Cape Elizabeth native Clare Egan finished 62nd Thursday in the women’s 15-kilometer individual race at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre in PyeongChang, South Korea.
In an event postponed from Wednesday because of high winds, Egan hit all 10 of her targets from a prone position, but missed three in her first standing stage and one more in her final standing stage. Each missed target results in a penalty of one minute.
Egan was 6 minutes and 53.6 seconds behind gold medalist Hanna Oeberg of Sweden, who shot a perfect 20 for 20 and completed the race in 41:07.2. Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia earned silver with two misses, 24.7 seconds behind Oeberg and Laura Dahlmeier of Germany took bronze with one miss, 41.2 seconds back.
Dahlmeier won Saturday’s 7.5K sprint race, in which Egan hit 7 of 10 targets, fell at the bottom of a hill, and wound up 61st, failing by 1.6 seconds to join the group of 60 women who qualified for Monday’s pursuit competition.
Rookie Emily Dreissigacker of Vermont was the only one of four U.S. women to advance from sprint to pursuit. She placed 51st in sprint with only one missed target, in standing, and moved up four places in pursuit, hitting nine of 10 targets in prone and seven of 10 in standing.
On Thursday, the United States placed two women among the top 25 in the individual race. Veteran Susan Dunklee of Vermont finished 19th with two misses, both in standing, and rookie Joanne Reid of California was 22nd, missing only once, in her first standing stage. Reid was 3:34.1 behind the leader and Dunklee was 3:26.3.
Dreissigacker missed twice in prone and twice in standing and wound up 67th in the field of 87, a little more than 15 seconds behind Egan.
The women’s biathlon competition continues Saturday with a 12.5k mass start, but the United States failed to qualify anyone for the 30 available slots.
Egan spent more than a year studying Korean in anticipation of the Olympics. Over the weekend, she had a conversation with Ban Ki Moon, former secretary general of the United Nations, telling him in Korean, “It is an honor to be at the Olympics.”
The men’s 20K individual race also took place Thursday, and the United States men failed to break the top 40. Tim Burke, a former Maine Winter Sports Center athlete from New York, placed 41st with four penalties, finishing 4:01.9 behind the winner, Norway’s Joahnnes Thingnes Boe. The 24-year-old Boe is ranked among the top two biathletes in the world but finished a disappointing 31st in Sunday’s 10k sprint.
On Thursday, Boe hit 18 of 20 targets and crossed the line in 48:03.8. Jakov Fak of Slovakia and Dominik Landertinger of Austria took silver and bronze medals with perfect shooting, 5.5 and 14.2 seconds behind Boe, respectively.
Among other U.S. biathletes, New Hampshire’s Sean Doherty shot best. He hit 17 of 20 targets, including all 10 in standing position, to finish 44th, half a minute behind Burke. Lowell Bailey, who also trained in Maine for what is now known as Outdoor Sport Institute and is the reigning world champion in this event, missed two shots in his opening prone stage and another in each of his standing stages to place 51st, another half minute behind Doherty.
Leif Nordgren of Minnesota incurred five penalties among his 20 shots and dropped to 66th in the field of 86. He was 6:27.3 behind Boe.
Russell Currier, a Caribou High graduate who grew up in Stockholm, remained as the U.S. alternate. His only remaining chance to compete is likely to be the men’s relay on Feb. 23.
The women’s and men’s mass start races, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, will have no U.S. biathletes among their fields of 30. Qualifying relies on current world ranking and success in the three early Olympic races: sprint, pursuit and individual.
Egan’s next opportunity to race is the mixed relay on Tuesday, involving two men and two women. The U.S. team has yet to be announced.
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