Biathlon: Baird earns spot on national team – Brainerd Dispatch

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MIDWAY, Utah — Brainerd Warriors junior Annelise Baird landed a spot in the Junior International Biathlon Union Cup and Junior Open European Championships Dec. 28-31.
Baird, a member of the Minnesota Biathlon team, and 62 of the country’s top youth and junior athletes competed in the Youth and Junior Nationals and International Team Trials at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center the future 2034 Olympic Winter Games biathlon venue in Midway, Utah.
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Not only did the event serve as the National Championships for the youth and junior athletes, but they were also vying for spots on the Junior IBU Cup, Junior Open European Championship, Youth World Championship and Junior World Championship teams.
Junior IBU Cup athletes will travel first to Jakuszyce, Poland, to compete at Junior IBU Cup 3, January 16-19. From Jakuszyce, the 10 athletes will travel west to Altenberg, Germany, to race in the Junior Open European Championships, slated for January 22-26.
“In the summer they have roller ski biathlon races and she actually won one of the junior races in Vermont at the Camp Ethan Allen Training Site against the field with most of the other junior women she’s competing against,” Minnesota Biathlon team coach and Annelise’s father Owen Baird said. “She was up there so we knew potentially a top person. She attended two different camps with US Biathlon at Lake Placid.”
Baird opened the competition with a third-place finish in the youth women’s 6-kilometer sprint. Her 21:07.1 was the fourth-best time overall and third-best among the youth skiers.
On Day Two, Baird placed third again in the women’s 9-kilometer mass start 60. She posted a 33:57.5, which was the sixth-best time overall.
Day Three was Baird’s worst showing as she placed 10th in the 7.5-kilometer sprint with a 23:54.7.
‘She shot pretty well on the first one,” Owen Baird said. “She had just two penalties in the two shooting stages. They shoot five times at both stations. She had two third-place finishes in the first two races and then didn’t do as well in the last race, which happens. She didn’t shoot as well that day. That was the one she threw out for the team results.”
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Baird will compete for the first time in the Brainerd Warrior Blue and White Tuesday, Jan. 7 at the Detroit Lakes Invite in Maplelag. She will also compete in the Mesabi East Invite at Giants Ridge and then fly to Poland the next day.
“The first event is a junior IUB cup, which is kind of like the World Cup for junior-level athletes,” Owen Baird said. “The second event is an open European junior championship race, which will probably be the same people at both of those races. She just missed qualifying for the World Championship team. They take four junior girls and she was fifth on the points list after the three races. She was less than 1% away. A lot of times this Junior IUB and Junior Open are often offered to the people who are going to the World Championships, but they’ll decline and focus on the World Champs. A lot of these kids are still in high school so doing all three of those trips is a lot. So they’ll often take kids who just missed out on the world championships to compete in the other two events to get more international exposure.”
Baird is a two-time All-State Nordic skier for the Brainerd Warriors.
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