Since he was a teenager, biathletes have called Nathan Smith ‘Harry Potter’ thanks to his resemblance to J.K Rowling’s protagonist. Today, they still call him Potter in reference to his magic in the biathlon range.
Smith finished in a solid sixth-place on Saturday (Jan. 9) in the men’s world cup 12.5-kilometre pursuit in Ruhpolding, Germany. Smith shot 19/20, missing just one shot in his first trip to the range. It’s Smith’s best solo result of the season following his world cup gold and world championship silver last season.
“Over the break, I was working especially on four-bout races. I’d had a few times in November and December where I blew it on the last shooting. In this pursuit, I had a perfect five-for-five at the end, which allowed me to climb up to the top six,” Smith said.
He ended up in a sprint with Johannes Thinges Boe for the final spot in the flower ceremony, and just edged the powerful Norwegian skier.
“Conditions were pretty tough for the pursuit. It was easily the worst this winter. I think I’m in good shape right now, so I hope I can keep it going the rest of the season,” Smith said.
He clocked a time of 34:04, 45 seconds off the leader, Simon Eder of Austria, and cracked the top-30 three times this weekend, finishing 15th in Friday’s sprint and 25th in the mass start. Smith stayed in Europe over the Christmas holiday, and he believes the decision helped his racing.
“I stayed in Bessans, France with our wax tech Raphael Grosset. It’s the first time I’ve tried it. It saves about three or four days of travel and getting over jet lag twice. So far, I think it’s worked out really well,” Smith said.
Macx Davies was 50th, Christian Gow 53rd and Scott Gow 54th to round out the men’s team. The Gow brothers actually squared off against one another in a sprint to the finish line, with younger brother Christian just edging older brother Scott.
The Canadian team was shorthanded over the weekend, with Rosanna Crawford, Megan Tandy and Brendan Green all on the sidelines due to illness and injury. That provided the younger athletes a chance to grab the spotlight, as Sarah Beaudry was an emergency call up for the Ruhpolding races.
Julia Ransom answered the call again for Canada, leading the women’s team with a 45th-place in the 10 km pursuit, while Beaudry was 54th.
On Friday, Christian Gow just missed the top 30 again with a 34th-place finish in Friday’s sprint race, followed by Scott Gow (47th), Macx Davies (55th) and Scott Perras (72nd).
Ransom led the women’s team with a 49th-place finish. Beaudry took 55th and Zina Kocher was 76th.
The team is back in action in Ruhpolding yet again this week with individual, mass start and relay races, as Europe struggles with snow. Germany actually asked the IBU to push all future world cup races in the country farther back in the season to avoid snow issues, but was denied.
World cup action will then move to Antholz-Anterselva before arriving in Canmore, for World Cup 7, Feb. 1-7 at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
