A palpable mask of tension and anguish was stricken from biathlete Brendan Green’s face as he lunged across the finish line at the Canmore Nordic Centre on Friday (Dec. 20).
First across the line for the second day in a row at Olympic trials, relief and satisfaction tugged the sharp corners of his mouth until a wide smile of genuine joy radiated from his face. Green, the biathlete who two years ago couldn’t even stand up and had to prove himself to the team all over again, was going to the Olympics.
“It feels so good. I’m so happy right now. Over the past couple of years I feel I’ve been through more than my share of trials and tribulations, so to finally get a break, I’m so pumped,” Green said.
Green dominated both Biathlon Canada Olympic trial races on Dec. 19 and 20 at the Canmore Nordic Centre. He won the first race by 1:14 over Scott Gow, shooting 9/10 and finishing the 10-kilometre sprint in 27:29. Tyson Smith, racing competitively for the first time in nearly two years, shot clean and finished third (29:14.7).
Not content to rest on his laurels, Green repeated the task on Day 2, shooting 9/10 again to lead teammate Scott Perras by 33 seconds. Marc-Andre Bedard was third.
Green’s journey was full of mental anguish as he wrestled with adversity. After missing all of last year due to a herniated disc in his back that threatened his ski career, he returned stronger than ever, proving his speed on the IBU Cup circuit in November with a silver medal performance.
He was rewarded with a world cup start, where he needed to finish in the top 30 to qualify for Sochi. In his last race, he finished 31st, one tenth of a second back. The experience was torture.
“It’s been so stressful the past few months and weeks. To get an opportunity on the world cup to qualify and coming one tenth of a second short, that was really hard to deal with.
“When I came back to Canmore, I was pretty drained mentally.”
For two weeks, he had trouble sleeping and couldn’t help but relive the race in his mind - how the blink of an eye separated him from his dream of competing in the Olympics.
“After I had the opportunity on the world cup and missed it by small margin – it’s a blink of an eye - my head was spinning with what ifs where I could have made up that time easily,” Green said. “The last week I was not sleeping well. I tried not to focus too much, but there were always moments.”
He met with sports psychologist John Coleman and refocused on trials, breaking down the task into bite-sized pieces and focusing on the basics. The end result was a clear and decisive win.
“To finish was such a relief. I’m so happy to have finally done it. It’s an enormous personal victory after what I’ve been through. I know I’m the right guy for the team. It feels like a huge weight off my shoulders,” Green said.
He thanked countless friends and families who helped him along the way. He singled out his girlfriend Rosanna Crawford, who has helped him tremendously. Crawford qualified for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics at trials by a narrow margin and had sensible advice.
“Being an athlete, she understood what I was going through. She was patient with me. She made my meals in the morning when I was bed ridden and helped along the way.
“She reminded me to focus on the process, not think about the outcome and take it day by day. She’s been through same thing with trial races. She’s the perfect person to have around,” Green said.
The Canadian team is now set for the Sochi winter Olympics. Crawford, Megan Imrie Megan Heinicke and Zina Kocher will represent the women, while J.P. Le Guellec, Scott Perras, Nathan Smith and Brendan Green will race for the men.
High performance director Chris Lindsay said he’s confident Canada is sending the best team possible.
“I’m very impressed so many athletes were able to make pre-qualifications. So many of our athletes made the top-16 standard and I was confident anyone we selected out of trials would be a strong addition. The way Brendan performed is exactly what we wanted. Clearly, he was the strong athlete and clearly he performed,” Lindsay said.
The races were also used to select participants for the first world cup race of 2014. Several Canadians will get their first taste of world cup racing, including Julia Ransom, Emma Lodge, Macx Davies and Matthew Neumann. They’ll be joined by Audrey Vaillancourt, Bedard and Claude Godbout.
Biathlon Canada also picked its team for the next three IBU Cup races. Carsen Campbell and Gow will suit up for the men, while Sarah Beaudry and Erin Yungblut will join the women.
