The pipeline of promising young Canadian biathletes runs directly through Canmore and homegrown sharpshooter Aidan Millar is leading the torrent.
Millar scored a silver medal in the team relay and had a top 10 performance in the sprint at the 2014 Youth/Junior Biathlon World Championships in Presque Isle, Maine.
Competing against the best youth biathletes in the world, Millar had the competition of his life in chilly conditions, which appeared to give European young athletes trouble.
“It’s pretty exciting. I never expected to be anywhere near that. My goal was a top 20 finish. When I was ninth in the sprint, I was pretty satisfied with that. Then, to finish second in the relay was incredible,” Millar said.
Training with Canmore Nordic under the tutelage of Jeff Lodge, Gerret Coyne and Alain Parent, Millar has emerged as a special talent. The lanky Canmore Collegiate High School Grade 12 student has shown great ski speed and an eagle eye in the range and put it together last week with the world watching. In the 7.5-kilometre sprint, he shot 8/10 and finished a mere 43 seconds off the podium. If he had hit one more target, the podium may have been in reach.
“In the sprint, I was trying to focus on my race and not psych myself out. I was able to hit a lot of targets even though it was windy. I felt good on my skis and on my last lap, my coaches told me I was in first,” Millar said.
The idea that at that time, he was the fastest youth biathlete in the world was overwhelming, but he did his best to keep his head.
“I tried to give it everything I had and hoped for the best,” he said.
A week later, on March 6, Millar teamed up with Alex Dupuis and Jules Burnotte to grab the silver medal in the youth relay. Millar was strong on the second leg, using three spare rounds, but keeping the Canadians in contention after an excellent performance by Dupuis.
“It was pretty incredible. I tagged off to Jules and it was pretty exciting looking on the last lap, barring something going really wrong, we were guaranteed a medal,” Millar said.
For the Canmore teenager who works summers at Lake O’Hara Lodge and dreams of Olympic glory, the results show he’s on the right path. Upon graduating from high school, he’ll apply to the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre to build on these results.
Following a model similar to Sarah Renner’s upbringing around Mount Assiniboine, Millar said spending his summers at altitude (Lake O’Hara sits at an elevation of 2,115 metres) definitely helps his performance.
“For the past three summers I’ve worked at my parent’s lodge, doing maintenance there. Living at altitude has helped,” Millar said.
This is his seventh year with the sport, and while he plays volleyball and soccer as well, biathlon has always been his first love.
“It affirms what I’ve been doing is right,” he said.
