Add another Alaskan to the U.S. Olympic team.
Jeremy Teela of Anchorage earned his third trip to the Winter Olympics by finishing 26th in a World Cup biathlon race Saturday in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
He is the third Alaskan to officially claim a spot on the Olympic team, and the second biathlete to score a trip to Vancouver in February. Jay Hakkinen of Kasilof qualified for the biathlon team earlier this year and Kerry Weiland of Palmer was named to the women's hockey team last week.
Teela, 33, was a member of the 2002 and 2006 Olympic teams and along with Hakkinen -- who will be a four-time Olympian -- has given Alaska a presence on the national team for more than a decade.
Come February, Teela, who now lives in Heber City, Utah, will return to the scene of his biggest athletic achievement. Last season in a 20-kilometer World Cup race in Whistler, he captured third place to give America a rare appearance on the victory podium. He'll race on the same course at the Olympics.
Teela, a star skier and swimmer for Service High, said his performance in a 10-kilometer sprint race Saturday in Slovenia was aided by conversations with a sports psychologist.
"My skiing performance felt really great today and I had just amazing skis, but that was not the only thing," he said in a U.S. Biathlon press release. "Even more, I have to thank our sports psychologist Ross Flowers. I felt that I need to talk with him just because there are so many thoughts in my head before the Olympics, and he did a great job.
"For the first time this season I was really focused during shooting. I was right there with absolutely nothing to distract me."
Though Teela becomes just the third Alaskan to officially secure an Olympic spot, about half a dozen Alaskans are likely to compete in Vancouver.
Kikkan Randall and Lars Flora, both of Anchorage, are currently racing on the World Cup cross-country circuit with the U.S. Ski Team and two other Anchorage skiers, Holly Brooks and James Southam, have had considerable success in recent domestic races in Canada and the Lower 48.
Scott Gomez of Anchorage has a shot at reclaiming an Olympic spot -- he was a member of the 2006 men's hockey team -- but he's not having a strong NHL season, and the men's hockey team is selected based on a player's NHL success.
Callan Chythlook-Sifsof is another Olympic contender, but the snowboarder from Girdwood needs some big World Cup results to make the team. She didn't get one Saturday at a World Cup snowboardcross race in Telluride, Colo., where she finished 21st -- and third among Americans. The three remaining World Cup races prior to the Olympics will determine who makes the U.S. team.
Teela's performance Saturday in Slovenia was the second best by an American. Tim Burke of Paul Smiths, N.Y., continued his torrid streak by placing eighth, a finish that lifted him to second place in the World Cup overall standings -- territory that is completely unfamiliar to American biathletes. Burke is scheduled to race in today's pursuit race, which World Cup leader Christoph Suman of Austria failed to qualify for. That sets the stage for Burke to claim the overall lead and the yellow bib worn by the sport's top-ranked athlete. No American has ever worn the yellow bib.
Teela will also race in today's pursuit. Hakkinen, who skipped Saturday's race, will not.
Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.
By BETH BRAGG
bbragg@adn.com