Canmorite Nathan Smith’s gamble on the banks of Le Grand Bornand, France will carry him all the way to Sochi, as the biathlete has earned his spot on Canada’s Olympic team with a pair of top 20 results this weekend.
Going into Saturday’s (Dec. 14) world cup biathlon sprint races in France, he needed a top 30 result to earn a trip to the Winter Olympics. He had cracked the top 30 twice before this season, finishing 16th and 27th , but he was far from a sure bet to pull off the trick a third time. If he missed the top 30, he would have to fly back to Canmore on Monday (Dec. 16) and race jet lagged on Thursday against a stable of hungry athletes ready to steal his spot.
With that in mind, Smith, 28, skied faster than ever before and shot 9/10 to end up 16th in the 10-kilometre sprint. He followed it up with a remarkable eighth-place finish in the pursuit – his best showing ever.
The soft-spoken Smith downplayed the result, even though he can now wear the Olympian label for the rest of his life.
“Qualifying for the Olympics feels great. It’s been a goal of mine for the past few years. Going to the Olympics isn’t the be all and end all goal of my career, but it will be a very nice highlight,” Smith said.
He’s usually one of the fastest shooters on the world cup, although it was his ski speed that led him to victory on Saturday.
“The best part of my race was the ski speed. It was a personal best 10th. My shooting was also pretty accurate, but was quite slow compared to normal because of a double eject problem,” Smith said.
He’ll join J.P. Le Guellec, Scott Perras, Zina Kocher, Megan Imrie, Rosanna Crawford and Megan Heinicke on the team.
Heinicke qualified when the Canadian women’s relay team finished fourth on Thursday (Dec. 12). There is only one spot left on the men’s team, and the trial races will also help determine who will represent Canada on the world cup in January. Trials take place Dec. 19-20 at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
The national team debated sending Smith back to Canmore to race Olympic trials, but he wanted to stay in Europe.
“I knew that qualifying would be quite a challenge given the short timeframe to (achieve) some good results. After the mixed relay and individual race in Oestersund, I felt pretty confident that it could be done. Then I hit some bumps in the next couple of races, when my ski speed really suffered,” Smith said. “Thankfully, by the end of the Hochfilzen races, it felt back on track so I made the decision to risk it and stay in Europe one more week.”
Perras finished in 31st and Le Guellec finished in 49th. Norway’s Johannes Thinges Boe won gold.
Crawford led the Canadian women’s team with a 26th-place finish in the 7.5-km. sprint followed by Imrie (40), Kocher (45) and Heinicke (50).
