2016 World Cup Biathlon #8, Presque Isle, Maine
Friday, Presque Isle, Maine... stop 8 on the Biathlon World Cup. Word was that 120 million people were watching live on T.V. Both pursuit races featured dominant performances, in the morning men's race Martin Fourcade, this year's over all leader, started in third place and shot nearly flawlessly in the swirling winds to take the day. In the women's race Gabriella Soukalova won on Thursday and cruised to a dominant victory. Both the men's and women's American teams had strong showings highlighted by Susan Dunkley's second place finish on Thursday. As an editorial aside: This is my second time covering a stop of the Biathlon World Cup and this stop was just as compelling as the last. Biathlon is relatively unknown in the US and that is unfortunate. The story lines are made up both of small nuanced moments and larger over arching trends. The athletes are amazing capable of heart pounding speed on skis and seconds later absolute control on the shooting range. The athletes are also, so far it seems, uniformly some of the nicest people I have worked with. It is easy to get caught up in the pursuit of perfection which in any second can be diverted by a gust of wind, a sunspot that changes the quality of the snow on one section of the course or even just caught up in the noise of the moment. This is good stuff...worth tracking down again.