Illness slows guardsman at Olympic biathlon - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Illness slows guardsman at Olympic biathlon

WHISTLER, British Columbia — After an illness forced U.S. biathlete Sgt. Jeremy Teela to miss a race last week, he returned to the course at Whistler Olympic Park on Sunday to compete in the men’s 15K mass start.

Still feeling the effects of a sinus infection though, Teela finished 29th among 30 entrants on Sunday morning with a time of 38:36.1, slightly more than three minutes off the pace of gold medalist Evgeny Ustyugov of Russia. Teela also picked up four shooting penalties and had just one clean round out of four.

“I felt really good yesterday and did some training,” Teela said. “I even felt pretty good today, but maybe being a little sick a couple of days ago took more out of me than I thought.”

Martin Fourcade of France took silver and Pavol Hurajt of Slovakia the bronze.

Teela, who scratched last Thursday from the 20K individual biathlon the morning of the race, said he spent four days in bed and did not ski during that time.

“I just jumped in the race today,” he said. “I think another day off and some more speed training before the relay, and I should be set” for the final event of the Games, the relay on Friday.

Last Sunday, Teela placed ninth in the 10K sprint, recording the best-ever U.S. result in biathlon. He was the top American finisher in the pursuit last Tuesday, placing 24th.

“It’s not the race I wanted,” Teela said of the mass start. “I’ve just got to review it in the next few hours, then forget about it and prep for the relay.”

Teela is a member of the Vermont National Guard and the Army World Class Athlete Program.

More on Teela and other military athletes:

After Action blog