Canada’s hopes for a medal in the 2x6, 2x7.5 kilometre mixed biathlon relay came crashing down early when Canmore’s Megan Imrie sped too quickly into a treacherous turn and hit the ground hard at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi on Wednesday (Feb. 19).
The fall put the Canadians out of contention early on, but they recovered to finish 12th in the historic first-time Olympic biathlon event, which tests national men’s and women’s programs.
“It was a bad decision on my part. I went in with too much speed. I know better, especially in a group, especially when the temperature drops a degree and it gets slick,” Imrie said.
Canada’s best shooter at the Games had been the hero a day earlier in the mass start, but felt her body fill up with lactic acid after the fall.
“It was not really a bad fall. The killer part is how much adrenalin was pumping through me. I felt like a wooden man after. It was so incredibly painful to get moving again,” Imrie said.
Biathlon relays put a greater emphasis on skiing than shooting, as athletes can opt to use spare bullets to hit their targets.
Imrie shot clean and used two spare bullets before handing off to Rosanna Crawford in 16th-place. She moved the team into 15th by shooting clean with one spare, 2:30 back of the leaders, before handing off to her boyfriend, Brendan Green.
Green pulled the team into 13th spot thanks to some strong skiing. Scott Perras, who was well rested, pushed Canada into 12th, beating out Switzerland and Poland on the last lap.
Canada ended up 4:10 behind Norway. Czech Republic won silver and the underddog Italians grabbed bronze.
“Obviously, we can do better. We have a team that can be as strong as Italy,” Perras said.
“One of the strengths of our team is no matter who falls, who has a bad day, there’s no blame to pass down.”
The biathletes believe their best chance at a medal is in Saturday’s (Feb. 22) men’s and Friday’s (Feb. 21) women’s team relays, so the mixed relay was a good preparation.
“This race was lots of fun. We had a bit of bad luck on the first loop,” said Crawford. “We’re all looking forward to the next relay. Definitely, the potential is there.”
Green said it was memorable to share a race with his girlfriend, but said there’s room for improvement.
“I don’t think the result was representative of our full potential by any means. We got off to a rough start and made up ground through the race. We’re definitely capable of more, for sure,” Green said.
