FORNI AVOLTRI, Italy (January 7, 2012) - Team USA had a strong showing at the IBU Cup in Forni Avoltri today. Olympian Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO) took 7th in today’s 15km Individual, posting a time of 48:13.8 (1+1+0+0), 2:17.6 minutes back from today’s winner Jacquemine Baud (FRA) with a time of 45:56.2  and clean shooting. 

Russell Currier (Stockholm, ME) also finished 7th in the 20km Individual with a time of 56:24.8 (0+2+1+0), 3:00.7 minutes back from Erik Lesser (GER) winning the race with a time of 53:24.1 and clean shooting.

IBU Cup racing continues tomorrow with the Sprint events. Complete results from today’s races are available at http://www5.biathlonworld.com/en/

Challenging Conditions Continue at Oberhof World Cup

Team USA’s men had a challenging day on the course in the 10km Sprint in Oberhof. Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) took the top spot for the U.S. today at 28th (27:25.9/1+0), 1:28.4 minutes back from winner Arnd Peiffer (GER) posting 25:57.5 (1+0).

Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) took 36th at 27:43.6 (0+3), Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) finished 45th with a time of 28:03.7 (2+2), and Leif Nordgren (Marine, MN) finished 70th, posting 28:45.5 (2+1).

“It was a rough day as shooting didn’t go so well for our team,” said U.S. Biathlon High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler. “It was just one of those days you have in biathlon. We will move on and go to Nové Mesto (CZE) with fresh power, and we know we can be up there as we showed in December.”

World Cup racing concludes in Oberhof with tomorrow’s Mass Start at 15:30 (CET). Bailey will compete for Team USA. Visit http://www5.biathlonworld.com/en/home.html to watch the race live. Extended results from today’s Sprint are available at http://services.biathlonresults.com/results.aspx?RaceId=BT1112SWRLCP04SMSP