Abbreviation | USBA |
---|---|
Formation | 1980 |
Type | National governing body (NGB) |
Headquarters | New Gloucester, Maine, U.S. |
Region served | United States |
Affiliations | International Biathlon Union |
Website | www |
The United States Biathlon Association (USBA) is the national governing body for Olympic biathlon in the United States and a member of the International Biathlon Union (IBU). The USBA exists to support and encourage the development of biathlon in the United States and to prepare athletes for international competition, including the Winter Olympic Games. [1]
Founded in 1980, USBA works with Biathlon Clubs and Regional Centers around the country to organize training and competition at the grassroots level and staffs and finances the US Biathlon National Team, Development Team, and Junior Team.
The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not timed per se, but depending on the competition, missed shots result in extra distance or time being added to the contestant's total.
Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms and bows/crossbows.
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter Olympics, the first being in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo; Italy had also hosted the Summer Olympics in 1960 in Rome.
The 1960 Winter Olympics were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort in Squaw Valley, California, United States. The resort was chosen to host the Games at the 1956 meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Squaw Valley was an undeveloped resort in 1955, so the infrastructure and all of the venues were built between 1956 and 1960 at a cost of US$80,000,000. The layout was designed to be intimate, allowing spectators and competitors to reach most of the venues on foot.
Mark Kirchner is a German former biathlete.
Michael Greis is a former German biathlete.
Jay William Hakkinen is a former biathlete. He is a four-time American Olympian, and his 10th-place finish in the 20-kilometer individual race at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was the best finish ever by an American biathlete.
The University of Maine at Fort Kent is a public college in Fort Kent, Maine. It is the northernmost campus of the University of Maine System. It is an academic center for Acadian and French American culture and heritage, and French-speaking Mainers from throughout the state. It currently has an enrollment of 1,557 students. The Saint John Valley region is a center of French American culture, and the majority of adults in the region are bilingual in French and English.
The International Biathlon Union is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the city. It was rocked by a corruption scandal that broke in 2018, concerning the Russians bribing its top two officials. In 2022, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, as invading nations, were suspended from all international biathlon competitions until further notice.
Timothy John Burke is a retired U.S. biathlete and coach. On December 20, 2009, he became the first ever US biathlete to lead the overall Biathlon World Cup. During his career he competed in 11 Biathlon World Championships and four Winter Olympic Games, won a World Championship silver and took six podiums in World Cup races.
National Sports Academy was a private preparatory school for winter-sport athletes in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The academy was closed in 2015.
Lowell Bailey is an American biathlon coach and retired biathlete who competed from 2001 until 2018.
Anton Vladimirovich Shipulin is a retired Russian biathlete and politician serving as the member of the State Duma since 2019.
Valentyna Oleksandrivna Semerenko, known also as Valya Semerenko and featuring in statistics as Valj Semerenko is a Ukrainian biathlete. She is Olympic and World champion, multiple World championships medalist, and one of the most successful Ukrainian winter athletes.
Andrew Soule is an American Nordic skier and veteran of the United States Army. A double-leg amputee due to injuries received in the War in Afghanistan, Soule uses a sit-ski in competitions.
The U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) is a military unit whose primary mission is to support nationally and internationally ranked soldiers in participating on the U.S. Olympic team. The program is headquartered at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Susan Dunklee is an American biathlete.
Sean Doherty is an American biathlete.
Laurent Clare Egan is an American biathlete. She has represented the United States in World Cup Biathlon from 2015 through the 2018-2019 season and at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Clare was elected in 2018 to chair the International Biathlon Union Athletes’ Committee until 2022.
Sarah Konrad is an American former biathlete. She competed in two events at the 2006 Winter Olympics. She also competed in the cross-country skiing at the same Olympics. Konrad was the first woman to represent the United States in two different sports at the same Winter Olympic Games. Since retiring, Konrad has served as a representative for the Athletes Advisory Council of the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Biathlon Association for the International Competition Committee.