2012 Biathlon World Championships!

Sara Studebaker walking out to the start line

Just wanted to write a quick entry on how cool it was watching the Biathlon World Championship yesterday! I was privileged to be able to watch the Mixed-Relay event...which got me thinking, we should so have a mixed-relay or some kind of mixed event in speedskating! It would be fun to have to race alongside the US guys. :) Another surprise was seeing Sara Studebaker's name on the program...I had met her at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and it was that much more fun to be able to cheer for Team USA knowing one of the biathletes competing! Sara, if you read this...I am cheering you on for the rest of the competition and hopefully can see another race of yours! Go for the Gold!


At the competition yesterday, I was telling Bernhard Mayer (a close and long-time friend of my mother's, who just retired from being an ISU starter for speedskating world competitions, and whose house I am staying at here in Inzell), how pumped I was to be able to watch another sport I admire, on a World Championship level. Bernhard is working for the Red Cross at the Biathlon World Championships all week and called me in the morning to give me the good news that he had gotten a ticket for me. From seeing the huge crowd and getting slightly jealous of how many fans show up for the Biathlon Worlds (approx. 200,000 over 11 races!) compared to our speedskating Worlds to really observing the routines of the athletes as they warm-up and prepare for this prestigious competition, it was an event to remember...enough where Bernhard might get me another ticket to see it again next week before I return home. 

The Awesome fans!

The crazy looking fans were everywhere! ha

What was also neat was getting sucked into the whirlwind of emotion as the Mixed-Relay race neared the finish...especially when the German were in the lead for so long, but it came down to the last shooting round and Arnd Peiffer, the German who was the last leg of the relay, missed 3 shots and those with penalties, brought home the bronze instead, giving the Norwegians the room to win the event! I can't imagine the victory chants that was coming from Norway yesterday! Haha. Now the video below was when Arnd was shooting his second to last round, it was awesome to hear how the crowd gets completely silent and shouts every time there is a 'bulls-eye'. The echo on the mountains were amazing, though this video doesn't do justice what is sounded like live. There was so much support there for the German team as well as tons of Norwegians, as this sport is one of the more popular sports in these countries. Man, I got to thinking...I am half German with 1/8th of Norwegian blood in me...I should have been a Biathlete! Or maybe...I still could be? :)

Tim Burke from the USA passing by

While all this is going on, though, Jeffrey has been in Salt Lake City the last couple days preparing for his last competition of the season: the American Cup Final. It begins today, Friday and he will be racing through Sunday. The link for the live results is here... If you have a chance, send him a pump-up note either on his Facebook or email him @ jpeltzspeedskater@hotmail.com




God Bless,
Nancy Jr.


1 Corinthians 9:25