FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gary Colliander
Minnesota Biathlon
Community Olympic Development Program
[email protected]
January 3, 2002
Salmela gets second Olympic birth, Campbell and Nahrgang qualify for first time
On the final day of the U.S. Olympic Trials, Dan Campbell needed to be perfect in the range
and fast on the skis. Six men had a legitamate chance at the four available spots for the
2002 Olympic Team; Campbell sitting in 5th place after the first three races needed one of
his best performances to take the 4th position. Leaving his first shooting, Campbell had
two penalties leaving him with some time to make up on National Team favorites Lawton Redman,
Jeremy Teela and Jay Hakkinen. In Biathlon however the race is rarely decided until after
the final shooting; Campbell who struggled in his final shooting yesterday would not falter
for a second time. Hitting all 5 of his targets in a blazing time of 25 seconds, Campbell
was back on course and ahead of Dan Westover of Jericho, VT. Westover held the fourth position
in the overall point standings just ahead of Campbell. Pushing over the final 3k Campbell would
put enough time on Westover to gain an Olympic birth by just 3 tenths of a point, about 7 seconds
of racing. Also finishing well from Minnesota was Andy Erickson of Minnetonka in 12th place
and John Kurtz of St. Louis Park in 17th.
In the Women's Competition Duluth's Kara Salmela proved that she can make the Olympic Team
with strong performances in the previous three races, but nevertheless wanted to race today
to lock down her place. Salmela's 4th place finish would be enough to gain a spot on her
second Olympic Team. The real race today was for the 4th position; St. Cloud's Jill Krause
had been skiing faster than she ever has as well as anyone in the field all week, but
struggles in the range had kept her from standing on top of the podium. Going into this final
race, Krause needed to beat Kristina Sabastianski of Midway, UT by over a minute. Krause would
get her first win, but with three penalties even her fast skiing could not over compensate
for the large time margain. Sabastianski placed 3rd with 2 penalties to gain her 2nd Olympic
Team birth.
Men's Sprint - 10k (prone, standing)
1 Lawton Redman Heber City, UT U.S. Nat'l Team 0 1 26:50
2 Jay Hakkinen Kasilof, AK U.S. Nat'l Team 0 2 27:12
3 Jeremy Teela Anchorage, AK U.S. Nat'l Team 0 3 27:23
4 Curtis Schreiner Day, NY WCAP 0 0 27:41
5 Dave Gieck Midway, UT U.S. Nat'l Team 3 1 27:47
6 Dan Campbell Hastings, MN MN Biathlon 2 0 27:49
12 Andy Erickson Minnetonka, MN MN Biathlon 0 1 29:08
17 John Kurtz St. Louis Park, MN Nat'l Guard 0 1 29:37
18 Ryan Cameron Minneapolis, MN MN Biathlon 1 4 29:43
19 Jacob Beste Minneapolis, MN Nat'l Guard 2 3 29:45
23 Andy Fisher St. Louis Park, MN Nat'l Guard 1 0 30:30
24 Ben Kremer Minneapolis, MN MN Biathlon 0 5 30:58
33 Brett Piper Lakeville, MN USOEC 3 3 32:36
Women's Sprint - 7.5k (prone, standing)
1 Jill Krause St. Cloud, MN U.S. Nat'l Team 2 1 23:39
2 Rachael Steer Anchorage, AK U.S. Nat'l Team 0 0 23:47
3 Kristina Sabastianski Midway, UT U.S. Nat'l Team 1 1 24:12
4 Kara Salmela Duluth, MN Nat'l Guard 1 2 24:30
5 Stacey Wooley Ruhpolding, GER U.S. Nat'l Team 0 2 24:47
8 Andrea Nahrgang Wayzata, MN U.S. Nat'l Team 2 3 25:38
9 Carolyn Treacy Duluth, MN Jr. Nat'l Team 2 2 26:02
10 Sarah Riley Proctor, MN USOEC 1 3 26:40
12 Jaime Mueller Brainerd, MN MN Biathlon 2 2 26:59
15 Jill Troutner Maple Grove, MN MN Biathlon 3 4 27:55
16 BethAnn Ellingson Grand Rapids, MN Jr. Nat'l Team 2 3 28:14
###
|