GRP Snow: End of Season Recap
In the blink of an eye, we find ourselves at the end of the 2024-25 competitive season. After finishing out international tours on the Cross-Country World Cup, Biathlon World Cup and IBU Cup circuits all GRP Sprigs found themselves at either SuperTour Finals in Lake Placid, New York or out west in Bozeman, MT for US Biathlon Senior Nationals. Each season always ends with a myriad of feelings for any athlete, some having achieved their goals and some feeling the disappointing sting of falling short. Either way does nothing to minimize the hard work that each athlete has put in day in and day out over the course of the past year. After a month of unstructured time the team will reconvene to begin again for the upcoming year.
Biathlon World Cup
Jake Brown and Margie Freed both finished out Period 3 on the IBU Biathlon World Cup. At the first stop in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, a good chunk of the team was unable to race due to illness or injury, including Jake and Margie for the Sprint. While the men were unable to start a relay over the weekend, Margie was able to bounce back to anchor the Women’s Relay. She had one of her best relay performances of the year, shooting 0+0, 0+1 and carrying the team to 15th - the best US women’s relay result of the season!
The second week of World Cup racing brought the team to Pokljuka, Slovenia where torrential rain and warm temperatures made for incredibly challenging racing. The first race of the week, originally slated to be an Individual (15/20k), was shortened to a Short Individual (15/10) due to conditions. Margie took 89th at the finish. Jake was able to bounce back from injury the week before to take 43rd with only two penalties in the 20-shot race. On the final day of the week Jake and Margie both raced in the Mixed Relay and helped carry the team to a season-best result of 12th in extremely challenging conditions.
Following long-standing tradition, the final races of the World Cup season took place in Oslo, Norway at the historic Holmenkollen venue. As the last races of the all-time great biathlete brother duo of Tarjei and Johannes Thingnes Bøe, the atmosphere over the weekend was electric. Jake started the weekend strong in the Sprint, placing 51st with 2 penalties. The next day he followed that up with a break-out performance where he quickly climbed the ranks, reaching 29th in the Pursuit and posting the 12th fastest raw time on the day in a historically competitive field. Margie finished out her WC season with 98th in the women’s Sprint.
IBU Cup
After a three week break, the Biathlon IBU Cup tour finished out racing with two back-to-back weeks in Otëppa, Estonia. GRP athletes Luke Brown, Grace Castonguay, Kelsey Dickinson, Jackie Garso, and Bjorn Westervelt all took part in these races. GRP Biathlon coach Raleigh Goessling also joined the trip as assistant coach! Similarly to the World Cup, conditions in Otëppa were warm and required sensitive snow management from the organizing committee to have quality race conditions through the two weeks. Kelsey commented that “the venue was able to pull of some great racing despite having been dealt really challenging conditions and a quickly melting snowpack. We really enjoyed our experience in Otëppa and can’t wait to come back in the future.”
The first week of racing consisted of a Sprint, Pursuit, and Mass Start 60. In the Sprint races all eight US athletes qualified for the following Pursuit. Grace reached a IBU Cup then-personal best of 36th, while Kelsey and Jackie came in 47th and 55th, respectively. Bjorn was the second highest American in 27th and Luke placed 52nd. In the Pursuit, Kelsey had the 23rd raw time on the day and moved up to 34th. Grace placed 40th. Bjorn moved up six places to 21st. In the Mass Start, Kelsey and Grace placed 23rd and 24th, both either matching or surpassing their season bests while Jackie placed 41st. In the men’s race Bjorn and Luke placed 47th and 51st.
After a short break, the second week continued with a Short Individual and Sprint before concluding with Mixed and Single Mixed Relays. In the Short Individual Bjorn and Luke placed 48th and 73rd in a much larger field than the previous week due to an influx of juniors from World Junior Championships that had concluded the week before. In the women’s race Kelsey placed 23rd ahead of Grace in 44th and Jackie in 75th. In the Sprint, Kelsey would once again place 47th, Jackie would have her first ever clean race to place 55th, and after a crash on course Grace ended up 75th. In the men’s race Bjorn placed 51st and Luke 73rd.
Disaster struck the morning of the final relay races when Bjorn’s stock broke in an unfortunate accident, meaning Luke was called up to race the Mixed Relay with Vasek Cervenka, Kelsey, and Jackie. The team would end up placing 10th after strong performances from all members. The Single Mixed Relay team of Grace and Sean Doherty placed 8th after another strong performance that kept them in contact with the leaders for much of the race.
FIS World Cup and NCAA’s
Photo from Gretchen Powers
Photo from John McColgan
Photo from UntraceableG
We would be remiss not to acknowledge the great results put down by GRP U23 athletes Jack Young, Finn Sweet, and Annie McColgan in the FIS Cross Country World Cup and at Cross-Country Ski NCAA’s this past month. Jack finished the FIS Cross-Country season ranked 33rd on the FIS points list and qualified for sprint heats in 8 separate World Cups, with a high-water mark of 17th in the Tour De Ski in Toblach, Italy. He also placed 18th in the World Championships Sprint in Trondheim, Norway all while attending school in his senior year at Colby College. Finn and Annie both placed 2nd in the 7.5k classic in their senior year for UVM at the ultra-competitive NCAA Championships, hosted by Dartmouth at the Oak Hill Nordic Center.
FIS World Champs Results
NCAA Results
SuperTour Finals
The GRP Snow contingent of Braden Becker, Luke, Tim Cunningham, Margie, Jackie, Joe Lynch, Michaela Keller-Miller, John Schwinghamer and Jack all attended SuperTour Finals in Lake Placid, NY to close out the end of the season. Conditions were mixed with some seasonal spring weather making the course challenging to navigate at times. Top results in the 10km Freestyle included Margie placing 4th (3rd American), Michaela 18th and Jackie 29th. For the men, GRP U23 athlete Brian Bushey was 5th (4th American), Luke 18th, Braden 22nd, Jack 24th, Tim 51st, Joe 58th, and John 77th. In the Classic Sprint Margie was 13th, Annie 24th, Michaela 34th and Jackie 46th. On the men’s side, Jack placed 4th (3rd American), Joe 17th, John 23rd, Braden 48th, and Luke 57th.
Craftsbury had two teams for the Club Relay’s. The Craftsbury Ski Club 1 team consisting of Braden, Luke, Michaela, and Margie finished in 7th as the 3rd club team with an all-American roster. The Craftsbury Ski Club 3 team of Tim, Jackie, Joe, and Claire Serrano placed 17th and the Craftsbury Ski Club 2 team of Sisu Lange, Emily Linton, Sam Brondyke, and Isabel Linton placed 20th.
The final race of the week was a grueling 40km Classic Mass Start. Margie was the top GRP athlete in 15th, with GRP U23 Quincy Massey-Bierman right behind her in 16th and Annie in 21st. For the men, Brian and Finn placed 6th and 7th, respectively. Braden took 18th, Jack 32nd, Joe 45th and Tim 54th.
Results
Photos from Phil Belena
US Biathlon Nationals
Across the country in Bozeman, Montana, Jake, Grace, Kelsey, Bjorn and Craftsbury Ski Club youth athlete Tillie Lange all competed at US Biathlon Senior Nationals. Racing consisted of a three-day blitz consisting of a Sprint, Mass Start, and Super Sprint Final. In the Sprint, despite slow and wet snow conditions, Jake took the win by a large margin of one minute and twenty-six seconds over Bjorn in 2nd. In the women’s field Kelsey and Grace placed 3rd and 4th. Tillie placed 6th in the youth category. Conditions improved the second day for the Mass Start races. This time Bjorn and Kelsey both took the win in the senior categories. Jake placed 4th and Grace 5th. After some tough shooting in afternoon conditions that deteriorated back to warm and sloppy conditions Tillie placed 6th. On the final day of racing Bjorn repeated his win right ahead of Jake who placed 2nd. Grace had a great race with only three mistakes and a good battle with eventual winner Chloe Levins to take 2nd while Kelsey battled her way back to 3rd after a tough prone shooting. Ever consistent, Tillie once again came in 6th.
Results
Photos from Crosscut and US Biathlon
Thank you for following our coverage of the Green Racing Project this winter. We look forward to getting back into things when the next season ramps up in October 2025. In the meantime, follow GRP Row as they compete this summer for spots at World Championships and the World Cup!