Biathlete profile: Melissa Manning

FORT KENT - Melissa Manning, one of the Maine Winter Sports Center biathletes living and training in Fort Kent, has achieved the first of her two main goals as a biathlete by making the Junior World Championship team. The eighteen-year-old will head to Kontiolahti, Finland this year to compete against biathletes from all over the world Feb. 20 through Feb. 26.

MELISSA MANNING

Manning started her career in biathlon indirectly, first participating in cross-country running and track and field in middle school in East Aurora, New York, a small community outside of Buffalo.  When she was 12 or 13, her mother introduced her to cross-country skiing and her dad started bringing her along on long hunting trips where she learned to shoot. Her father also introduced her to archery.

A foot injury when Manning was a freshman in high school required surgery, so she was unable to continue cross-country running. However, she could ski just fine.

She decided to give biathlon a try. For the first two years of high school she was on her own, something Manning describes as one of the most difficult parts of her experience as a beginning biathlete.

She developed a drive and enthusiasm for the sport that brought an opportunity to go to a two-month U.S. Biathlon camp in Jericho, Vermont the summer before her junior year in high school.

Soon afterward, Manning moved to Jericho with her father to complete her schooling at Mount Mansfield Union High School and to train with coaches Algis Shalna, an Olympic gold medalist, and Eric Trumble at the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club, and with the National Guard stationed in Jericho. Her mother and sister stayed behind in New York, where her sister finished high school.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN - Manning races in the Nor-Am Cup last weekend at 10th Mountain. - Contributed image

Among many of the opportunities that moving to Jericho afforded her, Manning was able to ski with a high school team, something she was unable to do in her hometown in New York.

"That was really cool," she said.

Manning acknowledged that while the move allowed her to achieve a level of training she would have been unable to otherwise, it was a difficult experience for the family.

"It was definitely hard for everyone," she said. "I'm incredibly thankful that my parents have supported me to this extent for this. They are the ones that have allowed me to follow my dreams."

While training in Jericho, Manning attended a training camp with coaches from the Maine Winter Sports Center. She moved to Fort Kent the day after her high school graduation so she could train full-time with them.

She said, "I'm also really grateful for all the support I've gotten from the Maine Winter Sports Center. The coaching is phenomenal. They really have gone an extra length to help me meet my goals. I wouldn't have made [the Junior World Cup] team without their support."

Being on that team is Manning's first step on the way to her ultimate goal, making the World Cup team as a senior.

Last year, the motivated young athlete missed qualifying for the junior team by two-tenths of a percentage point.

"It was tooth and nails," she said. "I cried for weeks about it."

This year, having made the team, she said, "I'm incredibly excited to go to Europe...and to represent the Maine Winter Sports Center there."

Manning said the North American Biathlon Championships, like the one held in Fort Kent this past weekend, allow the biathletes to compete with the Canadians and bring some "fun competitions" to the athlete's training programs.

"They are going to get me ready for the World Cup," she said. "It's how I prepare in terms of races."

She praised 10th Mountain Ski Club for the work they put into the Nor-Am races.

"They did awesome. Everything was super well run. They were on top of everything. I was really impressed."

Fort Kent reminds her of her small town hometown, said Manning.

"I definitely feel at home here. It's a nice community to live in."