Currier to compete in February’s Sochi Games
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The road from Stockholm, Maine to Sochi, Russia was a long and winding one for Russell Currier, but the 26-year-old received the good news Sunday that he has been nominated for the U.S. Biathlon Team that will be competing in the Winter Olympics next month. Russell Currier becomes the first athlete to come completely through Maine Winter Sports Center programming and earn an Olympic berth.
“It has been a nerve-racking couple of months leading up to the team naming,” said Currier Tuesday morning from Antholze, Italy, where he is preparing for more World Cup racing.
However, the son of Christopher and Deborah Currier of Stockholm was bolstered by a pair of strong performances at International Biathlon Union Cup 5 Races held in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, Italy this past weekend.
He was the top American finisher in Saturday’s 20-kilometer race, placing 23rd overall, and in Sunday’s 10K sprint, ending up 30th.
Currier was one of four Americans in the hunt for the final two Olympic team spots in the biathlon, a sport which combines cross country skiing and rifle shooting. The others were Casey Smith of Winthrop, Wash., three-time Olympian Jeremy Teela of Tonasket, Wash. and reigning world youth biathlon champion Sean Doherty of Center Conway, N.H.
It was Doherty who joined Currier as the choices on Sunday following their performances in the IBU Cup races that also served as the U.S. Olympic qualifier. Receiving earlier nominations to the Olympic team were two-time Olympians Lowell Bailey of Lake Placid, N.Y. and Tim Burke of Paul Smiths, N.Y. and Leif Nordgren of Marine, Minn.
Max Cobb, the U.S. Biathlon president and CEO, likes the way Team USA is coming together.
“I am very pleased with the progress the athletes on the team have made. It’s the result of their focused training with some of the world’s best coaches and high performance staff,” Cobb said. “There is one more World Cup before the Olympic Games and we are looking forward to seeing the team in action there.
“Our top ranked athletes [Burke and Bailey] have both had podium-level performances and the Olympic rookies have had very compelling performances that indicate personal-bests lay ahead for them this season.”
MWSC President and CEO Andy Shepard said Currier’s achievement has generated a great sense of accomplishment for his organization.
“Russell’s strong work ethic, humility and commitment to accomplishing his goals has brought him an inspiring and hard-earned achievement,” Shepard said. “He is a great source of pride for the thousands of volunteers who have committed themselves to the mission of the MWSC over the past 15 years, as well as to the MWSC staff and me. Russell has modeled for a generation of Maine’s youth what can be accomplished if you dream and commit yourself to those dreams.”
Currier learned how to ski as a part of the MWSC’s first Healthy Hometowns program at Stockholm Elementary School in 1999 and has distinguished himself as one of the fastest skiers on the World Cup circuit. His two sixth-place finishes during the 2012 World Cup season showed that he is a threat to medal every time he steps up to the start line.
“It is fantastic to see Russell earn the title of Olympian,” said Will Sweetser, who has been Currier’s coach for much of his time at the MWSC. “His dedication to training and focus on achieving his goals are exactly the kind of traits we strive to impart and I’m proud to call him one of ours.”
The 2006 graduate of Caribou High School participated in both cross country running and skiing with the Vikings before going on to train full-time with the MWSC.
“It’s been his hard work over the years, his persistence, his humility, his sense of humor and purpose that has got him this far,” said Robert Sprague, who coached Currier at the high school level in skiing. “He has earned this by constantly working toward his goals.”
Currier said he is looking forward to the remainder of the racing season and that Sunday’s announcement fulfills one of his dreams as a teenager.
“Like any determined athlete, the thought of competing in the Olympics has been in the back of my mind since I was 14,” he said. “The amount of support that keeps flooding in from The County has been wonderful and I’ll do my best to represent us next month.”
