On the heels of a historic bronze medal performance at world championships, head coach Matthias Ahrens said Canada’s national biathlon program is poised for a serious leap in performance on the way to the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Reflecting on a season bookended by relay medals, Ahrens said team depth has never been better. He and Biathlon Canada staff are spending the next week crunching data to ensure the team can build on a solid foundation of athletes.
“It’s quite remarkable we started with a podium in a team event (Nathan Smith and Rosanna Crawford’s single mixed relay medal) and finished with a team relay highlight at world championships. It shows depth in the team,” Ahrens said.
Although there were no individual medals this season, the attitude around the team remains high. That said, Ahrens said there will be a few adjustments to training plans heading into next season.
“Our strongest season in terms of ski speed was 2014. We will have to see what was different in training that year – we’re still not 100 per cent sure. There are several ingredients, but we may not have had as much of an equipment advantage this year. Overall, our equipment was good, but to be on the edge we need it to be superior. With the way conditions were this year, sometimes our waxing was superior, sometimes average,” Ahrens said.
At the individual level, Smith improved his ski speed this season, but lost some shooting accuracy, while Crawford took longer to find her form this year after several changes to her training program. Both ended the season with medals, however, they want more next season.
“Nathan definitely had the ski speed. He had higher speeds than the other years, but his shooting didn’t match that. At world championships, he had the third fastest ski speed in the pursuit. In terms of ski performance, he was superior, but poor shooting put him out of it,” Ahrens said.
Crawford also wants to become the first Canadian woman to stand on a podium by herself since Zina Kocher accomplished the feat in 2007. Illness held her back this year, as she became sick before the Canmore World Cup in February. She did show a return to form at world championships, where she posted three strong races, and at one point led the women’s relay race.
“For Rosanna, it was a combination of getting sick at the wrong time, and putting some pressure on herself on her expectations. That combination dampened her,” Ahrens said. “At world championships, she was back to doing what she can do – leading the relay, having strong races in the pursuit and mass start.”
The head coach also said time and effort spent on development programs is beginning to bare fruit with the emergence of athletes such as Julia Ransom, Sarah Beaudry, Macx Davies and the Gow brothers on the world cup.
Ransom, Beaudry and Davies trained as juniors with the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre, while the Gow brothers came up through Rocky Mountain Racers, and Ahrens said they are all “more polished” at a young age than previous generations.
“I hope it reflects on the good work done by the BATC. When they come to the national team, the athletes are better prepared. They already have a better foundation – it plays a role as they go along,” Ahrens said. “I’m really happy with the breakthrough of the younger athletes. (Ransom) had top 20 results, (Davies) had a top 10. Scott Gow made it to the next level. Christian Gow is really solid in the relay and had the highest shooting percentage on the team. Sarah Beaudry showed improvement and made it into the points.
In years past, Canadians cracking the world cup would do so in 80th or 90th position. However, the current crop of young guns have shown they can ski into the top 30 on any given weekend. In terms of Nations Cup points, the Canadian men finished 10th overall, while the women ended up in 11th.
“Those five young ones are developing nicely. If you look 10 years ago at entry level results on the world cup, there was much less performance,” Ahrens said.
The depth means Canada will be on the hunt for more relay medals
next season, which suits the coach just fine.
“Mixed relay, single mixed relay, whatever the mix is, I think we are showing podium potential for team events,” Ahrens said. “Individually, I see Nathan on a great path on the ski side – even better than last year – and the younger guys are showing their performances were not a fluke. Overall with those results, it gives everyone on the team an idea of what’s possible. They don’t have to be shy – they can be aggressive in a race.”
They will now take their results to Own the Podium in search of extra funding, while maintaining an eye on 2018.
“The big goal is the Olympics in Korea. Next season there is already a rehearsal. We will go to Korea for a world cup in the late season. The long term goal is to get a solid team for Korea.”
Biathlon Canada National Championship Results
Men 10 km sprint
Scott Perras (30:15)
Christian Gow (30:40)
Matt Neumann (31:37)
Jr. men
Aidan Millar (33:11.9)
Pearce Hanna (33:31.3)
Matt Strum (36:44.3)
Women 7.5 km sprint
Emma Lunder (31:17.4)
Audrey Vaillancourt (31:53.3)
Sarah Beaudry (32:20.6)
Jr. women
Leilani Tam Von Berg (32:53.4)
Kendall Chong (36:42.5)
Charlotte Hamel (37:02.5)
Men’s pursuit – 12.5 km
Gow – 36:55.2
Perras +48.9
Carsen Campbell - +2:08.5
Jr. men
Strum – 39:45.3
Alexandre Dupuis - +22.5
Millar - +45.3
Women’s 10 km pursuit
Lunder – 34:15
Beaudry - +32.3
Vaillancourt - +2:56.6
Jr. women 10 km pursuit
Chong – 40:11
Tam Von Burg - +43
