Tim Burke (biathlete)
| Tim Burke | |||||||||||||
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| Full name | Timothy John Burke | ||||||||||||
| Born |
February 3, 1982 Paul Smiths, New York, United States |
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| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||
| Ski club | Lake Placid Biathlon Club | ||||||||||||
| World Cup career | |||||||||||||
| Seasons | 2004– | ||||||||||||
| Indiv. podiums | 5 | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Updated on 14 February 2013. | |||||||||||||
Timothy John "Tim" Burke (born February 3, 1982 in Paul Smiths, New York) is a U.S. biathlete. At the 2007 World Championships in Antholz, he made US history by finishing 7th in the men's 20 km race. On December 20, 2009, he became the first ever US biathlete to lead the overall Biathlon World Cup.
Burke first took up biathlon in 1997 and soon became a promising prospect on the national level, first competing for the United States in the Biathlon Junior World Championships in 2000. Burke competed in the World Junior Championships another three times, but without ever finishing in the top 10.
Burke's formative years were plagued by ill health. Most critically, he had career-threatening hip problems in 2002, eventually managing a full recovery after surgery. He also suffered from mononucleosis.
Burke debuted in the Biathlon World Cup in the latter half of the 2003–04 season at Ruhpolding, Germany. This season also marked Burke's first World Championships; however, he failed to make an international impact, not achieving any World Cup points.
Burke made his first US Olympic team in 2006, and came quite close to achieving his first World Cup points (the Olympics being part of the Biathlon World Cup), placing 35th in the sprint and 36th in the following pursuit. However, his moment of international attention came as Jay Hakkinen surprisingly brought the US team to the first exchange in first place. Burke, on the second leg, thus had the honour of leading the Olympic relay. However, this did not last long, as US dropped to 8th place on Burke's leg with him needing all three spare rounds in both shootings; they eventually finished 9th.
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