FINLAND – Standout Canadian biathletes Emma Lunder and Christian Gow are already building hype for what's to come this season individually and in duo relays after they blasted into the top-20, respectively, in the season opener.
At the IBU World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland from Nov. 27-29, Lunder finished 13th on 18/20 shooting in the women's 15-kilometre race, and Gow shot clean en route to 18th place in the men's 20-km. The impressive skiing and target shooting have given Biathlon Canada head coach Justin Wadsworth some early season confidence for what's in store.
"Those are world-class results and I feel like we're not even on our A-game," said Wadsworth.
"I think what's exciting is looking at the potential of the single mixed relay. They've had a fourth place in that and good solid results [eighth place] in world championships last year, as well."
Canada's best result in single mixed relay came in 2015 when Rosanna Crawford and Nathan Smith won silver at a world cup in Sweden. Although, after last season's fourth place in Slovenia, Lunder and Gow will look to make some history of their own.
After a breakout 2019-20 season, Lunder, 29, has picked up where she left off.
"It just shows she's going to be a contender this year," said Wadsworth. "She got three top 10s last year and this year I think she's capable of much more than that."
For Gow, impressive target range performances in the first two races, where he shot 29/30, hasn't gone unnoticed.
"Right away that's really the kind of piece we felt was missing from Christian last year and that's really exciting for him," Wadsworth said.
Biathlon Canada's world cup team this season consists of women Lunder, Sarah Beaudry, Nadia Moser and Megan Bankes, and men Gow, Scott Gow, Aidan Millar and Adam Runnalls.
Wadsworth commented on the race atmosphere in Finland, saying it "feels very safe" and the entire team is focused on the big event this season – world championships.
"This team has worked extremely hard and has been really professional over the summer, so it's going to be exciting once we get our feet underneath us over here in Europe and how they can really perform when we're on our A-game," said Wadsworth.
While overseas, the team is taking precautionary measures, which means much less socializing with each other during down time than previous seasons. Although, Wadsworth said mentally the team is doing well, in light of the situation.
"As a team, we're like a big family," said Wadsworth. "But I think our team, we did a lot of prep work leading into this with the regards to mental health, in general, and we knew this was coming – this kind of lifestyle on the road. We're just 10-12 days in and so far so good. Everyone's doing quite well."
