Brendan Green shot clean, Megan Heinicke cracked the top 12 for the first time in her career and Scott Gow posted a personal best result in what was an excellent weekend for Canada on the world cup in Ruhpolding, Germany.
Green returned to form with a 16th-place finish in the men’s sprint on Saturday (Jan. 17) and followed it up with an 18th in the mass start on Sunday (Jan 18).
Injury and illness slowed him down early in the year, but when healthy, he’s a threat for top 20 results. He shot 40/40 over the entire weekend and was less than a minute off the pace for the win in the mass start. Simon Schempp of Germany took the win in a photo finish over Quentin Fillon Maillet of France and Michal Slesingr of the Czech Republic.
“It’s hard to say exactly why my shooting has been solid over the last three races. It’s a bit of luck, for sure, but I think I’m finally able to commit to a few small changes that I was working on over Christmas and fully trust my current position and mental approach,” Green said.
Biathlon world cups have been plagued with poor weather all year, and Ruhpolding was no different. Green said that affected his skiing, but everyone had to contend with the same course.
“It was really hard for me to judge how my skiing was going. The conditions were very frustrating to ski in, with deep slushy snow, but I did what I could to ski smooth and not let the conditions get the better of me,” Green said. “I opened up my race much slower than I would have hoped, but my speed and how I felt progressed steadily as the race went on.”
Gow joined Green in the top 30 in the sprint with the best race of his career finishing 27th. Gow shot clean and was 1:53 off the pace. The Canmorite finished less than three seconds behind Olympic champion Martin Fourcade of France in his return to the world cup, after spending December racing IBU Cup races.
“Beating Fourcade would have been nice to add to my resume. Those opportunities don’t come often and I was close to capitalizing today,” Gow said. “It feels great to achieve a top 30 in my first race back on the world cup. My goal is to have a few top 30s this season and I am happy to be on my way to realizing that goal.”
Gow said he managed to stay relaxed on his skis through slushy conditions, while his shooting improved greatly.
Nathan Smith finished 35th in the sprint, while Christian Gow was 81st. On Friday, all four men teamed up to finish ninth in the men’s relay.
Heinicke shot 9/10 on her way to an 11th-place finish in the women’s sprint, the best result of her career. Heinicke, 26, now lives in Germany and was racing on her home course. Her time of 21:59.7 missed the top 10 by less than two seconds, and she was a mere 52 seconds away from the top of the podium, which was claimed by Fanny Welle-Strand Horn of Norway.
“This was one of my strongest skiing performances ever. I simply felt strong and there is nothing more fun than fighting hard when you feel strong,” said Heinicke. “I was really hoping to stay in 10th, but 11th is a new personal best and I am really pleased with that.”
Zina Kocher was riding in the top 20 for much of the race, but missed three standing shots to end up 48th. Audrey Vaillancourt was 68th and Julia Ransom finished 81st. Rosanna Crawford didn’t start due to illness.
Heinicke, Ransom, Vaillancourt and Kocher teamed up to finish 11th in the women’s relay on Friday (Jan. 16).
The world cup now shifts to Antholz, Italy, where Crawford is expected to race again. Kocher, however, did not make the trip and flew back to Canada. Canada has five women’s world cup spots, but will only use four for the next tour.
Meanwhile on the IBU Cup circuit, Emma Lunder and Macx Davies led the way for Canada in Ridnaun, Italy. Davies was 15th in the men’s pursuit race on Saturday (Jan. 17), while Lunder was 25th in the women’s pursuit. Marc-Andre Bedard was 28th in the pursuit, while Erin Yungblut was 54th.
