Schommer Finishes Seventh, Personal Best for Westervelt and Keller-Miller

Paul Schommer (Appleton, WI/Team Birkie/Ariens Nordic Center) raced to seventh place in today’s IBU Cup men’s 10km sprint in Brezno-Osrblie, SVK, his second-best career international race result. Placing two U.S. men in the top 20, Bjorn Westervelt (Stowe, VT/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) crossed the line in 17th, rewriting his new IBU Cup personal best result for the third time in just two race weekends. 

Cleaning his race, Schommer’s performance was a mere +0.3 seconds back from Joergen Saeter of Norway and a flower ceremony finish, and +1:22.4 behind race victor Isak Frey, also of Norway. Frey was joined on the podium by Austria’s Fabian Muellauer in second and Norwegian teammate Sivert Guttorm Bakken in third. 

“I knew coming back to racing it would take some time and I have had to really trust in the process,” said Schommer. “On course I felt ok, but I also know each race is an opportunity to keep building the race fitness I will need to continue improving. Getting back to racing after injury has been humbling in a great way, making me grateful for the opportunities to race and excited for the next steps.”

A new IBU Cup personal best result for Westervelt came with a fifth overall range time, shooting a near-perfect nine for ten on the day. Crossing the line +2:11.7 behind Frey, Westervelt now sits 49th overall on the IBU Cup points list, with Schommer just ahead in 44th overall. 

“It was a good race for all of the guys today,” said Westervelt. “We had excellent conditions on the course and range today with sun and no wind. We were able to pull together some successful races, and a great sign for more to come in the coming weeks.”

Vaclav Cervenka (Grand Rapids, MN/Army World Class Athlete Program) placed all three U.S. men in the top 40 with his 39th place finish. Vincent Bonacci (Salt Lake City, UT/Team Crosscut) did not start the sprint. 

The women’s 7.5km sprint followed with Michaela Keller-Miller (Plymouth, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) racing to her IBU Cup personal best result 56th, keeping a solid ski speed despite six penalty laps. Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, WA/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) crossed the line in 35th with two misses on the day. Cheresa Bouley (Zimmerman, MN/Minnesota Biathlon) was right on her heels in 39th, and Jackie Garso (Lake Clear, NY/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) finished 45th on the day. 

The IBU Cup race weekend will conclude tomorrow with the mixed relay kicking off at 4:30 EST/10:30 CET, followed by the single mixed relay at 7:45 EST/13:45 CET. Fans can follow live race updates through the IBU App, available on Apple and Google Play. Spectator resources can be found at usbiathlon.org/spectator-resources.