Ski-and-Shoot Game Not for U.S. : Biathlon: Americans finish well behind Germans, but they’re not disappointed.

U.S. biathlon expectations were well met Wednesday.

Mostly because there had been none.

In a field of 94 in the 10-kilometer sprint-and-shoot at the Winter Olympics, American biathletes finished 32nd, 37th, 49th and 55th, and John Morton, the team leader, thought that was just fine.

“That’s pretty encouraging,” he said. “We were privately anticipating that, with the uphill approach to the range, the shooting could be really disastrous here.

“But look at the whole team: Josh (Thompson) had one penalty loop--one miss--Curtis (Schreiner) shot clean, Erich (Wilbrecht) had two (misses) and Duncan (Douglas) two (out of 10 shots).”

Biathlon is the combination of cross-country skiing and target shooting with .22-caliber rifles. You sling your rifle, ski a while, stop and shoot, ski some more, stop and shoot, then ski again. Those who do it say it is the most difficult sport of all, and Morton suggested that it was similar to “running up 10 flights of stairs and then threading a needle.”

Americans have never been consistently good at it, although Thompson, of Gunnison, Colo., has had his moments. He was thought to have an outside chance at a medal four years ago at Calgary but took himself out of the running by shooting poorly.

This time around, he shot well enough, but got caught in the switches on a day that went from overcast to hot and sunny in less than an hour, turning fast snow slow and making ski waxing crucial.

“It was tricky waxing today, so we (coaches) may have to take the rap for that,” Morton said. “As the weather changes, if you haven’t anticipated exactly right, the sun comes out from behind the clouds and all of a sudden you’re in a difficult waxing condition. And then you really have to hit all the targets.”

Somehow, the weather changes seemed not to affect the German team. Ricco Gross went out early, when the snow was fast, skied fast himself, missed only one target and was the leader in the clubhouse for most of the morning. Then teammate Mark Kirchner went out late, when the snow was slow, and skied fast anyway. He beat Gross’ time by 15.7 seconds, thanks to clean shooting, which left him with no penalty loops--150 meters for every miss--to ski.

Kirchner won the gold in 26 minutes 2.3 seconds and Gross the silver in 26:18. Both are formerly of East Germany. Harri Eloranta of Finland, with no misses, was third in 26:26.6.

Thompson, less than two minutes behind, could have saved perhaps 40 seconds had he not missed his second shot from the standing position. He had hit all five targets shooting prone. Forty seconds off Thompson’s time would have put him 11th.

“But there’s also a psychological penalty there,” Morton said. “These guys know that they’ve got to shoot clean to really be in the hunt. When you miss a target or two, then psychologically you’re not racing to win anymore. . . . It’s hard to really pour it all out if you’ve missed a target.

“And this is an especially difficult range because there’s a long, tough climb into (it). And we were at enough of an altitude so that even without an uphill approach, you notice it.”

Thompson, who finished 27th at Calgary and was more than slightly upset about it, said he was satisfied Wednesday.

“It’s pretty warm today and that drains you,” he said. “I didn’t quite have the spunk I wanted to. I don’t know why that happened. I thought I could do a little bit better.

“But I don’t put numbers (on expectations) anymore. I was third once this year (in World Cup competition) and I was 93rd. There’s a wide range of people that are really good and that’s a little bit of the game. This sport is up and down.

“The last time (four years ago), when I was in a similar place, I was just this side of suicidal. Now, I’m in the same general placing group and it’s no big deal. I’ve pretty much proven my point this year.”

Schreiner, of Day, N.Y., finished in 28:08.4; Wilbrecht, of Jackson, Wyo., in 28:41.1, and Douglas, of Lake Placid, N.Y., 28:49.2.