Rosanna Crawford and Nathan Smith led Canada’s biathlon team through tough conditions in Ruhpolding, Germany, Sunday, squeezing out a pair of top-20 results before the world cup lands in Canmore (Feb. 1-7).
On Saturday (Jan. 17), Smith and Crawford lined up in the men’s and women’s mass start races, finishing 15th and 19th, respectively.
Rupolding had next to no snow last weekend, but received a huge dump of fresh snow the night before the mass start.
“The ski course was extremely slow going with the fresh snow falling. The 15-kilometre time was close to what the winning time was for the 20 kilometre individual race. I had been feeling kind of fatigued the last few races, but I am happy that I was able to overcome that by performing well on the shooting range and end up with a very respectful final result,” Smith said.
Since ski speed was non-existent, Smith shot 19/20 to stay in contention. Such a result is usually good enough to crack the top-10, but the entire field shot extremely well.
“My shooting was really solid today. I would’ve expected 19 out of 20 to get me a little higher up the results list, but surprisingly, 12 people shot 19 or better. Since my miss came in the first prone, I ended up a little back heading out onto the second loop. With the next three cleans, I moved up a little each time, but the field as a whole was shooting so well today, it was tough to make any big moves.”
Germany’s Erik Lesser shot clean to take the win, followed by Martin Fourcade of France. Russia’s Evgeniy Garanichev took the bronze.
Crawford also shot extremely well, hitting 19 of 20 targets, but struggled with heavy legs in the deep snow.
“That was tough, tough skiing for me today. I felt like I was skiing through sand. But I am happy with my shooting. I am always amazed at the atmosphere here in Ruhpolding. Thirty thousand fans can make quite a lot of noise,” Crawford said.
On Sunday, the women’s relay team showed great form, as Crawford, Julia Ransom, Megan Tandy and Zina Kocher skied and shot well. The team was running in sixth-place in the final lap when a skier stepped on Kocher’s pole, snapping it in half. The team settled for ninth, but aware they are capable of much more.
The men’s team of Christian Gow, Macx Davies, Scott Gow and Brendan Green finished 10th in the relay, with Green making huge gains on his anchor lap, moving the team from 14th into the top 10.
It was the second strong race in a row for Green, who recovered from a back injury flare-up after Christmas. Green shot 18/20, finished 18th in the individual race in Ruhpolding, and appears to be rounding into form.
The world cup moves to Antholz, Italy this weekend before arriving in Canmore.
