CONTACT: Meri-Jo Borzilleri, Empire State Winter Games Communications & Media, (merijo@lakeplacid2023.com) Tel: 719-337-7987
Facebook.com/ESWGames, Instagram.com/ESWGames, Twitter @ESWGames
PHOTOS: See ESWGPhotos.com
February 5, 2023
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Cedric Wigger of Warden, Quebec and Canada’s William Ng had no other skiers in their age-group categories at the 43rd Empire State Winter Games biathlon Super Sprint Mass Start, but they made a race of it nonetheless at Mt. Van Hoevenberg Sunday.
Seasonal temperatures in the 20s returned after two days of an Arctic blast that drove temperatures to double-digit below zero levels on Friday and Saturday.
Wigger, 22, the lone Senior Men entrant, posted a time of 21 minutes, 49.0 seconds, for a second day the fastest overall time in the 37-skier field. Ng, racing alone in the Junior Men division, had a time of 21:49.1, just one-tenth of a second behind Wigger over the 6.5-kilometer (3.9-mile) course that included four rounds of target shooting with a rifle from prone and standing positions.
Biathlon combines cross-country skiing endurance with precision shooting, where competitors race, then have to control their breathing to utilize the fine-motor skills necessary to hit targets from a distance.
The Super Sprint race was a modified mass start, where the field was split into two waves.
In the Masters Men’s (50-59 age group), Sean Halligan of Saratoga, Eli Walker of Intervale, N.H. and Daniel Kahn of Natick, Mass. duplicated Saturday’s sprint gold-silver-bronze order of finish on Sunday. Halligan was first with a time of 28:04.3, hitting 10 of 20 targets in topping the nine-skier division. Walker, 52, made 9 of 20 targets to finish second in a time of 28:30.2 and Kahn, 56, won bronze in a time of 30:54.4, hitting 11 targets.
Ella Niedre 16, of Kars, Ontario easily won her second-straight gold in the three-skier Youth Women’s division, missing just eight targets enroute to a time of 26:17.5, more than two minutes faster than silver medalist Rachel Lambley of 16, of Kanata, Ontario, in 28:55.2. Kerissa Dunn 17, of Old Forge, took bronze in 42:53.2.
For more men’s and women’s biathlon results as well as results for other events, please visit www. https://empirestatewintergames.com/results/ and follow us on social media @ESWGames.
The ESWG, sponsored by Community Bank, N.A., is the largest multi-winter amateur sports event in the United States. From Friday Feb. 3-Sunday, Feb. 5, close to 2,200 athletes are scheduled to compete in 23 winter sports in Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake and Paul Smiths.
For more information, including sport schedule and results, visit empirestatewintergames.com. For photos of the Opening Ceremony and events, see ESWGPhotos.com. You do not have to be a resident of New York State to participate in the Empire State Games, and most sports are open to all levels.
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