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Kelly Underkofler finished fourth in the Women's Standing 12.5k Biathlon at the Paralympic Winter Games.

Monica Bascio (Evergreen, Colo.) started things off for Team USA, competing in the women’s sitting 10K Biathlon.  Against a very tough field, Bascio skied a good race but struggled with her shooting and came away with a fifth-place finish.  Her race time was 41:00.60, but Bascio missed a total of ten shots, and with one minute added for each shot missed, her final time was 51:00.60.

The medals in women’s sitting 10K Biathlon were swept by the Ukrainians, as Olena Iurkovska was first (41:09.10), Lyudmyla Pavlenko was second (42:25.10), and Svitlana Tryfonovo was third (46:33.50).

After the race, first-time Paralympian Bascio was disappointed, but optimistic for her remaining races.  “Actually, I am glad to have that out of the way,” she said.  “I was pretty nervous!  I had high expectations for myself today, and am disappointed that I didn’t do as well as I would have liked.  My skiing went okay, but I am not happy with my shooting.  The wind was pretty tricky, and I just couldn’t get it right.  Hopefully things will go better tomorrow.  I have a lot of races left, so I’m not going to let this one get to me too much.”

The women’s standing 12.5K biathlon was a very close race, featuring 21-year old Kelly Underkofler (St. Paul, Minn.).  Early in the race, Underkofler looked golden as she led through the first 2.5K and had nearly flawless shooting.  She shot cleanly on her first shooting stop, and only missed one shot on the second stop.  On her third shooting stop, she missed three shots, costing her three minutes of penalty time.  She continued on, skiing another solid lap before coming in for her final shooting stop.  She missed two shots at the final stop.  Her race time was 47:09.30, and with a total of six missed shots, she ended with a final time of 53:09.30 and a fourth place finish.

The gold medal went to Anne Floriet of France (47:45.10).  Yuliya Batenkova of Ukraine took the silver medal (50:50.30) and Shoko Ota of Japan earned bronze (52:36.20).

“It stings a little bit to know that I was so close to winning a medal,” Underkofler said.  “If I had skied 33 seconds faster or not missed one of my shots, I would have gotten a medal.  That’s not easy to swallow, but I did give it my best.  The level of competition is really high, so it is encouraging to know that I can hang with the others.”

Underkofler and Bascio are each entered in five more races, the sprint biathlon and four cross-country races.

Jon Kreamelmeyer (Frisco, Colo.) head coach of the Nordic Team, was happy with the way the women competed.  “There are always first-day jitters, so I think we did exceptionally well.  They may be a little disappointed, but I think that they did a great job.  I am really looking forward to the rest of this week to get everyone out there.”

Also competing was first-time Paralympian Dan Perkins (Syracuse, N.Y.) who was under the weather before the men’s standing 12.5K biathlon, and pulled out of the race shortly after beginning.

Tomorrow (Sunday) marks the first day of cross-country skiing.  All of the athletes on the U.S. team will be competing, including Steve Cook (Salt Lake City, Utah) who claimed four silver medals at the 2002 Paralympic Games.

Sunday, March 12 Events

Men’s 5K – Standing (Steve Cook, Dan Perkins, Mike Crenshaw)
Men’s 5K – Sitting (Bob Balk, Greg Mallory, Chris Klebl)
Women’s 5K Standing (Kelly Underkofler)
Women’s 2.5K (Monica Bascio, Candace Cable)