U.S. Youth Men Race to Top 10 in Relay

The final youth race of the 2025 Youth World Championships in Östersund, SWE saw John Lohuis (Anchorage, AK/Biathlon Alaska), Elias Soule (Anchorage, AK/Anchorage Biathlon Club), and Eric Anderson (Frontenac, MN/Bluff Country Biathlon) pull together a stellar race, tying the top team shooting performance, to cross the line in 10th place overall, a notable jump from last year’s youth men’s relay 21st place result. 

Lohuis began the race wearing bib 20 and managed to hold his composure in prone, shooting clean to leave the range in ninth. Speedy skis saw him move up two positions entering his standing shoot. Another perfect shooting stage bumped him to fifth, then fourth at the first exchange with the fifth best ski time of his leg.   

“Going into the race, I knew I wanted to ski hard and focus on the transition zones,” said Lohuis. “I was fortunate enough to have great skis for the relay, which allowed me to hang with or chase down a lot of really talented athletes. It felt really good to tag off to Elias in 4th. My last lap I was really focusing on trying to catch the next racer so that Elias would have someone to pace off of for his first lap, and being able to do that was very gratifying.”

Soule carried the momentum through his leg of the race. Entering his prone stage in third place, neck and neck with Germany’s Lukas Tanneheimer, Soule needed just one spare round to knock down the five targets. Even after a grueling second lap, Soule held his composure and once again needed just one spare to hit all five standing targets, holding the fourth place position as he tagged off to Anderson. 

Anderson, feeling the pressure of the anchor leg, missed his first three prone targets, but laser focus and determination kept him out of the penalty lap as all three of his spare rounds knocked down the remaining targets. Battling on skis, he entered the final shooting stage looking for redemption, and succeeded as he needed just one spare round. Up against strong competition, Anderson secured a 10th place finish for the U.S. Biathlon Team to round out an exciting Youth World Championship event. 

The final day of racing tomorrow will see the U.S. junior athletes toe the line in their respective relay competitions. The junior women’s 4x6km relay is slated for 3:30 EST/9:30 CET, followed by the men’s 4x7.5km relay at 6:45 EST/12:45 CET. Live stream is available on Eurovision Sport.