Canmore’s Rosanna Crawford fought her way back into the top 15 and the Canadian biathlon men’s relay team posted a momentous fifth-place finish in Oslo, Norway last weekend as results continue to roll in the lead-up to biathlon world championships.
The Gow brothers, Scott and Christian, teamed up with Nathan Smith and Brendan Green to record the best men’s team relay result in Canadian history, stopping the clock in 1:17:52.4.
“Today was a really strong race for the team. We each executed solid performances during our legs of the relay and the end result was a personal best for Canada,” said Green.
“I think we all knew we had the potential for a good result and being able to bring out our best today in the last race before world championships is really positive for the team.”
Rookie Christian Gow took the first leg for Canada, and had one of the strongest races of his career to keep Canada in the mix. He shot clean before tagging off to Smith, who was able to shave 10 seconds off of the team deficit and bring them within striking distance of the podium. Scott Gow battled to hold onto Canada’s fifth-place position, but Green sealed the deal with an incredible final lap, keeping the Canadians ahead of superstar of the sport, Martin Fourcade of France.
“We’re all really happy with today’s result and are looking forward to what the rest of the season will bring, especially with world championships fast approaching,” said Green. “It’s been a lot of racing over the last month. We’re all a little tired and looking forward to a short and well-deserved break before starting our pre-world’s training camp.”
Russia took the win in a photo finish over Germany.
The women’s team also had a strong result after adding some youthful enthusiasm to the relay team in the form of Sarah Beaudry and Audrey Vaillancourt. The Canadian women finished eighth after a battle with Belarus. The Czech Republic won the race.
The relays were the cap on a successful Norwegian stop on the world cup. On Thursday (Feb. 12), both Heinicke and Smith posted 12th-place finishes in the individual race, which favours shooters. Heinicke shot clean and finished in a very tight pack, only eight seconds out of ninth place.
Crawford was 28th and Vaillancourt was 30th in the race, the best of her young career. It was the first time Canada had three female finishers in the top 30 this year.
Green was 44th in the men’s individual, while Scott Gow was 60th.
On Saturday (Feb. 14) Crawford led the Canadians again in the women’s sprint with a 13th-place finish.
“I missed my first shot standing. I just think I wasn’t quite ready for it and I should have taken one more breath, but I was happy to hit the next four,” said Crawford.
“I know a biathlete shouldn’t complain about 90 per cent, but the number of times I’ve hit 9/10 is starting to get a bit annoying. Hopefully I hit that magic 100 per cent in world champs.”
After mowing down the competition through December, this was Crawford’s best sprint race of 2015, as she shot 9/10 and was only five seconds out of seventh. Vaillancourt was 36th, Heinicke 68th and Beaudry was 80th.
Smith led the men with a 22nd-place finish, followed by Scott Gow in 36th, Green in 39th and Christian Gow in 67th.
Canada has yet to announce its world championship team, but its camp has begun. Worlds begin in Kontiolahti, Finland on March 5.
