Maxime Germain races at the 2023 Open European Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland (photo by Nordic Focus)
The 10-person roster for the upcoming IBU Biathlon World Championships as well as the 8-person team for IBU Cup 6 has been announced by the US Biathlon International Competition Committee. The world championship squad consists of five men and five women with the U.S. allotted four start positions per gender in each individual race. The IBU Biathlon World Championships begin Feb. 8 in Oberhof, Germany.
"We are very excited to see this team representing USA at the World Champs,” said U.S. Biathlon Director of High Performance Lowell Bailey. “There is a great mix of veterans and young talent on this team and it is sure to make for an exciting championships in Oberhof."
The women’s roster includes 2022 Olympians Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, Wis./National Guard Biathlon) and Joanne Reid (Grand Junction, Colo.). Reid will be competing in her fifth world championships with her best result coming in 2019 with a 10th-place finish in the mass start. For Irwin, Oberhof will mark her second straight world championships.
Joining Irwin and Reid on the women’s team will be Chloe Levins (Rutland, Vt.), Tara Geraghty-Moats (West Fairlee, Vt./Craftsbury Green Racing Project) and Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash./Craftsbury Green Racing Project). Levins got her first taste of world championship action last year, while Geraghty-Moats and Dickinson will be competing in their first championship.
Geraghty-Moats earned her position on the team as the team’s point leader for the IBU Cup and Open European Championships.
"Tara performed when it counted,” Bailey noted. “After battling some recent illnesses, she came back to secure a definitive spot on the team."
Dickinson was a discretionary selection by the International Competition Committee.
"Although Kelsey has been sick the last two weeks, she's had a great season overall and with almost two weeks to go before the first races in Oberhof, she has plenty of time to get her racing feet back under her,” added Bailey.
The men’s roster for the world championships boasts three members of last year’s Olympic Team with Jake Brown (St. Paul, Minn./Craftsbury Green Racing Project), Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H./National Guard Biathlon) and Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Crosscut Mountain Sports Center Elite Team) teaming up on the tracks of Oberhof. This will mark Doherty’s seventh world championships, with his best finish coming in 2019 when he placed 17th in the individual.
Brown will be racing in his fourth world championship and Schommer in his third. Brown had a 12th-place finish in the 2021 sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
Rounding out the men’s team and competing in their first world championships are Maxime Germain (Chamonix-Mont Blanc, FRA/National Guard Biathlon) and Vincent Bonacci (Salt Lake City, Utah/Crosscut Mountain Sports Center Elite Team). Both were added to the roster by the International Competition Committee on Saturday.
Like Geraghty-Moats, Germain was the points leader for the IBU Cup and last week’s Open European Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, where he recorded two top-20 finishes, placing 15th in the sprint and 13th in the pursuit. Bonacci was added as a discretionary selection.
"Maxime and Vincent showed great results in Lenzerheide,” said Bailey. “Vincent's 11th place in the sprint and his previous 10th place in the Pokljuka IBU Cup shows that he has made a big jump in performance from last year and deserves his spot on this year's world championship team. Maxime has had a great year and showed his ability to constantly perform at a high level at the Open European Championships. Even though he is still a junior, with Youth & Junior World Championships as his season goal, we see again that Maxime deserves this spot on the world championship team."
The U.S. team for IBU Cup 6 in Obertilliach, Austria, was also named by the International Competition Committee and includes eight athletes who all gained valuable experience at last week’s Open European Championships.
The women’s IBU Cup team is made up of Amanda Kautzer (Plymouth, Minn./Crosscut Mountain Sports Center Elite Team), Grace Castonguay (Jackson, N.H./Team Soldier Hollow), Margie Freed (Apple Valley, Minn./Craftsbury Green Racing Project) and Jacquelyn Garso (Lake Clear, N.Y./Craftsbury Green Racing Project).
The men’s IBU Cup team consists of Luke Brown (St. Paul, Minn./Craftsbury Green Racing Project), Eli Nielsen (Stehekin, Wash./National Guard Biathlon), Tim Cunningham (Georges Mills, N.H./NYSEF) and Vaclav Cervenka (Grand Rapids, Minn./National Guard Biathlon).
The IBU Cup competition in Obertilliach runs Feb. 2-4 and includes two sprint races for both the men’s and women’s divisions.
Competition at the 2023 IBU World Championships gets underway with the mixed relay on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Live coverage of the IBU World Championships can be found at https://www.eurovisionsports.tv/ibu/, and below is the full event schedule:
Wed., Feb. 8 - Mixed relay (8:45 a.m. EST)
Fri., Feb. 10 - Women's 7.5km sprint (8:30 a.m. EST)
Sat., Feb. 11 - Men's 10km sprint (8:30 a.m. EST)
Sun., Feb. 12 - Women's 10km pursuit (7:25 a.m. EST) & Men's 12.5km pursuit (9:30 a.m. EST)
Tue., Feb. 14 - Men's 20km individual (8:30 a.m. EST)
Wed., Feb. 15 - Women's 15km individual (8:30 a.m. EST)
Thurs., Feb. 16 - Single mixed relay (9:10 a.m. EST)
Sat., Feb. 18 - Men's 4x7.5km relay (5:45 a.m. EST) & Women's 4x6km relay (9:00 a.m. EST)
Sun., Feb. 19 - Men's 15km mass start (6:30 a.m. EST) & Women's 12.5km mass start (9:15 a.m. EST)
