McNamee 46th in youth 10K

RUHPOLDING, Germany – Fort Fairfield native Hilary McNamee finished 46th overall in the youth women’s 10-kilometer individual race Wednesday morning at the Youth-Junior World Biathlon Championships.

McNamee shot clean in the first stage of prone shooting but had three penalties in the first standing stage and two each in the second prone and standing shooting rounds. She finished 7 minutes, 58.8 seconds behind winner Dorothea Wierer of Italy.

McNamee, a senior at Fort Fairfield High School who skis for the Maine Winter Sports Center, was the top U.S. finisher in the youth race. Addie Byrne of Bovey, Minn., was 56th.

Fort Kent’s Grace Boutot had a strong start in the race with just one penalty in the first prone stage but mistakenly shot prone in the next round, which is supposed to be a standing stage. The error resulted in her disqualification, according to a release from U.S. Biathlon.

Laura Spector of Lenox, Mass., another MWSC skier, finished 24th in the junior women’s 12.5K individual for the top U.S. finish. Spector had six penalties and was 6:06.1 behind Germany’s Susann Koenig, who won the race.

Brynden Manbeck of Grand Rapids, Minn., finished 27th and Meagan Toussaint of Madawaska did not start the race due to illness.

Thursday is a rest day for the athletes. The world championships continue Friday with the youth and junior men’s relays and wrap up Saturday with the women’s relays.