Palmer twins named to US junior biathlon team

PALMER — Kimberly and Amanda Del Frate stood out on the cross-country trails during their years at Palmer High School. The 2010 graduates, who now attend UAA, toyed with the idea of skiing in college. But now the 19-year-old twins have another athletic pursuit they are shooting for — the sport of biathlon.

“What I really like about it, it’s so unpredictable,” Kimberly Del Frate said recently. “Cross-country skiing, you can pick out the top 5 skiers before anything even starts. Biathlon, you never really know exactly what’s going to happen.”

Biathlon, a sport that pairs cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, may be an unpredictable sport. But the Del Frate twins may not have ever been able to predict where their new sport will be taking them.

The Palmer siblings have qualified for the World Youth/Junior Championships, slated for Feb. 3-6 in Kontiolahti, Finland.

Kimberly and Amanda earned their spots in the world championships during the World Youth/Junior Biathlon Team Trails at Kincaid Park in Anchorage late last month. They’ve been active in the sport since attending a beginner’s camp four years ago and have not really known what to expect about their future in the sport.

“It felt pretty good, kind of cool,” Kimberly said of the feeling of qualifying. “The training paid off.”

Kimberly was the first sibling to score a spot on Team USA, but Amanda needed a late effort to make the squad. During the final day of the team trials, Amanda finished first in the junior women’s 6-kilometer event, posting a total time of 21 minutes and 38 seconds, while missing only one of her 10 shots at the target. Kimberly finished second.

“I was surprisingly calm that third day. That’s probably why I did a lot better,” Amanda said. “I didn’t stress myself out.”

Kimberly won the 10-K event earlier in the trials, posting a time of 36:55.7, with six missing. Amanda was third in the 10-K.

The Del Frates, who compete with the Alaska Nordic Racing and Alaska Biathlon teams, also prequalified for the U.S. Junior Nationals in March.

“It was a good feeling,” Amanda said. “You never know until they call your name.”

The sisters, who lived in Homer before moving to Palmer at age 10, basically grew up on skis, whether they liked it or not.

“It’s always been a family thing,” Kimberly said. “I really didn’t enjoy it when I was little, but I kind of got into it.”

As they grew, so did their desire to keep skiing.

“As we got better, it became more fun,” Amanda said.

The sisters started skiing competitively in the eighth grade, and that’s what really started to pique their interest. They gradually became more and more involved with the winter sport, and now it’s branched off to something completely new for the sisters.

“It’s a big part of what we do, how we live our life,” Kimberly said of skiing. “A lot of what we do revolves around it.”

Kimberly and Amanda train about six times a week and practice dry fire shooting every day. They try to get to the shooting range every other week.

This is in addition to commuting from their Palmer home to Anchorage to attend classes at UAA.

The sisters first became involved in biathlon as freshmen in high school. During spring break they attended a beginner’s camp for biathlon.

“We gave it a try, and from there we kept with it,” Kimberly said.

Their interest in the sport grew gradually. They got their first rifles about a year-and-a-half after they started. They grew up around skiing, and shooting sports and hunting, so it was a natural fit. Both like the added challenge of shooting that biathlon brings.

“It’s balancing racing really hard and getting really calm to shoot,” Amanda said.

Neither knows exactly where this newfound success will take them, but they’re looking forward to the journey.

“Right now I’m trying not to look too far ahead, just focusing on getting ready for Finland,” Kimberly said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/sports.