COLCHESTER, Vt. - Saint Michael's College Nordic skiing senior Grace Castonguay (Jackson, N.H./Kennett) will make her International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup debut this weekend when the U.S. Biathlon Team heads to Hochfilzen, Austria. Castonguay is one of four Team USA women set to compete.
 
The event, which also features men's races, opens on Friday with the women's 7.5K sprint at 8:25 a.m. EST. On Saturday, the women's 10K pursuit begins at 8:45 a.m. EST before Sunday calls for the women's 4x6K relay at 8:15 a.m. EST. Viewers can watch each race at eurovisionsports.tv/ibu.
 
After being selected as a relay alternate for the first World Cup event in Sweden in late November, Castonguay opened the biathlon season as one of five women on the IBU Cup roster, one rung below the World Cup squad, and took part in last weekend's event in Kontiolahti, Finland. She turned in Team USA's top time during an 84th-place finish in the 15K, placed 61st in the 7.5K sprint, and joined Vincent Bonacci to finish ninth among 24 duos entered in the single mixed relay. The remainder of the first trimester of the season features World Cup races in Switzerland on Dec. 14-17, while IBU Cup events conclude next weekend in Norway.
 
Castonguay was a regular for Team USA on the IBU Cup circuit at the beginning of the 2023 calendar year, competing in Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia, while also qualifying for the Open European Championships in Switzerland and the IBU Junior World Championships in Kazakhstan. Castonguay posted a pair of top-40 showings at the Junior World Championships to cap an eventful winter, which also saw her return stateside for the final three Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) carnivals. She led Saint Michael's in four of five solo races, including a 10th-place finish in the Williams College 5K freestyle, the best showing by a Purple Knight woman in 25 years.
 
In two seasons with the Purple Knights, Castonguay, who is a second-year captain this year, has paced the squad in 15 of 16 individual events while earning nine top-40 performances.
 
Biathlon is a winter sport that combines Nordic skiing and rifle shooting, and has been contested at Olympic Games since 1960; women only began competing in biathlon at the Olympics in 1992. Contestants ski through a Nordic trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds, with missed shots necessitating completing additional penalty laps. Founded in 1980, the United States Biathlon Association, known as U.S. Biathlon, is recognized by the IBU and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as the national federation for biathlon in the United States.