Jakob Ellingson: World Junior Trials

Trials are over, but not my racing season! Yesterday morning I was the fastest Junior in the 7.5K sprint, sealing my spot on the Junior National team for another year. My results also opened a new door for me: European Championships.

For Christmas I got a fun little ping pong net, which we managed to set up in the middle of three hotel room tables. It was a great way for us guys to settle our nerves and keep from thinking too much about the races.

10K sprint on Saturday, a 10K Pursuit on Sunday, and then a 7.5K Sprint yesterday - World Junior Trails has been a tough experience this year, but I made it thru with some decent results. I had the fastest time overall in Saturday’s race, I felt good on my skis and only missed 2 targets. Sunday’s shooting was ok, I missed 5 out of 20, but didn’t feel so good on my skis. I got the silver medal in the Junior Mens Pursuit. Then, even with pretty poor shooting, missed 6, I managed to ski fast enough to win the second Junior Mens sprint.

There is a pretty complicated criteria we athletes need to meet to qualify for World Juniors and European Championships. The results from our two best races are added up, while we discard the worst finish. The teams were picked based on a percent back score from those two races. I was the first Junior Man to qualify on points for World Juniors, but I missed out on qualifying for European Champs on points by just a fraction of a percent. Because I was so close the coaches decided to give me the discretion spot on the European Champs team.

World Junior Championships are in Presque Isle, Maine, in February. They will be held on the same courses as we just raced trials this past weekend. This is the same competition that I was a part of last year in Austria, except this year I move up an age group. European Championships are in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. I will travel there a week early to train with the team, and then have another chance to race in Europe!

January and February are going to pretty busy months with a lot of traveling for me. I will leave Minnesota on the 20th for the Czech Republic, from there I will go straight to Sochi to watch some of the games, thanks to TD Ameritrade, then home for a few days to watch the MN state meet, after that World Juniors in Maine! Depending on how those trips go there could be more beyond, but for now that’s too far away to know for sure.

I am really looking forward to this chance to get an even better idea of how this sport works on the next level! 

Hopefully I’ll have a chance to meet a lot of people out on the trails in the next few weeks.

About the author... Jakob Ellingson, who has been training with Loppet Nordic Racing and the US Junior National Biathlon Team, is entering his first PG year. His trip to Biathlon World Juniors last year fueled him to put in even more time training and chase after another shot at World Juniors, and the World Cup Circuit in the future. Following him on Facebook and Twitter.