2024-25 IBU Cup Season Concludes in Otepää

And just like that, the 2024-25 IBU Cup season has come to an end. After a long four months of racing in Europe, the U.S. Biathlon Team battled through the final weekend of racing in Otepää, EST, the second of two weeks racing at Tehvandi Arena. 

The final weekend began with the men’s and women’s short individuals, where Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, WA/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) held the top result of the U.S. athletes with her 23rd place finish, shooting a near-perfect 19 for 20 on the range and holding the 13th best shooting time. Grace Castonguay (Jackson, NH/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) held a top 30 ski time to finish 44th despite five missed shots. Cheresa Bouley (Zimmerman, MN/Minnesota Biathlon) landed just six seconds back from Castonguay in 46th overall. Jackie Garso (Lake Clear, NY/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) raced to 74th. 

Sean Doherty (Conway, NH/Army World Class Athlete Program) led the men’s team in 26th with just three misses on the day. Bjorn Westervelt (Stowe, VT/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) began his race clean, but four missed shots in his next three stages saw him finish 48th overall. Vaclav Cervenka (Grand Rapids, MN/Army World Class Athlete Program) shot with speed, holding the third best shooting time, but with seven misses, he landed 67th overall. Luke Brown (St. Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) rounded out the team in 73rd. 

The final individual races of the season featured the men’s and women’s sprints on Friday, March 14. Doherty raced to his second best result of the season in 16th, posting the eighth overall ski time. Cervenka followed, placing two U.S. men in the top 25 with his 23rd place finish. Westervelt and Brown, with four and five misses a piece, placed 51st and 73rd, respectively. The women’s sprint saw Dickinson once again hold the top result for the U.S. women in 47th with a pair of misses. Garso followed in 55th with a perfect 10 for 10 on the range. Bouley raced to 63rd with three misses on the range, and Castonguay took a fall early in the race, impacting her performance on the range, ultimately landing in 71st. 

“Going into Friday’s sprint race, I had really high hopes for the last individual race of the season,” reflected Castonguay. “Instead, the race was probably my worst to date. Not solely because of the result but just because it was a perfect mixture of everything that could go wrong in a race going wrong, all starting with a pretty nasty crash in the first three minutes of the race. That really shook me up physically and mentally, so going into the single mixed relay I wanted to end the season on a high note and do good work that I knew Sean and I were both capable of.”

To round out the 2024-25 season, Castonguay and Doherty paired up to race the single mixed relay, crossing the line in an impressive eighth place, +1:57.2 behind the victorious French team. Using just two spare rounds in prone and eight in standing, Casonguay and Doherty held the seventh overall ski time and 11th overall shooting time to solidify their result, which became Casonguay’s best single mixed relay result to date.

“It was really an awesome day to experience as a team,” added Castonguay. “Every one of the USA team was out on course cheering Sean and I up the big hill, running around to yell at us from every possible spectating point. I truly think that energy helped us fly on skis out there. It was incredible to feel so supported and rooted for by our teammates.”

The athletes now look forward to some much deserved rest before many will be traveling to Bozeman, MT to race the 2025 U.S. Biathlon Senior Nationals, Collegiate Nationals and Spring Festival March 27-29.