Cape Elizabeth native Clare Egan made her Olympic debut Saturday in PyeongChang, South Korea, finishing 61st of 87 competitors in the women’s 7.5-kilometer biathlon sprint. She was second among the U.S. women.
The top 60 finishers in Saturday night’s sprint qualified for Monday’s 10k pursuit.
Egan hit seven of 10 targets, missing once in prone and twice in standing. She crossed the line 2 minutes and 45.4 seconds behind gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier of Germany, one of three women among the field of 87 to clean all 10 targets.
Dahlmeier’s time was 21:06.2. Marte Olsbu of Norway was 24.2 seconds back with one miss to take silver and Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic, also with one miss, was another 1.6 seconds back for bronze.
After narrowly missing out on qualifying for the pursuit, Egan lamented a spill she took early in the race.
“I fell on the first loop at the bottom of the big hill,” said Egan. “Kind of a nightmare but weird things happen in big races I guess. Besides that, I am really pleased with my skiing considering that I was really sick during our pre-Olympic training camp.”
Egan had one penalty in prone and another in standing after a problem with her rifle.
“It was really tricky shooting today but I’m happy with my prone,” Egan said. “In standing, I started out really solid, had three good hits and felt good about what I was doing. Then I misfired, my bullet didn’t eject and I wish I had refocused better after that.”
The only U.S. woman to qualify for Monday’s pursuit was another Olympic rookie, Emily Dreissigacker of Vermont, who finished 51st with a single missed target, 2:21.0 off the pace.
Fellow Vermonter Susan Dunklee, a silver medalist at last year’s World Championships and the only Olympic veteran among the U.S. women’s team, missed four of five standing targets and dropped to 66th.
Joanne Reid of California hit three of 10 targets in her Olympic debut and placed 86th. Reid is the daughter of Olympic speedskating bronze medalist Beth (Heiden) Reid and niece of Eric Heiden, the five-time gold medalist in speedskating.
Egan will be the first alternate in case someone scratches from the pursuit race. Otherwise, her next scheduled race is Wednesday’s 15k individual, with four shooting stages and penalties of one minute per miss instead of the sprint’s penalty loops.
As if the biathlon – a sport that mixes the endurance and speed of cross-country skiing with the focus and precision of shooting a rifle – isn’t already difficult enough, it just got tougher. Biathletes at the PyeongChang Games will have additional challenges to contend with over the next two weeks at the Winter Games, including shooting under floodlights at night when temperatures are colder and the wind gustier.
Of the 11 biathlon events at the Pyeongchang Games, eight of them will be held at night.
That means bitter cold, wind and artificial light.
The wind is especially tricky for biathletes. Unlike some other Olympic events in Pyeongchang, there is no net set up to stop it.
SKIATHLON: Charlotte Kalla of Sweden won the first gold medal of the games and Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen took silver in the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon to become the most decorated female Winter Olympian ever.
SPEEDSKATING: Lim Hyo-jun won the crash-filled men’s 1,500-meter final, giving South Korea its first gold medal of the games.
Lim surged past Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands and finished about two blade lengths ahead in an Olympic-record of 2 minutes, 10.485 seconds.
n The Dutch are off to a great start on the Olympic speedskating oval again with a sweep of the medals in the women’s 3,000-meter race.
Carlijn Achtereekte surprisingly beat two-time 3,000-meter champion Ireen Wust. Antoinette de Jong finished third for the bronze. The Netherlands won 23 of 36 speedskating medals in Sochi four years ago.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY: The Korean team, the first in Olympic history to combine players from North and South, was routed 8-0 by Switzerland in its debut game, outshot 52-8 in a matchup that could have been far worse if not for the goaltending of Shin So Jung. The poor showing didn’t stop the sellout crowd from cheering throughout much of the game, the chants led often by North Korea’s famous cheering group, and it didn’t lessen the import of the event.
SKI JUMPING: Andreas Wellinger of Germany won the men’s normal hill title despite the frigid temperatures and whipping wind at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center. He nailed a jump of 113.5 meters to secure the gold with 259.3 points.
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