Nathan Smith made history by winning back-to-back gold medals in IBU Cup 10 kilometre sprint races at the Canmore Nordic Centre, last weekend.
The International Biathlon Union races were the first of their kind on North American soil and the Canmore-based athlete gave the crowd plenty to celebrate with the first two IBU gold medals of his career. His previous career best was a bronze medal won in December 2011.
“Sunday’s (Feb. 12) race was even better than Saturday. I didn’t miss any shots and felt good about my skiing,” Smith said. “It’s really nice to do it in Canmore. This is the first big race I’ve done here. I’ve trained here my whole life, so it’s pretty special,” Smith said.
Fast on skis and deadly accurate in the range, Smith left his international competition dead in the water, finishing 33 seconds ahead of his nearest rival with a time of 26:13.4, missing only one target on Saturday.
Sergey Klyachin of Russia and Martin Eng of Norway were second and third on the tough course, which throws steep climbs and several skid turns at the racers.
“It’s definitely one of the hardest courses we do,” Smith said.
On Sunday, Smith was even faster, as he finished the same course with a time of 25:33.4, shooting clean. His nearest competitor, Friedrich Pinter of Austria, finished 41.4 seconds back.
Even in victory, the soft-spoken Calgary native picked apart his performance. “I was a bit disappointed (on Saturday) I missed my last standing shot. I guess I got a bit excited, but overall, I’m still happy with it.” Smith said.
The result was another step in what has been a career year for Smith, who will attempt to jump back onto the Canadian World Cup team and appears bound for the world championships. Changes to his training regime appear to have paid off.
“I’d almost say I trained a little easier so I didn’t get run down. I think I’ll keep with that,” Smith said.
Robin Clegg of Calgary also cracked the top 10 on Saturday, finishing eighth with a time of 27:09.0, while missing two targets. Clegg left biathlon in 2010 after the Vancouver Olympics to become a mortgage broker, but came out of retirement for the Canmore races. At 34, he showed very few signs of rust.
“It was fun to race at this level again. I miss it. It brings out a different level in you which you wouldn’t normally do,” Clegg said.
Since retirement, Clegg has entered the odd weekend race, but didn’t appear out of step competing against biathletes 10 years his junior.
“I don’t think they’re too scared of me,” Clegg said.
Other top Canadians on the day included Marc-Andre Bedard (15th), Patrick Cote (16th), Scott Gow (25th), Matthew Neumann (24th), Tyson Smith (32nd) and Beau Thompson (41st).
On Sunday, Bedard also cracked the top 10, finishing seventh with a time of 26:43.6. He was much happier with his result.
“I feel better and shot better. I came into this race with a different mindset,” said Bedard, who’s had an inconsistent season. “I knew I could ski fast, and when the shooting is good, I knew I’d be close to the podium.”
Other top Canadian results from Sunday’s sprint include: Clegg (18th), Smith (23rd), Gow (30th), Neumann (32nd), David Gregoire (36th), Thompson (43rd) and Cote (46th).
