BIATHLON: The Australian Biathlon Championships finally went ahead after a tremendous effort by Australian Biathlon members and Mt Hotham grooming staff.
BIATHLON: The Australian Biathlon Championships finally went ahead on August 31st-September 1st, after a tremendous effort by Australian Biathlon members and Mt Hotham grooming staff.
It was a great weekend, despite the need for snow shovelling; the sun shone, it was around 4 degrees by the start of races on both days.
It was especially encouraging for younger athletes to be inspired by Australia’s sole World Cup athlete Alex Almoukov, who was excited to be competing Down Under. Almoukov is looking to improve on his personal best, which was achieved in 2012/13 Northern Hemisphere season in the Individual (distance) event at iBU World Cup 8 in Sochi, Russia, where he shot clean and finished in 33rd position, earning his first-ever World Cup personal points.
In the Sprint event, Almoukov was trumped by 39-year-old Torino 2006 Olympian Cameron Morton. Morton’s shooting accuracy- accumulating just two penalties to Amoukov’s five- saw him cross the line in 30:27.7- almost 2½ minutes ahead of Almoukov in 33:07.7. Teenager Daniel Walker, 19, rounded out the top three in 34:23.0.
The Mass Start event saw Almoukov shine, winning in 38:28.9 ahead of Morton in 40:19.1 and 21-year-old Dyllan Harmer in 43:20.7.
With regards to females, Lucy Glanville is the leading international athlete. Glanville took the U21 Sprint and Mass Start titles ahead of Jill Colebourn.
Glanville will be participating at IBU Cup in the hope of gaining a qualifying time for Sochi 2014, during the first IBU trimester 2013/14.
Male Open:
Sat Sprint:
1.Cameron Morton
2.Alex Almoukov
3. Daniel Walker
Sun Mass Start:
1. Alex Almoukov
2. Cameron Morton
3. Dyllan Harmer
Women U21:
Sat Sprint:
1. Lucy Glanville
2. Jill Colebourn
Sun Mass Start:
1. Lucy Glanville
2. Jill Colebourn
Please note the qualification status of Australia for Sochi 2014:
1. No automatic right to start any athletes
Australia needed to finish in the top 28 (Men) or 27 (Women) for the right to start one athlete at Sochi. Australia finished 31 (Men) and 34 (Women) so awaits 3 nations (Men) and 6 nations (Women) ahead of Australia giving up a slot for Australia to get a start for one athlete.
2. No relay teams possible
This is because Australia is outside the top 20 Nations ranking in both genders.
