Last season, biathletes Nathan Smith and Rosanna Crawford had a friendly competition over who would reach the world cup podium first.
This year, they solved that battle on Day 1.
Crawford and Smith made Canadian history by winning silver in the single mixed relay on Sunday (Nov. 29) in Oestersund, Sweden. It is the first relay medal for Canada in the new event, which partners short ski loops with four rounds of shooting.
“It’s pretty special and to be able to share this with my teammate makes it even better,” said Crawford. The world cup medal is the first of her career.
The Canadians clocked a time of 36:39.4, finishing one second ahead of Germany, and 11.9 seconds behind Norway.
“It feels awesome. It’s such a motivating way to settle into the world cup season,” said Smith, who won silver at world championships last season.
Lining up in the new format to open the world cup season, the Canadians struggled early on, as Crawford required four spare bullets in her first two trips to the round, while Smith used three. The struggles in the range had the Canadians running in eighth place at the halfway mark, but they were able to bear down in the second half and start the charge.
Crawford shot clean in her next two trips to the range, which propelled the team into podium contention. As one of the top ranked biathletes in the race, she made mental adjustments required to crawl back in contention.
“We knew that shooting would be key, and even then, we had a rough start with our first three shooting bouts. But I think that took some pressure off and allowed me to refocus on my next two shootings. We knew there was a lot of potential in this race, so we are really happy to have delivered,” Crawford said.
On a pair of rocket fast skis, Smith then went to work on the final lap, and managed to edge the Germans to secure the silver medal.
The duo originally thought they finished in third, but France, which crossed the line first, was slapped with a four-minute penalty for missing a penalty loop.
“I think the key was overcoming the slow start and laying down a few fast, clean bouts of shooting to move us back up quickly to the front,” Smith said.
The win presented a tremendous start for the Canadians, as they are set up for a successful winter. Coach Matthias Ahrens believes this could be a sign of things to come.
“We finished the season last year on the podium and are starting this year on the podium. This is very exciting,” Ahrens said.
The win was extra special for Crawford, as she now has a world cup medal to her name following a fourth- and fifth-place finish last season. She is still hungry for a top individual medal, and expects big things this season. Between herself, Smith and Green, Canada is expected to be in contention every week on the Biathlon World Cup circuit, which will come to Canmore for the first time, Feb. 4-7.
“We knew there was lots of potential in this race, so it feels good to deliver,” said Crawford. “This race is pretty different from any of our individual events, but it is a good confidence booster to know we are skiing and shooting with some of the best.”
Canada also had its best performance in the mixed relay in three years, as they finished ninth. Julia Ransom, Zina Kocher, Scott Gow and Brendan Green teamed up to finish in 1:14:51.2, edging the Americans at the line. Norway won gold in 1:11:42.6.
“I am overall very happy about everybody’s performance in both relays today, skiing and shooting, and this should give the whole team confidence going into the individual events this week,” Ahrens said.
