Four Alaskans claimed spots on junior development teams for biathlon and nordic combined, including three who are repeat selections.
Carter Brubaker of Anchorage will return to U.S. Skiing & Snowboarding’s development team for men’s nordic combined. He’s a 17-year-old who spent the winter at a sports academy in Lillehammer, Norway.
Maxime Germaine of Anchorage and Helen Wilson of Eagle River are back on the U.S. Biathlon development team, along with first-time selection Maja Lapkass of Anchorage.
Germaine, 19, boasts a bronze medal from the 2019 World Junior Championships, a tremendous achievement for an American — his medal was the first in four years for the United States at the prestigious international event.
Wilson, 19, is a member of the UAA cross-country ski team. She was the top American in the 12.5-kilometer individual race at the IBU World Junior/Youth Championships last February in Austria, placing 38th in the junior women’s race. She missed one out of 20 targets in that race.
Lapkass, 18, also compete in Austria and was the top American finisher in the youth women’s sprint race (51st) and pursuit (45th).
All three biathletes are members of the Anchorage Biathlon Club.
Brubaker is part of the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage’s ski jumping program and was the first Alaskan to make a national team for nordic combined in 2017, when he first gained a spot on the development team. He placed 32nd and was the second American in his debut at the World Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland.