Happy New Year!

The week after every Christmas, some of the best youth biathletes in the country make their way to biggest national youth races of the year: The United States Biathlon Team Youth and Junior World Championship Trials (acrynym). This year the races were hosted by Grand Rapids Minnesota at Mt. Itasca. Every time I travel out of state for a biathlon race I am inspired as I watch an entire community work together to get the course and venue ready. There is so much time and work required to give every athlete the best possible experience.

I arrived early in Grand Rapids, Minnesota to train. I made it just in time to join a local high school race the next day! I was so glad to be included and loved meeting new people from the area as I experienced high school racing in a different region. Grand Rapids was one of just a few towns in Minnesota that had usable nordic ski trails this season. All of the snow was man-made with grass and dirt surrounding the trails. For many of the high school racers, this was their very first time on skis. I loved seeing how much fun each team was having together and the tenacity that the new skiers had on three laps of steep hills, and sharp turns!

Temperature’s were in the 40’s and two inches of rain fell over the two days before biathletes began to show up for the races. The already scarce man-made snow on limited trails quickly melted to dirt patches throughout the designated courses. The race directors canceled two days of practice and postponed one race. They worked around the clock to shuffle the snow from the downhill ski area to patch and repair the trails. It was a big challenge to strategize the best plan to maintain as much snow as possible, while keeping the course safe and skiable. All three races happened over the last three days of 2023. It snowed on the night of the second race, and by the third day the conditions were great to ski in! These were some of the most fun trails that I’ve skied. The uphills were short and steep while the downhills were fast with very sharp corners to navigate.

Thank you to my partners, friends, and family who have supported my dreams and goals this year. I am glad to announce that I will be traveling to Jakuszyce, Poland for the Junior IBU Cup this February! I appreciate the constant support not only for me as an athlete with big dreams and goals, but as a person working hard to become a well-rounded human being. I traveled to several out of state biathlon venues that were important stepping stones toward reaching some of my goals for this year/season. The YJWCHT were some of the toughest mental races that I have ever done. They were also some of the closest races in history of these trials.

I learn something new from every race. One lesson that continues to repeat is that things rarely run smoothly, or go to according plan. I consider myself a better marksman than a skier. I committed this last training season to focus on my skiing. My efforts showed a significant improvement. I relied on my cross country skills for all of these races as I struggled more than I had anticipated with shooting. It was a roller coaster of an experience, quickly switching my mentality and race strategy from shooting to skiing. I left the races with so much more confidence in my skiing and abilities and look forward to bringing improved skill-sets in both areas to my future races.

This experience taught me so much. I couldn’t have trained harder this year without the sacrifice of school, and time balanced with life and family. My summer was filled with many hours of hard training and limitless learning ?opportunities. I have been working on many important tools that i will use to succeed not only in sports, but for all of the possibilities that the future may bring.

So far, I would consider this a successful third year on skis! I am so excited to have been offered the opportunity to join three other girls and several boys from my Alaska Winter Stars Nordic ski club to travel to Salt Lake City during the first week of this New Year, to race at the U.S. Nordic Skiing Nationals!

The 2024 Mens Youth Olympic Biathlon Team is comprised entirely of Alaskan athletes! Elias Soule, John Louis, and Noa Kam-Magruder will be representing the U.S. at the Gangwon Games in Korea in two weeks. I am so grateful to be part of this group of athletes who push each other to become better and reach their goals together. It is very special to have trained with these boys as my teammates in high school, nordic skiing, biathlon, and international teams over the last three years. I have seen first hand the hard work that they have put in and how much they have immensely improved. I will look forward to following their journey over the rest of this season!

2024 will be another year to enjoy life, work hard, and improve a little more each day. Congrats to every athlete who came to the USBA trials to learn, race, and purely enjoy the sport of biathlon. Thank you to Minnesota Biathlon, United States Biathlon Association, and all of the volunteers for working overtime make the 2023 trials happen! I am already looking forward to training, racing, and meeting new friends in the skiing and biathlon communities that I plan to visit this coming year!