Tag: Jasper Mackenzie

Two Top-20s for Canada in Biathlon World Junior Sprints; Gow, Ransom Strong in Junior Debuts

Laura Dahlmeier of Germany on her way to her first World Championship, in the junior women’s sprint. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.

Several Canadian juniors entered the World Youth and Junior Championships with big expectations after successful runs last season. But in 2013, both Christian Gow and Julia Ransom had an additional challenge: moving up an age class.

In 2012 in Kontiolahti, Finland, Ransom had medaled and Gow finished 11^th in the youth races. After turning 19, they were bumped up to juniors.

“The level this year does seem a bit more elite to me, especially the lead group of guys,” Gow told FasterSkier. “I think that makes it more difficult to get a good result, but it is better to see where I stack up against the very best. knew this year would be tougher, but I trained a lot harder and more focused than any other year so I feel prepared.”

In both the men’s and women’s sprint races in Obertilliach, Austria, on Saturday, the very best were indeed a step above the rest. Laura Dahlmeier of Germany won the women’s 7.5 k by 48 seconds over Olga Podchufarova of Russia; pairs of Russians and Norwegians fought it out in the men’s 10 k race, but fifth place was almost a minute behind.

Starting with bib 16, Gow was well-ranked early in the race, especially after cleaning in prone. But then the veterans hit the trails.

Alexandr Loginov, champion in the junior men’s sprint. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.

Russia’s Alexandr Loginov prevailed, picking up his fourth individual medal at this event and first gold; Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway, twice a World Champion last year, placed second. For third-place Maxim Tsvetkov of Russia, bronze was surely a disappointment after two gold medals at each of the last two Championships. And in four Championships Vetle Sjastad Christiansen of Norway has never not won a medal – so despite fourth place in the sprint he can’t be counted out of future races.

So while Gow ultimately placed 14^th after accumulating two penalties in standing, he was still only a minute out of the top five. And he knows he can do better.

“I was really happy with the start of my race…. but I am disappointed with my standing,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It was not windy at all today. However, there was some strange lighting because the sun was really bright on the carpets, but the targets were really dark. I found it difficult to get a good sight picture, but I still feel like I threw two shots away. I wish that I could have at least one of them back.”

He had the best North American race of the day, although Ransom almost matched his result, placing 16^th in the women’s sprint. With a single penalty, Ransom was steady on the trails and also sits just over a minute out of the top five. Going into the pursuit races on Sunday, both have strong chances for a top-ten showing or better.

The women’s field shook out a bit differently than the men’s. Dahlmeier hasn’t been on the podium in several years, but more recent medalists struggled: Hilde Fenne, who was superb in the youth races last year and has since scored World Cup points and participated in two winning World Cup relays, was the third Norwegian across the line in 13^th. Grete Gaim, who won last year’s youth pursuit, was 26^th. Chardine Sloof, who became the first Dutch World Champion, placed 31^st.

But Ransom’s success isn’t the only thing the Canadian women’s team has to be excited about. They placed all four racers in the 60-woman pursuit, with Emma Lodge and Rose-Marie Coté finishing 41^st and 43^rd and first-time World Juniors competitor Erin Yungblut sneaking in by the skin of her teeth, in a tie for 59^th.

The lone American in the race, Tara Geraghty-Moats, placed 63^rd.

Macx Davies also turned in a strong ski performance for the Canadian men, placing 30^th. That was despite five penalties; Davies had the tenth-fastest ski time of the day, and Gow the 15^th.

Menno Arendz just missed the pursuit, finishing 64^th with one penalty, and Jasper Mackenzie placed 73^rd. In his second trip to the Championships, Mackenzie was hoping for more.

Vetle Sjastad Christiansen of Norway on the range; he placed fourth. Photo: Mario Danzl/Obertilliach 2013.

“To be honest I’m a little disappointed with my results today,” he wrote in an e-mail. “One of my main goals coming into this year’s Championship was to qualify for the pursuit… My shooting wasn’t to good, I felt solid on the range coming into the race today but I honestly don’t know where I went wrong on my prone misses. 7/10 shooting at this level of competition just isn’t good enough. It was a lot of fun to get out and race today but I know I can perform better than that.”

While Arendz is a first-timer at this level of competition, Mackenzie, like Gow and Davies, feels like his is settling in to the international scene a little more.

“Last year I was very nervous coming into the Championships,” Mackenzie told FasterSkier. “This year I have been feeling way more confident, I feel like I have improved a lot of the summer, my skiing and shooting have both improved significantly. It’s just a bummer that today’s race did not reflect my true potential. This year I really just wanted to be able to walk away from my races knowing that I did the absolute best I could, and I’m confident that I’ll do just that in the races to come.”

For the U.S., Casey Smith finished 43^rd and Jacob Dalberg 71^st.

Results: men / women

January 26, 2013
Norway Sweeps World Junior Biathlon Relays; Canada’s Junior Men Are Best Shots in Field, Race to Sixth Place

Marion Rønning Huber crosses the finish line for Norway's 16-second victory in the junior women's relay carrying her nation's flag. Photo: Judy Geer.

In the opening junior men’s race of biathlon’s World Youth and Junior Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland, Canada’s Kurtis Wenzel used near-perfect shooting to demolish the field and collect his second world championship title. His teammates, however, were less successful, shooting 80%, 60%, and 40%.

“After the individual race I was a little bit down,” said Maxc Davies, who had missed 12 shots and placed 72^nd.

How things change. In Thursday’s junior 4 x 7.5 k relay, the team came together on the range and turned in the best performance in the field, using a total of four spare rounds in 80 shots and completely avoiding the penalty loop. Wenzel missed two of those four shots, while Davies and Jasper Mackenzie missed one apiece and Aaron Gilmor stayed perfect.

Wenzel starting out the anchor leg of the relay. Photo: Judy Geer.

The Canadians’ sharpshooting, matched with solid performances on skis, netted them sixth place in the relay and put them three and a half minutes behind the winning Norwegian team. Surprisingly, the victory was something of a landmark for Norway; despite their several overall World Cup champions in the last several years, they hadn’t won a junior men’s relay since 1977.

The sixth-place finish was not quite as historic for Canada, although coach Richard Boruta still believed it was significant, saying “It seems that this was one of the best relay performances in a long time in this category for Canada.”

The finish was the best for a Canadian men’s squad since Wenzel, Gillmor and Scott Gow teamed up for second place in the youth division in Canmore in 2009. The last time a junior relay team did as well was when Marc-Andre Bedard, Yannick Letailleur, Maxime Leboeuf, and Brendan Green placed third in 2007.

“It was a very good race for the junior men,” Boruta wrote in an e-mail. “They all did their very best and there wasn’t much more that they could have done.”

The Canadian team gives the thumbs-up at the podium ceremony. Photo: Richard Boruta.

The hero of the day was Davies, who told FasterSkier that his scramble leg was “one of the best races I have put together on the international stage.”

After cleaning his first stage effortlessly and then using a single spare round in standing, Davies was sitting in fourth place. A charge on the final 2.5 k loop moved him up to third, just 33 seconds behind the Russians, who were leading at the time (and ultimately finished third).

“I was very excited to be starting the relay,” Davies said. “I’ve always loved mass starts, working through the chaotic first few kilometers and getting to shoot with all the other athletes. I was a bit nervous for the standing shooting, but to only use one spare is still a good result and I could not stop smiling after tagging Jasper Mckenzie in third position.

“At that point I knew I had done the most that I could have, and now it was up to my teammates.”

They didn’t let him down. First-time World Juniors competitor Mackenzie dropped the team to eighth, but was skiing in a group of other racers.

“Jasper tried his best and it was probably one of his best races in his life,” Boruta said. He has never had before the opportunity to compete in such a strong field, and he was handling it well.”

Ethan Dreissigacker, scramble leg for the 14th-place U.S. team. Photo: Judy Geer.

Perfect shooting from Gillmor moved the Canadians up to sixth, a position that Wenzel was able to maintain as the anchor leg.

Gillmor said that Davies’ success as the leadoff skier gave him an added boost.

“I felt confident seeing how Macx had improved his position, and that also told me that the skis were running very well,” he wrote in an e-mail. “As for the podium (and even tagging off in the podium) I try to stay focused on what I can do, however it is nice knowing that if everything goes well we can fight for a podium.”

Davies and Gillmor both said that they had spent time working with coach Martin Tremblay to improve their shooting after the individual races; Gillmor worked not only on his accuracy but also on his shooting speed, which he said had held him back in the opening race.

For Davies, a good relay result was the perfect cure for a case of the blues after Tuesday’s frustrations.

“I managed to regain confidence in my shooting at training on Wednesday,” he explained. With a few wise words from my coaches and some time spent pondering myself, I got around the poor first performance to bring my best out for the team event. luckily all our team managed to put together good performances to land us in sixth.”

* * *

Kelly Kjorlien kicking things off for the U.S. women. Photo: Judy Geer.

The Canadian junior women didn’t have as much success on the range, using 11 spare rounds and skiing three penalty loops en route to 14^th place in their 3 x 6 k relay. The finished 6:47 behind the winning Norwegian team.

“Today was a frustrating race for our team,” anchor leg Emma Lunder wrote in an e-mail.

But despite the poor shooting, she said that the team actually skied well, and that the performance gave made them optimistic for the upcoming sprint and pursuit races.

“During my leg of the race I was really able to relax and let my skis glide, and at the same time found myself able to push a lot harder than during the individual,” Lunder explained. “Our wax techs did an extremely great job with the skis, and all three of us were flying on course. The relay was definitely disappointing for our team, because we knew that if we had all had regular races we could have a good result, but it was beneficial for us to do another race on this course to work out the kinks, and I think it will allow us to make some small adjustments that will help us in the races to come.”

The U.S. men and women finished 14^th and 18^th.

Results: junior men’s relay / junior women’s relay

Canada's Emma Lodge (number eight) fighting it out in the mass start. Photo: Judy Geer.

February 24, 2012

Tag: Jasper Mackenzie

Two Top-20s for Canada in Biathlon World Junior Sprints; Gow, Ransom Strong in Junior Debuts

Norway Sweeps World Junior Biathlon Relays; Canada’s Junior Men Are Best Shots in Field, Race to Sixth Place