Biathlon

[Topicmaster1010 5,422]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5ecCGzuwMk/?igsh=eHhscXFmM3p5Y2p1

 

Christian Gow announced his retirement. This marks the end of an era for Canadian men's biathlon since he was the last remaining member of the relay team that won bronze at 2016 Worlds.

[JockCartier 253]

Will be strange watching the World Cup without the Gow's. They were kinda the last echo of the Vancouver 2010 funding boom.

It's too bad, by 2014 and 2015 the program was really solid and if we had kept even moderate funding could have been a top 5-8 nation. Sadly, the money was long gone by then, and those athletes started peeling off and we've faded back to being minnows

[intoronto 6,474]

World / IBU cup teams announced: https://sirc.ca/news/eight-canadian-biathletes-named-to-the-ibu-world-cup-team/

[Topicmaster1010 5,422]

I think there's a real possibility we don't qualify a mens relay team for 2026. The women should be fine I think.

[JockCartier 253]

What do we need to be, top 20 in Nations Cup?

And last year the women were 17th, and the men 22nd... good grief. 

 

Top 8 is a tough nut to crack. Top 12 should be the goal... top 15 is just basic competency, and we're not even there anymore. Once you're into the 20's these are countries without even full teams and/or not even competing on the World Cup

 

I think we sat out a couple WC's last year, so that may have been what dropped us into the 20's... but they can't be doing that this year, and Runnalls is gonna have to have a year. 

Edited November 23, 2024 by JockCartier

[JockCartier 253]

World Cup kicked off with a couple mixed relays

Single mixed wasn't pretty. Lunder and Pletz paired up and finished 20th. Both really struggled shooting the first time around, and were battling for dead last... but did improve the second half and picked up 4 spots

Surprisingly good showing for the full mixed relay considering I think this was the first ever WC race for three of them, managed not to get lapped and finished 16th. During Moser's leg they got up to about 12th briefly.

Runnals interestingly did not compete.

Ski times continue to be an issue pretty much across the board, but such is our fate it seems

[JockCartier 253]

The full relays were today

The men had a disappointing outing, getting lapped on the 3rd leg and finishing dead last. Especially troubling as they front loaded their lineup

The women are are just wrapping up, and look like it will be 14th for them, which is a decent showing. Good legs from Moser and Paradis in particular

Edited December 1, 2024 by JockCartier

[Josh 11,573]

14th for Emma Lunder at the Ruhpolding WC in women’s 15km individual!

[JockCartier 253]

Mixed Relay opened up the World Championships and Canada had a rough outing, got lapped in the 3rd leg to finish 20th.

 

Conditions were very slushy and really spread out the field. Canadians probably didn’t have great skis

 

Did finish ahead of Kazakhstan though, so made up a couple points in the mens Nations Cup race for 20th and are now just 10pts down

[JockCartier 253]

The ladies did well in the Sprint.

25th - Lunder (+1:26)
31st - Moser (+1:50)
38th - Paradis (+2:13)

 

All three not only made the Pursuit, but will be set up well for more solid results there

 

Conditions were kinda snowy and windy, so a bit challenging. But at least the course was in good shape.