As a rule, Nordic athletes are coffee snobs. A long spell of solitude, sipping cappuccinos in Italian cafés or lattes in French villas, quickly transforms novelty into addiction, consuming their resting minds.
So when thoughts return to racing, it’s fair to say on the biathlon circuit, the mass start race is their premium blend. Only the top 30 athletes are allowed in the race and Canada’s women’s national biathlon team made history when both Rosanna Crawford and Zina Kocher reached the mass start line together on Sunday (March 23) in Oslo, Norway.
Crawford responded with the best race of her life, cracking the top 10 with an eighth-place finish in the 12.5-kilometre mass start, finishing with a time of 40:21.1, 36.3 seconds behind winner Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia.
“It’s been a long season and almost three months in Europe now, so I’m very happy to end the season on a positive note; a new personal best and now a great place to set my goals for next season,” Crawford said.
The 25-year-old Canmore native was fresh of a 17th-place performance in Saturday’s pursuit race, which ended badly. In 13th on her last lap, she collided with a Russian coach who had ventured onto the course. The impact knocked her to the ground on her rifle, sent her sunglasses and headband flying and sprained her left thumb, while six skiers sped by her. Judges awarded her a 15-second time credit, which bumped her into 17th, one spot behind Kocher, who put together another strong race.
Crawford was able to recover and refocus for the mass start, where she shot 19/20 en route to the career-best result.
“I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent skiing today. Shooting was definitely key to a good race. I’m happy to overcome that unfortunate circumstance yesterday. It might have helped take some of the pressure off,” Crawford said.
Kocher was having the best race of her season up until the six-km mark. She shot clean in her first two trips to the range and was running in second place until she missed six shots and ended up in 21st, 1:59.5 off the pace after shooting 14/20.
“I’ve been incredibly close to the podium way too many times this year, especially today, and it has been shooting that has held me back,” Kocher said. “It’s a bittersweet finish to the season, but I know the possibility exists for more. I must stay hungry for next season.”
Both Kocher and Crawford have piled on a ton of top 20 finishes in the last two weeks of racing, which has moved Canada up the Nation’s Cup standings into 10th, one point ahead of Finland. The result is significant, as Canada wins $5,000 euros and earns five starting spot on the world cup for next season. This year, they had four.
“Our team has come a long way and was very strong this year,” Crawford said. “I can’t wait to see what we can do after a summer of training, but right now I can’t wait to get home and relax, recover, see my family and my dog.”
Crawford wasn’t happy with her Olympic performance, but said the future of the team has her motivated for success.
“My shooting wasn’t very good at the Olympics and I left them really disappointed with my performance. I’ve been very close to the top 10 in the last six races since the games, so to finally get there is great,” Crawford said.
Kocher has been with the program for more than 10 years and is extremely pleased to see how far it’s come. After the Olympics, she was well-rested and took some pressure off her racing, which resulted in more consistent results, helping lead the way for younger athletes.
“The big thing is that athletes have remained (in the sport) long enough to develop. Now we have a really strong team, podiums are on the horizon, and that is amazing to say. It’s not just one athlete that can do it, too,” Kocher said.
Crawford finished the season ranked 26th in the world, followed by Kocher (43rd), Megan Heinicke (64), Megan Imrie (74) and Emma Lunder (91).
The men didn’t race in Sunday’s mass start and the team finished 11th in Nation’s Cup standings, a mere nine points behind Italy. Nathan Smith finished the year as the top ranked Canadian in 32nd spot, followed by Brendan Green (42), J.P. LeGuellec (52), Scott Perras (77) and Scott Gow (99).
