Inside Edge: 13-year-old Kasten Grimm impresses in biathlon

Still waiting! — Mother Nature pulled a fast one, turning much of our hope for snow dump into rain. Thanks to cooler temps and great groomer work, what’s open at Schweitzer is skiing great.

We’re just a few inches shy of what’s needed to open the new Cedar Park Quad and Stella. I’m anxious to see the full changes on the mountain.

Ladies’ World Cup — Mikaela Shiffrin skipped the speed events at Val d’Isere (which were eventually weathered out anyway) to regain her technical form and confidence after that disappointing 17th at Courchevel.

And bounce back she did, winning the giant slalom at Leinz, Austria by a whopping 1.36 seconds. This was her 63rd World Cup win moving her into fourth place for total career wins. Win number 64 came the following day as she also won the slalom, sweeping the Leinz series.

Men’s World Cup — The U.S. put men in the points in every event these past two weeks. Ryan Cochran Siegle was the “frequent flier”, placing 19th in GS, 15th in parallel slalom and 12th in parallel GS at Alta Badia. He then placed 11th in downhill at Bormeo and 23rd in alpine combined.

Steve Nyman took 13th at Val Gardena, and Tommy Ford was 20th in the GS at Alta Badia and 28th in the parallel slalom and 23rd in parallel GS.

River Radamus was 21st in parallel slalom and 14th in parallel GS. Nyman also placed 19th at the Bormio downhill, followed closely by Jared Goldberg, who also nabbed 24th in the alpine combined.

Those unfamiliar with the sport often wonder the significance of finishes in the 20s. Well, that means one was 20th in the world on that day … no mean feat!

Russ Read Memorial — Two local athletes competed at Mount Bachelor before Christmas at the opening races for the region. Nealy 160 athletes were present.

Newcomer to SARS, Chloie Mahkuk, had a great weekend starting with a 27th place finish in the first giant slalom, then surging back with a bronze medal finish the following day.

Cadin Billstin established his points basis for the season with consistent finishes of 44th and 40th.

Biathlon — Kasten Grimm, 13 years old, competed in his first biathlon ski races at West Yellowstone this past month.

Biathlon is a classic Olympic event, which is also competed between the world’s militaries. It combines the physical aspects of cross country skiing with the mental and physical discipline of marksmanship. Competitors race to the firing points then “will” their pulses and respirations to slow for accurate shooting. Missed targets yield time penalties.

On the first day of competition Kasten shot a near perfect round, finishing first in the U15 boys 4.5K Sprint. His ski time was 19:15.

The following day Kasten again finished first in the U15 boys 5K Pursuit race, skiing the course in 20:26.

The next competition will be in Libby, Montana on Jan. 15. Sandpoint Nordic will race a full schedule this season, so watch for more reports.

Junior Race Series Kick-off — The Independence Junior Race Series kicks off this Friday. Racers meet their coaches in the lodge at 5 p.m. Please be ready to go by that time. There are no same-day registrations.

Potpourri — Watch for race camps on the mountain next week. Lots of kids about. Any comments, recommendations or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by email at shep@thesnowschool.com. Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.