Releasing a primal scream that echoed through the Solleftea biathlon range, Paranordic biathlete Mark Arendz told the world he was the man to beat at the IPC championships in Sweden.
Arendz struck gold in the sprint event and followed that up with two bronze medals in the pursuit and 15 kilometre individual races on Friday (March 1).
“I felt very relaxed. Robin (McKeever) was giving me the splits and told me I had a gap. I kept going, pushing, pushing and pushing. It was once I was across the line I realized I won gold,” Arendz said.
The Canmorite, by way of Prince Edward Island, surprised himself with the triple medal performance against the top competitors in the world. He was hungry for more results after an 11th place result at the ParaNordic Ski championships wasn’t what he was looking for.
“It was a surprise. I knew I was there. The curiosity was to see where I could end up. I had great shooting results,” Arendz said. “After I was 11th at world championships, I was hungry. I knew I could be on the podium. It was a relief to put the big win together.”
He stayed calm through the gold medal performance, shot extremely well and had good ski speed.
“There were challenging wind conditions. To shoot well kept me in it,” he said.
In the pursuit and individual race, Arendz kept close with strong shooting, but his ski speed wasn’t up to snuff. He stopped the clock on the distance race at 37:39.3.
“Some of the guys picked up their skiing. I shot well and kept skiing well,” Arendz said.
Coach McKeever said he limited his expectations with Arendz at world championships, as the team is truly focused on a Sochi test event later this month.
“The big surprise is Mark. It shows his training is where it should be,” McKeever said.
The team is now heading to Italy to train before the Sochi test event. Arendz said he’s eager to get a look at the courses, which are reportedly extremely steep.
“I feel confident with the shape I will be in there. I’m confident the results will be there. Right now it’s just a waiting game to see how it goes,” Arendz said. “I’ve seen and heard it’s challenging with lots of climbs. That suits me well.”
He said a podium finish is not out of the question in Sochi.
“I’m definitely aiming for the podium and I should be able to reach it. Clean shooting will help.”
Looking back at his season, Arendz said he’s had plenty of ups and downs, but he’s peaking at the right time. All signs are pointing to a strong result next year at the Paralympics.
“There’s still a lot of learning, for sure. There were moments I felt weren’t so great, but it’s definitely an improvement going forward. Hopefully, I can put it together for a final year of training,” Arendz said.
In other Nordic news, Brian McKeever finished 45th at the 90 km Vasaloppet in Sweden, clocking a time of 4:02:53. Canmorite Andrea Dupont finished 11th in the women’s category with a time of 4:51.46.
