Jr. World Trials

In my last post I talked about how I was hoping to be chosen for the IBU cup (biathlon minor leagues). I knew the chance to make the team was going to be a long shot, even with my good results. In the end I just missed making the team. But I am ok with that because I am still two years away from racing at that level so even being in the mix is a sign of good things to come.

I hope everybody had a good holiday vacation. As I mentioned last post, I spent the holidays in Minneapolis, Minnesota with the Ellingson family. Jakob (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaw198PuDQYom-17IZgvptQ) and Siena Ellingson are Biathletes who were on the Jr. World team last year. I am grateful for their hospitality. Thanks to them I didn’t have to deal with travel and airports right before competition.

Training in Mineapolis was tough. There wasn’t much snow so I was limited to running but that is ok because exploring new places on foot is always fun.

My goal going in to Jr. World trials was to keep up the good shooting. I wanted to prove my performance at IBU trials wasn’t luck or a onetime thing. 

Loving my new Rossis. Super Fast! 

Hubbard coaching... with a hand in his pants...

MWSC PG's and juniors

Testing out my new Mt. Borah jacket. I love it.

The first race was a 10K sprint Competition. The snow was really fast and my skiing felt in control and quick. My first time to the range resulted in a clean prone stage. And I knew this was my day. In standing I had 2 misses but was still far enough ahead to win by 1:16 over second place!

Next was the Pursuit format race. I say Pursuit format because I started first since I was the winner the day before but our individual times were recorded and set into results. So it’s not a true pursuit. Right out of the start I began experiencing a weird thing that happens to me sometimes. It has been called by some doctors “sport induced asthma” but I don’t think that’s it. What happens is my body becomes very heavy. My arms and legs feel 20 pounds heavier than normal and it’s hard to catch my breath. This used to happen to me before every cross country race in high school but it hasn’t happened in a while. It lasted for 15-20 seconds then all of the sudden, it just disappeared, like it always did. And for the rest of the race I was fine. In the first prone I had a great group of shots. Unforunatly they were all on the left side of the target, resulting in 4 penalties. It was a little demoralizing until I saw a lot of people around me also had a few misses. I knew the race wasn’t over yet. In the next prone I took a few clicks right and hit 3 of the 5 targets and slowly moved my back up the ladder. In the first standing I felt so comfortable I was just nailing targets one after another, then I missed the last one. a little too comfortable I guess. Upon leaving the penalty loop I saw Jake leavening the range with clean shooting. I knew Jake started 20 seconds behind me so right now he was beating me by a little bit. We skied that lap together and came into the final shooting stage together. It was a shooting duel now. On this standing I felt just as comfortable and nailed all 5 targets! Jake had 1 miss so I knew it was going to be a ski race until the end. For the last lap I gave it everything I had and ended beating Jake by 9 seconds. The race was fun and close, the way biathlon should be.

Jake and I up the "Waterfall"

In the final race, a 7.5K sprint, I did a little better prone and kept the good standing shooting going. 3-0 shooting helped me seal the deal by 1:30 and win the 3^rd of 3 races.

With these results at trials I qualified European Championships in Otepaa, Estonia and Jr. Worlds in Minsk, Belarus. These are the same teams I qualified for last year but this year seams different. I feel like this year I am finally a biathlete. Last year I was a skier who hoped to shoot well enough to have good results but this year I feel like I am a completely different person. Before the race I write out a plan and stick to it. On the range I know what to do and do it. I know this might sound like common sense but it is something I’ve struggled with in the past. I put in a lot of hard work on the range this summer and I happy to see it paying off in big races. I guess what I’m trying to say is this year I feel more mature while racing and am looking forward to this seasons European races.

I'd like to thank everybody who has reached out to congratulate me. It really means a lot to me. Although it says "Brian Halligan" on the results, to me it says all the names of of the people that helped get me to where I am today. from coaches, teachers and parents, to friends and family. Some have played a bigger role than others but everybody has had a part in getting me to where I am today. Thank You so much for supporting me. 

I leave for Europe the 24^th of January but hope to make it back to New York before then to see some friends and family who I didn’t get to see for Christmas.

Also, While cleaning my rifle this afternoon I noticed a space on my rifle that has to constantly be blacked out due to the “too many of one logo on your rifle” rule by the IBU. (basically you can only have a certain amount of one logo on your rifle. Since I have an Anshutze rifle, “Anschutze” is everywhere so I have to black out a few of the “Anshutze”). so I figured I’d just put it up for sale. $50 and I’ll put your company’s logo right under my rear sight and I’ll tag your company’s name in all my social media posts. Plus you will get a post card from all my traveling adventures. Email me if you are interested: bhnordic4@gmail.com

Your logo there, right where it says "Anshutz"

Thanks for stopping by. Follow me on Twitter: @Bhbiathon Instagram: @brhalligan4 and friend me on Facebook.