Biathletes Julia Ransom and Christian Gow will lead Canada’s contingent at the World Junior and Youth Championships in Obertillach, Austria from Jan. 23 to Feb. 1.
The Canmore Nordic Centre hosted three races to select the Canadian contingent for World Juniors on Jan. 5, 6 and 8. The best two out of three results were used to select the team.
Christian Gow, whose older brother Scott is on the Canadian national biathlon team, had three strong races over the three events. He battled Stuart Harden and Macx Davies for top spot over the weekend and is Canada’s top-ranked male skier going in. He was prequalified for the Austria races and used these races to get back into race mode.
“I’m hoping for top 20 results and I’d be super stoked with a top 10,” Gow said.
Ransom is one of Canada’s best medal hopes, as she won a silver in the world junior biathlon championships pursuit last year. She had an awful weekend, skiing the wrong lap in one race and crossfiring into the wrong shooting lane in another. She said it’s a tradition of hers to ski terribly before important challenges where she’s later medaled.
“In the past, I’ve always had some horrendous races, either before trials or before championships, so this may be a sign of a good thing,” Ransom said. “My brain power is not at its best, I guess. This weekend has been a bit of a doozy.”
Ransom will be joined by Biathlon Alberta Training Centre teammates Emma Lodge and Erin Yungblut.
Canmore native Lodge had one of the best races of her season on Tuesday, beating the rest of the field by an incredible 1:37, and shooting 17 for 20. After two mediocre races on the weekend, she wanted to show she is truly one of the nation’s most promising biathlon prospects.
“I was pretty certain I had a spot, but I wanted to prove I belonged. I feel my last two races didn’t really show my abilities. I think I proved that today,” Lodge said.
This will be her third year in a row racing overseas and she’s excited for the chance to represent Canada again. She credits strong coaching and great teammates for her success.
“I just want to have the best race I can: hit my standing targets and race my guts out,” Lodge said.
The selection is a huge step for Yungblut. She moved to Canmore from Ontario last year to train. Back home, since she didn’t have a shooting range, she hammered targets to trees and trounced through the woods on snowshoes in order to practice her sport. She shot clean on Sunday – the first time in her young career – to clinch her spot.
“I didn’t feel very good skiing and my coach said it would be a shooter’s race, so I just made sure I shot well because I didn’t feel very good on the course,” Yungblut said.
She missed qualifiers last year by one spot, so this will be her first chance to ski for Canada.
“I’d like to get some international experience and hopefully do well. I don’t want to finish back of the pack. I want to do well for Canada,” she said.
Rose-Marie Coté of Quebec took the last women’s spot on the team.
Harden will go to the world juniors in hopes of erasimg memories of his performance last year at the Youth Olympic Games, where he finished first in the 10 km sprint, but was disqualified for missing a penalty loop.
“The last two times I’ve got to race for Canada, it’s challenging every time. I’m getting to know the international guys better. Hope I can start producing results. My goal last year was a medal and I’m hoping for the same this year,” Harden said.
