The turning point of my 2017 season happened in February at World Championships when, after blowing my team’s chances in the Mixed Relay, I hit all my targets in the sprint to finish 20th. Building on that momentum, I had two more top-25 finishes during the championships: 22nd in the 15k Individual and 24th in my first 12.5K mass start! There I was, competing with the top-30 women in the world, wearing bib 30. I was actually ranked 31st going into the final race, but one woman pulled out, so I got to start. It was one of my greatest career goals to race in a mass start, and to do so at World Championships was especially meaningful. I finished 24th and felt totally comfortable and competitive so I know I can be back in the future.
After World Championships, I took a well-deserved break from biathlon by renting a nice hotel for myself in Munich, Germany for a few days. It was a luxury to have my own room, visit museums, go shopping, and relax at local restaurants and coffee shops.
But before long it was back to the grind. We still had three more World Cups to go, and a tough travel schedule– World Cups 7, 8 and 9 took us to Korea, Finland and Norway.
This season seemed especially long, because of the timing of World Championships so early in the season. It is easy to build momentum and motivation up until World Championships, but I found the later races exhausting both mentally and physically. I had some great results during that last trimester though, as my skiing continued to get faster and faster, and I felt more relaxed in my shooting.
One of my favorite moments was the mixed relay in Finland at World Cup 8. That day, our team prioritized the single-mixed relay, with Lowell and Susan pairing up to win the U.S.’s first relay medal in 23 years. That left me and some of our other newer biathletes to race the mixed relay: we called ourselves the B+ Team. I led off, and combined my fastest skiing of the season with decent and fast shooting to tag off in 6th place, a mere :30 seconds behind 1st place. My teammates Joanne, Paul and Sean all did a great job and we finished 8th, which tied the best finish for Team USA all winter, including when we entered our top athletes in the event.
Now I’m at the next turning point: where the 2017 season ends and the 2018 season begins. The Olympic year is almost here! It is crazy to think about next year already, and to be honest I’m not ready for it.
CLARE EGAN 