When Zina Kocher passed teammate Rosanna Crawford late in the game in today's World Cup pursuit, it spurred both Canadians to rev up their engines and go for season-best results. Meanwhile, Susan Dunklee of the U.S. put Thursday's rifle disaster behind her and rode the fourth-fastest ski time of the day to 20th place, and Sara Studebaker scored World Cup points again.
Emma Lunder wanted to make the top 60 in her first biathlon World Cup - instead, she made the top 30. With Rosanna Crawford leading the way in 17th and all four women making the pursuit, the 7.5 k sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia, simply went Canada's way.
Christian Gow placed sixth in the men's individual and Sarah Beaudry and Julia Ransom sixth and seventh in the women's race at World Youth and Junior Championships on Wednesday. "We have 4 provinces represented in the top 6 results [this week] with British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec... it's an exciting future," coach Roddy Ward said.
It's not every day that you find yourself sprinting for all you're worth down the finishing stretch of the Olympics against Martin Fourcade. But that's just what happened to Canada's Nathan Smith, who not only dueled with Fourcade to the end, but beat him. "I thought I had good chances,” Smith said. “I’m usually pretty good at sprint finishes.”
Coming into the last prone stage of Friday's Olympic relay, the Canadian women were in second place - an unprecedented position. But five spare rounds and two penalty loops from Zina Kocher knocked them back into 8th. Even though It was still their best Olympic relay result ever, disappointment showed: "This is a relay we could have medaled in, flat out," said High Performance Director Chris Lindsay.
Three men in the 30-racer mass start? Check. Two finishes in the top ten? Check. In a lot of ways it was a best-ever day for the Canadian men's biathlon team, but the squad was left with a slight sense of longing for what could have been. "That’s what they are disappointed about - it’s a mixed feeling because they are so close, and they know they were right there," said coach Jean Paquet.
After turning in clean shooting and the fastest shooting times on the first two stages of today's Olympic pursuit, Jean Philippe Le Guellec was in first place, ready to bring Canada a medal. But a crash on a slushy, skied-out downhill corner left him with a broken ski and cost him 15 places, as well as affecting his next shooting. In his stead, Nathan Smith moved from 13th up to 11th to lead Canada.
Canada's Rosanna Crawford and Megan Imrie notched their best performances at their second Olympics in 25th and 31st, respectively, on Sunday in the 7.5 k sprint. Things came together for Zina Kocher in 32nd, and Megan Heinicke squeaked in the top 60 to also qualify for Tuesday's pursuit.
Audrey Vaillancourt has spent a lot of time bouncing around different European race circuits this season. Today, she eked out a 2-second victory in the 15 k individual at Open European Championships thanks to the best shooting in the field, and among the fastest range times. It's the first time a Canadian has ever won a race at the Championships.
Sitting in fourth place at each of the first three handoffs, the Canadian men were in the game for the entirety of today's World Cup biathlon relay in Antholz, Italy. They eventually finished sixth - the first time any of them could remember going to the flower ceremony as a team. France won the race, anchored by Martin Fourcade.
Canada's JP Le Guellec had a very un-JP moment in Saturday's 20 k individual, missing three shots in the last stage for three painful minutes of penalty time. He battled back in the pursuit the next day, shooting a perfect 20-for-20 and climbing 20 places on the results sheet.
In their first World Cup weekend back in Europe, Biathlon Canada had six of its seven athletes score World Cup points in Ruhpolding, highlighted by Nathan Smith's 16th-place finish in the men's pursuit today. He called it his best race of the season.
Canada has pared its World Cup squad down to just the men who will represent their country at the Olympics - and with qualifying off their shoulders, they can now focus on just racing. That was a relief to everyone as Canada skied and shot to a successful relay performance on Thursday.
21-year-old Macx Davies had his first World Cup start on Friday - and promptly placed 42nd, qualifying for Saturday's pursuit. It perfectly illustrated Biathlon Canada's strategy for the weekend, resting their current Olympic team while giving some experience to the athletes it is grooming for the next Olympics.
Brendan Green may have missed last season with a back injury, but as Canada's top biathlete in the 2012 season it's still not a surprise that he made the Olympic squad. Though he didn't compete at the Sochi warmup event last year, he was on hand to train and help with skis, so he has an idea of what he's up against.
The Canadian men were as high as fourth place and the women as high as sixth in today's World Cup relays, but each team accumulated penalty loops at unfortunate times which bumped them down a few places.
Nathan Smith claimed his first IBU Cup podium in two years by placing second to Russia's Timofey Lapshin in Idre today; Marc-Andre Bedard was seventh and Brendan Green ninth, while Megan Imrie and Megan Heinicke placed sixth and seventh in the women's race. One race into the season, Canada leads the IBU Cup standings - ahead of Norway, Russia, and Germany.
JP Le Guellec, Scott Perras, Zina Kocher, and Rosanna Crawford will start the biathlon season on the World Cup - but 11 other Canadians have the chance to fight it out for the remaining World Cup spots, where they can also qualify for the Olympics. The team was chosen after two trials races in Canmore this week.
Former Olympic kayaker Julia Rivard decided to use the Kickstarter model and her own tech smarts to make a fundraising website only for athletes. A year later 20 Canadians, including three biathletes, have started campaigns on the site and more than half surpassed their goals. Rosanna Crawford has raised $18,000 with partner Brendan Green: "It feels like a weight has been lifted."
There's a bit of a mystique surrounding the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vt., and we wanted to find out more about the treasured training site and who exactly can use it.