Kari Luneman of Grand Rapids, MN, competing at the 2003 World Junior Trials at Mt Itasca, Coleraine, MN. Kari is on the U.S. Junior National Team, which is based at Mt Itasca.
Paul Phillips, Competitve Image
BIATHLON: Ski fast, Shoot Straight Imagine skiing as hard as you can then trying to steady your heart rate almost immediately. That's a biathlete. By Kevin Olson There are few athletic competitions that can match the physical and mental intensity of biathlon, which combines cross country skiing with target shooting. "They're very opposing skills," says Piotr Bednarski, director of the
Minnesota Biathlon program. "In skiing, you have to go hard, really exert yourself. Shooting is totally opposite. You have to slow everything down and completely focus for 30 to 60 seconds. That transition from skiing to shooting is very hard." In biathlon's individual race format, men ski five loops, skating or classic, for a total of 20 kilometers, pausing to shoot a small caliber rifle four
times: prone, standing, prone, standing. The women's event is 15 kilometers. Individuals start alone and are essentially racing against the clock. For each missed target, a one minute penalty is added onto their ski times after they finish. In addition to the individual format, biathlon also includes sprint, pursuit, relay and mass start races. Athletes who possess both the physical and mental ability for biathlon
are somewhat rare, and they're not always the type of athlete one would expect. A biathlete needs to be patient and have the capacity to focus intensely for a short period of time. For example, it's not unusual for a petite 13 year old girl to outshoot an 18 year old junior boy. The key is to integrate the ability to ski fast with the patience to learn how to shoot well. 
| Mark Johnson (c) and Tyler Gerling (r) shooting prone (both from Grand Rapids) at the 2003 World Junior Trials, Jan 2003, Mt. Itasca, Coleraine, MN. |
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"The most common question I get is how can I calm my rate heart," Bednarski says. "But there are really no tricks. The better shape you're in, the quicker your heart rate drops."
Bednarski says keeping a regular breathing cadence is the most important aspect in target shooting. The typical skier's heart rate is about 180 200
beats per minute, Bednarski says, but ideally, a skier's heart rate should drop down to 120 140 beats per minute for optimum shooting accuracy. Most of the athletes in the Minnesota Biathlon program are skiers who have developed shooting skills vs. shooters who have mastered cross country skiing. But what possesses an athlete, who already has superior skiing skills, to add the shooting element?
"Biathlon adds another fun component to cross country skiing," Bednarski says. "The competition in the range can be very psychologically intense, and this really adds excitement and interest to the sport. Also, the U.S. Biathlon team has a lot of international competition opportunities for junior athletes. As examples, we take teams to the Swedish or Norwegian national championships (ages 15 17), as well as two age groups for the World Junior Championships
(ages 16 18, 19 20)."
Many strong Minnesota skiers have successfully made the transition from cross country skiing to biathlon. In fact, in 1998 and 2002, about 40 percent of the Olympic trial field was comprised of Minnesota athletes, with roughly 40 men and 20 women from Minnesota competing for the privilege of competing in the Olympics.
Currently, Jill Krause, 25, of St. Cloud is the top ranked female biathlete
in the country, and Sarah Riley of Proctor is rated third. Dan Campbell of Hastings and Andrea Mahrgang of Wayzata competed for the United States in the 2002 Olympics. Andy Erickson of Minnetonka competed in the 1998 games, and Kara Salmela of Duluth was a member of the Olympic team in both 1998 and 2002.
While Minnesota Biathlon is still largely a grass roots effort, it now boasts six programs Twin Cities, Duluth, St. Cloud, Grand Rapids,
Brainerd and Ely with about 70 athletes participating, ranging from ages 11 26.
"The primary mission of Minnesota Biathlon is to launch biathlon programs throughout the state, rather than become an elite training group," Bednarski says. Establishing programs involves recruiting and training coaches, helping facilitate the development of ranges/venues, securing equipment and funding, and overall coordination. Funding comes from athlete fees, grants and fund raising.
Bednarski encourages local coaches to begin actively recruiting fast skiers in the eighth and ninth grades. The largest programs Twin Cities, Duluth and Grand Rapids have 10 to 20 athletes participating. Minnesota is the hotbed of biathlon junior development. Other organized programs exist in Lake Placid, N.Y., Burlington, Vt., Anchorage, Alaska, Ft. Kent, Maine, and Bozeman, Mont.
Minnesota Biathlon has its roots in Team Birke, which served as a
developmental skiing program for high potential young skiers during the early to mid 1990s in the upper Midwest. Bednarski became a Team Birke coach in 1991, and a year later, he helped form a biathlon team after the U.S. Biathlon Association gave the organization a $10,000 grant to encourage athletes to give biathlon a try.
In 1993, the first Twin Cities area biathlon range was developed in Elk River, and the first junior program in the state was established soon
after. The program received a big boost in 1997 when it received funding from the Community Olympic Development Program (CODP), part of a U.S. Olympic committee effort to develop high potential athletes in a number of sports for the 1998 and 2002 Olympics. Minnesota Biathlon was born out of this initiative, and while it received significant funding from the CODP through 2001, it has since reduced its funding significantly.
Biathlon in the United States has grown slowly since the first recorded race in 1956 in Colorado. There are currently 600 members in the U.S. Biathlon Association, the organization endowed with the responsibility of developing the sport.
Meanwhile, biathlon has taken Europe by storm and has become the most popular televised winter sport on the continent. The 2000 World Championships in Oslo, Norway, attracted 85,000 spectators. Biathlon
has been dominated by Norway and Germany over the past 10 years with other central European countries France, Russia, Austria, Italy fielding respective teams as well.
Krause, along with teammates Jay Hakkinnen of Soldotna, Alaska, and Jeremy Teela of Anchorage, Alaska, are the top U.S. hopes on the World Cup. Hakkinnen finished 13th in the 2002 Olympic Pursuit, and Teela placed ninth in the 2003 World Championships. Krause has placed as high as 21st in World Cup competition.
What's the best way to be introduced to the sport?
"Go to a race," Bednarski says. "Most Minnesota races are open to novices."
Minnesota Biathlon athletes are competing in eight events in 2003 04, including the U.S. Junior World Biathlon Trials and Masters National Championship Dec. 31 to Jan. 3 in Coleraine, Minn. For those who want to give biathlon a try, novices are welcome Jan. 24 25 at Camp
Ripley in Little Falls, Feb. 15 at Snowflake Nordic in Duluth, and March 6 7 at Mt. Itasca in Coleraine. Instruction and rifles are available.
For more information about Minnesota Biathlon, including a complete schedule of events, check out its Web site at www.minnesotabiathlon.com or e mail Bednarski at MNbiathlon@aol.com.
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