U.S. Biathlon Team Sees Success at Otepää IBU Cup

The first of two race weekends in Otepää, EST saw the U.S. Biathlon Team compete with speed and precision, leading to solid results across the board. 

Racing began on Thursday, March 6 with a pair of sprints where the U.S. team saw all eight athletes qualify for the pursuit. Grace Castonguay (Jackson, NH/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) led the women’s team in 36th, a personal best sprint result and season best result. Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, WA/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) followed in 47th, holding the 10th best shooting time of the 74 competitors. Cheresa Bouley (Zimmerman, MN/Minnesota Biathlon) and Jackie Garso (Lake Clear, NY/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) placed all four women in the top 60 with their 52nd and 55th place finishes. 

Sean Doherty (Conway, NH/Army World Class Athlete Program) led the U.S. men in the 7.5km sprint in 18th, despite four misses on the day. Bjorn Westervelt (Stowe, VT/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) followed in 27th, placing two U.S. men in the top 30. Vaclav Cervenka (Grand Rapids, MN/Army World Class Athlete Program) landed 47th with five misses, and Luke Brown (St. Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) landed 52nd, confirming all eight U.S. athletes into the pursuit. 

Dickinson and Cervenka mirrored each other on the results sheet, both starting their respective pursuits in bib 47 and jumped 13 positions to land 34th overall. Doherty moved up three positions from bib 18 for his second top 20 result of the weekend in 15th. Westervelt also moved up in the field from 27th to finish 21st overall. On the women’s side, Bouley jumped seven positions from bib 52 to cross the line in 45th, just behind Castonguay who held the 18th overall ski time to finish 40th despite eight misses on the range. 

The solid sprint and pursuit results qualified all eight U.S. athletes into Sunday’s mass start 60 races. Dickinson and Castonguay finished within 13 seconds of each other in 23rd and 24th. Garso and Bouley did the same, finishing a mere four seconds apart in 41st and 42nd in the pool of 60. 

Cervenka, hitting 18 for 20 targets with the fourth-best shooting time, crossed the line in 15th, his top result this season. Doherty claimed his third consecutive top 20 result in the men’s mass start 60 in 17th place with the eighth overall ski time. Westervelt and Brown struggled on the range, but battled on the course to finish 47th and 51st overall to round out the weekend. 

The team will stay in Otepää for the final race weekend of the 2024-25 IBU Cup season. Racing will begin on Wednesday, March 12 with the men’s and women’s short individuals, followed by an off day on Thursday, the men’s and women’s sprints on Friday, and rounding out the season with the mixed and single mixed relay on Saturday. Fans can follow live updates on the IBU App, which is available on Apple and Google Play, more information can be found at usbiathlon.org/how-to-watch.