Wow, ten days already! Finally we have some good ski conditions on the course! It snowed last night and this morning! The trails were fast and the corners were a little scary for me.

They have detoured around one hill on course and the start line placement is different because of challenging trail conditions. Everything else remained same as it was for the past three races. The individual 12.5k race that we completed today means that the athletes ski a 2.5k loop 5 times total. First, shoot laying down followed by shooting while standing twice over (4 times to complete 5 targets) before skiing the last lap to the finish. Individual races are strange because they do not involve penalty loops. Instead, a one minute time penalty per missed shot is added on to your overall race time. This makes it a shooters race because every shot matters.

I am happy with todays race! I missed three shots overall which is not bad. This week has brought tougher competition because it is the Junior European Championships. Just like the races last week, the oldest competing athletes are 21 in this ‘junior’ biathlon division. The good news is that I will have an opportunity for three more years to grow and improve in this category!

We will have another practice day tomorrow before our sprint race! This will be the ultimate qualifier for the Sunday mass start which includes 60 competitors beginning at the same time. It’s looking like it will pour rain tomorrow but the good news is that the weather is looking promising for Saturday! You can read about Team USA’s races so far this week on USBA’s article here!

This is a picture of material control. We check in here with our rifles every morning before the race to get our trigger pressure weighed to make sure that it is not too light.

This is our rifle rack where we load the magazines and put all of our coats, water, and other gear during practice days. It does not take up much space but I’m always worried my rifle is going to fall down!

I have loved walking around and exploring the local area. I’m planning to bring home some Polish mustard and chocolate when I leave!