they] all made up time on the downhills and flats”. Madigan led the women’s team in results with her IBU Cup personal best 64th, with just one miss in standing. Cheresa Bouley followed suit in 64th, missing three on the day. In her debut race, Noble proved herself with a 67th place finish, despite having rifle issues.

“I’m in high spirits after the race,” said Noble. “I’ve been surprising myself with how collected I’ve felt and the staff here has done such a great job of making things run smoothly. I got on the start line feeling cool as a cucumber after having a great zero. I did lose my rear sight aperture going into my standing shooting and I’m shocked I hit any of the targets. It really goes to show how solid my position has gotten since working on it this summer with my coach, Leif Nordgren. I went into this weekend wanting a top 60 and I’m happy to have been close to the goal despite 3 misses. I ripped that first race bandaid off and am excited to try again on Saturday!”

The men’s 10km sprint saw Westervelt leading the U.S. Biathlon Team with his IBU Cup personal best 22nd place finish, shooting a near-perfect nine for ten. Schommer, in his first international race since the 2023 World Championships in Oberhof, raced to 35th, despite missing one target in prone and two in standing. He proved to be in solid form in his return from a knee injury, holding a top-35 overall ski time. Luke Brown (St. Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project), who raced IBU Cups 1 and 2 earlier this season, crossed the line in 69th, cleaning his prone stage but missing three in standing.

“I am just incredibly excited to be back in Europe racing again,” said Westervelt. “I had fantastic skis from the techs today and very controlled shooting stages. I am looking forward to being back to racing!”

“Biathlon is a difficult sport with a lot of variables, and it’s going to take a few races to iron out some details after such a long break from racing in Europe,” Schommer said after his race. “Today was a bit of a shock to the system and shed a lot of light on some of those details I need to give attention to. I’m thankful for more races this week and next and want to take advantage of every opportunity to continue becoming the best biathlete I can. Today was a start and I look to continue to build off of it moving forward with the hopes of better days to come.”

The athletes will have a day of rest tomorrow before getting back on the start line for the second sprint of the weekend on Saturday, January 11. Note that the top 60 athletes for both men and women in Saturday’s sprints will qualify to race the pursuit on Sunday. The women’s 7.5km sprint will begin at 05:00 EST/11:00 CET, followed by the men’s 10km sprint at 08:30 EST/14:30 CET. Live updates can be found on the IBU App, which is available on both Apple and Google Play. Spectator resources can be found at usbiathlon.org/spectator-resources.