In 2015, Nathan Smith’s steel-eyed mug was everywhere.
Thanks to his historic 2015 world championships silver medal in Finland, gold medal performance in the 12.5-km pursuit in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Smith became an athlete to watch on the World Cup circuit. When the 2016 BMW World Cup Biathlon came to Canmore, Smith quickly became the poster boy for the event.
Now, Smith’s face will also be seen at the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
The honours continued to roll in for the Canmore biathlete, as he was named the 2015 Alberta Male Athlete of the year at a ceremony in Red Deer on Saturday (June 3).
Not only did Smith beat out his winter athlete competition, he was also selected over the province’s summer athletes.
“It’s a really great honour to be selected out of all the male athletes in the province for this award. I was surprised at the breadth of sport covered by the Alberta Sport Hall of Fame. From the obvious Olympic sports to action sports – even rodeo – I felt like such an Albertan to be rubbing shoulders with ranchers dressed up in nice suits and their finest cowboy boots and hats,” Smith said.
Smith fit in with the western-tinged event. Born in Calgary, Smith moved to Canmore more than 10 years ago to train with Canada’s National Biathlon team, and slowly rose through the ranks of the sport. He represented Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics and is a consistent top 10 threat on the World Cup.
The shy athlete often lets his performance on the snow do the talking, but he’s a familiar sight around Canmore on his motorcycle, loaded with his biathlon rifle and hunting bow.
On top of his individual medals, Smith also teamed up with Canmore’s Rosanna Crawford to win gold in the single mixed relay to start the 2015/16 season in Sweden, and followed it up with two top-ten performances against the best in the world. Considered one of the fastest shooters in the biathlon World Cup, Smith wants to get back on the podium next season, and lead Canada into the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“I’d definitely like to have another couple successful seasons the next two years leading to the Korean Olympics,” Smith said.
Cyclist Allison Beveridge was named Alberta’s female athlete of the year. Water skier Geneva Roach won junior female athlete of the year and triathlete Stefan Daniel was picked as junior male athlete of the year. Team Kelsey Rocque was chosen as the junior team of the year, and the beach volleyball duo of Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk were chosen as the open team of the year.
