Lina Farra, an athlete with the New York Ski Educational Foundation, raced to a personal best 46th place in the women’s 7.5K sprint, her second race of the weekend at the IBU Cup in Martell-Val Martello, Italy. Farra, of Heber City, Utah, cleaned both her prone and standing shoots, avoiding the penalty loop and propelling her to the finish line.

“I am excited to be in the pursuit tomorrow,” Farra said. “I really suffered on skis today but I am still working my way to some stronger skiing and health — today was a good reminder of all the good moments of biathlon that sometimes gets lost in the tough ones.”

Farra crossed the line just 2.3 seconds ahead of teammate Grace Castonguay of Jackson, New Hamphire/Ethan Allen Biathlon Club, who finished 47th, cleaning her prone but missing three in standing. Cheresa Bouley of Zimmerman, Minnesota/Minnesota Biathlon followed suit in 55th place with one miss on the day. Tara Geraghty-Moats of West Fairlee, Vermont/National Guard Biathlon and Anna French of Plymouth, Minnestoa/Team Altius finished 62nd and 66th, just out of contention for the pursuit.

On the men’s side, Vaclav Cervenka of Grand Rapids, Minnesota/National Guard Biathlon, raced to a season-best 29th in the men’s 10K sprint, missing one shot in prone and two in standing, though his ski speed kept him in top-30 contention. Travis Cooper of Kenai, Alaska/National Guard Biathlon, crossed the line in 50th with one miss in both prone and standing and Nikolas Burkhart of Olympic Valley, California/Team Crosscut finished 55th with five misses on the day. Luke Brown of St. Paul, Minnesota/Craftsbury Green Racing Project did not start in the sprint.