The racing here in Alaska has come to a close, along with the most frustrating and stressful race series of my career. The racing got off to a terrible start in the sprint, when I missed 4 or my 5 targets, and then missed 2 of my 5 in standing, giving me a mere 40% hit percentage. My poor prone shooting continued into the pursuit race, luckily I shot 90% in standing and skied well enough to take 2nd place. I started the final race of the series, a sprint, determined to hit some prone targets, which I did, cleaning the prone stage with a respectable range time. Skiing continued to be good and I was riding a 45sec cushion into standing, when I totally broke down and dirtied (missed all 5!) the stage. This mental breakdown has prompted me to seriously assess my mental preparation for competition, and the state of mind I need to hit targets. After the dust settled, and all of the results had been calculated, my poor shooting prevented me from making the percent back cutoff to qualify for the Junior World Championship Team. I still had a chance to be selected to the team at the discretion of the coaching staff, but I had to wait for the official team naming, a full 4 hours after my race. Fortunatly I was nominated to the team based on my ski speed and past results. My nomination won't be final until the International Competition Committee finalizes the nominations, but I was included in the press release so I should be good to go. I am entering the new year with renewed determination to improve my shooting both technically and mentally. On a positive note the picture of me all frosted over was the cover of the Anchorage Daily News!
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