copyright the Chronicle December 3, 2014
U.S. Ski Team member Ida Sargent of Barton started off her third World Cup season on opening day November 29 with a personal best — she came in fifth among a field of 73 women in a classic sprint. She ranked top for the U.S. in the 1.4-kilometer race, held in Ruka, Finland.
She once came in sixth place in Sochi, Russia, the year before the Olympics, said Ms. Sargent’s mother, Lindy Sargent, in a brief telephone interview Monday.
“But this was her top score. She hasn’t ever gotten a fifth place,” Ms. Sargent said.
The next day wasn’t as amazing. Ms. Sargent came in fifty-first place in a ten-kilometer classic race on November 30, with a time of 28:52.8, nearly 96 minutes behind the top racer. Ms. Sargent was third for the U.S. in that race, which was also held in Ruka.
Ms. Sargent is expected to race in Friday’s freestyle sprint, this time in Lillehammer, Norway, and possibly the five-kilometer freestyle and ten-kilometer classic pursuit scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
The World Cup races run pretty much every weekend from here through March, including the World Championships in February.
Susan Dunklee of Barton kicked off her fifth World Cup season as a member of the U.S. Biathlon Team in a mixed relay on November 30 in Ostersund, Sweden. The U.S. team for that race placed seventh out of a field of 23 teams, with a time of 1:15:54.1, which was 48.6 minutes behind the winning team, France, and just three minutes behind the sixth-place team, Slovenia. Ms. Dunklee missed two of the ten total shots the U.S. biathletes missed in the relay.
Women’s competition continues in Ostersund on Thursday with the 15-kilometer individual competition, a 7.5-kilometer sprint on Saturday, and a ten-kilometer pursuit on Sunday.
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