Our Biathlon Team is Getting Better

(This is my fourth post in a series of posts on the Winter Olympics leading up to Sochi 2014.)


Apparently, every male in Canada is occupied right now with the Men’s Olympic Hockey Team Selection.

Did Yzerman and his team pick the right guys? I have no idea.

I predict, however, there will be no lack of analysis on the matter until, well after it is all over.   The Men’s Quarterfinals begin on February 19^th.

For my part, I’m trying to avoid the palaver and educate myself a bit on the sport of biathlon.  The eight-person team is actually competing in a World Cup event today through Sunday in Bavaria.

There will be five Olympic disciplines with a relay, mass start, pursuit and individual event for men and women.  For the first time there is a mixed relay going on February 19th.  

Here is some basic information on the sport. http://www.sochi2014.com/en/biathlon-about

Eight athletes were nominated last week to represent Canada.  They are:  

*Jean-Philippe Le Guellec – Shannon, Quebec.

*Nathan Smith - Calgary

*Scott Perras - Regina,

*Brendan Green - Hay River, N.W.T.

*Rosanna Crawford - Canmore, Alta.

*Megan Heinicke - Prince George, B.C.

*Megan Imrie - Falcon Lake, Man.

*Zina Kocher - Red Deer, Alta.

The team has been improving.  Le Guellec won a Swedish World Cup event in 2012.  That was the men’s 10-kilometre sprint. He just missed the Podium in an another event in Sweden last year and was sixth at the Vancouver Olympics.  It would seem he should be a contender.  But you have to come up with your best effort on the day of the event.

"There's no miracle recipe," Le Guellec told CTV news recently. "I worked really hard during the summer to put things in place to have a good season, and then during the season I'm putting things in place to have the best performances in Sochi. It all boils down to that essentially. There's no magic."

Calgary’s Nathan Smith is also getting better and had a top ten finish in the 12.5 kilometre pursuit event recently in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand France.

The Women are improving as well featuring a fourth place relay finish less than a month ago in France.  In today’s event they were 11^th. I’m following  Crawford on twitter at @RosannaCrawford.

Read more about the team in this CTV report http://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/jean-philippe-le-guellec-among-canadian-biathletes-hoping-to-reach-podium-in-sochi-1.1615798#ixzz2pp5fcmWC