NSW Biathletes capped off a great 2017 season with a series of podium results and Australian Champions at the Australian Biathlon Championships held on 12^th and 13^th August.

Held at the newly renovated Mt Hotham Biathlon Arena, the events were Australian Team selection races and included an Individual (4 shoots/time penalties) and Sprint (2 shoots/ski penalties) format.

Men’s Results

In the Open Men’s results, NSW Biathlon’s Damon Morton continued his winning form for the season with a 1^st place in both the Individual and the Sprint. 2006 Olympian, NSW Biathlon Coach and Waxman (and Damon’s father!), Cameron Morton came in 2^nd on both days, with Jeremy Flanagan (VIC) and Taylor Field (VIC) taking bronze on each day.

In the Junior classes, Will Neuhaus (NSW) took silver in the U19 Men’s events behind Matthew Wright (NSW) who was competing for the first time this season due to HSC commitments.

David Patterson (NSW) in his 2^nd biathlon season continued to show great development and took silver in the U15 Boy’s on both days.

Women’s Results

In the Open Women’s results, NSW’s Jillian Colebourn and Sabrina Howell placed 1^st and 2^nd respectively on both days.

Darcie Morton continued her great 2017 form by winning both U19 Women’s events ahead of team-mate Lulu Miskin who took the silver on both days. Lulu took the decision to challenge herself and skied up in the U19’s in only her first biathlon season, after winning both the U17 Victorian Biathlon Championships and the AUS XC U16 Championships 2 weeks earlier.

In the younger divisions, Isabella Moon (NSW) stamped herself as a biathlete of the future taking gold in the U15 Girls Sprint in her first season at biathlon. Isobel Patterson (NSW) showed her tremendous promise as a biathlete with accurate and consistent shooting on both days and just finished outside of the medals.

A special mention of Saskia Moon who took the plunge and skied in the U17 Girls Sprint moving up from Sport Class. While Saskia’s customary accurate shooting was not so evident (!), with the faster skiing required in the U17’s, her delight at having challenged herself and competing in the U17’s was evident and we congratulate her.

Masters

NSW was well represented in the Masters Division’s with Nour Eldin Tarraf, Robyn Englert, Garry Lewis and Mark Elliott all competing. Well done to Mark Elliot who took gold on both days and Garry Lewis who took silver in the Sprint.

A special mention as well for Alpine Precision Rifle Club’s Captain Mark Guest who made the trip all the way to Mt Hotham to experience a biathlon competition. Mark has been instrumental in getting biathlon facilities set up at the ANZAC Range at Malabar for NSW Biathlon. Mark competed in the Sports Class and in the Sprint event managed to take gold ahead of a competitor who has compete in Biathlon for some years. Well done Mark!

AUS BIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS

Click here for 2017 AUS Biathlon Championships Individual Results 12.8.17

Click here for 2017 AUS Biathlon Championships Sprint Results 13.8.17