FARGO, N.D. — A group of North Dakota National Guard soldiers and airmen recently earned a spot at a national biathlon competition. Now, the success of these North Dakota Guardsmen has led to further opportunities to compete and coach internationally through the USA Guard team.
Spc. Brandon Pulst, of Grand Forks, N.D., took part in the World University Games in Erzurum, Turkey, from Jan. 25 through Feb. 6. In an e-mail to his teammates in North Dakota last week, Pulst described the experience as “pretty sweet” and “almost like the Olympics,” with elite athletes and secured villages.
The games, which also are called “Universiade” — a combination of “university” and “Olympiad,” are billed as “second only in importance to the Olympic Games.” Every other year, both winter and summer World University Games take place and collegiate athletes travel to the host country to compete.
This is believed to be the first year National Guardsmen have taken part in the games, and only four were selected nationwide: Pulst, two soldiers from Oregon and one from Utah.
Pulst had many training opportunities this past week and took part in a couple of races, too. On Jan. 30, he placed 49th in the men’s individual 20-kilometer biathlon race with a time of 1:46:07.6. Alexey Trusov, of Russia, won the event. On Tuesday, Pulst had a disappointing wipeout in the 10-kilometer race, which caused a ski binding to break, preventing him from finishing.
In the meantime, Spc. Jordan Becker, the North Dakota National Guard’s Biathlon Team coach, took his talents to Dobbiacco, Italy, where Ca.STA, the Alpini Corps Ski Championships were Jan. 30 through Feb. 4. Military athletes from a dozen nations competed in ski-related events, including biathlon.
Now he’s lending his coaching expertise at IDSM, or Internationale Divisionsskimeisterschaften, in Regen, Germany.
The biathletes will take a short break before joining other North Dakota National Guard biathletes later this month for the Spanish National Ski Championships, or CNME, in Spain. There, Becker will again coach and Pulst will compete. They’ll be joined by Lt. Col. David Skalicky, of Bismarck, N.D., as an assistant coach, and Sgt. 1st Class Kent Pulst, of Penn, who will be competing, along with about a half-dozen Guardsmen from across the United States. From Spain, they’ll fly to Vermont and meet up with the rest of the team for the Chief of the National Guard Bureau Biathlon Championships.
| Date Taken: | 02.06.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.07.2011 18:01 |
| Story ID: | 64965 |
| Location: | FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, ND Guardsmen Take Biathlon Skills across Ocean, by SGT Amy Wieser-Willson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
