Now that she has her first-race jitters out of the way, the real fun starts Saturday for Burns Lake biathlete Emily Dickson.
She's in Oberhof, Germany to take her spot in the BWM IBU World Cup 4 X 6-kilometre women's team relay.
Dickson, 22, will start second in the relay order behind Sarah Beaudry of Prince George and will hand off to Nadia Moser of Whitehorse, Yukon. Emma Lunder of Vernon will race the anchor leg of the 23-team event.
Dickson finished 46th out of 100 in Thursday's sprint, the first World Cup race of her career, while Lunder, now in her second season on the circuit, posted a career-best seventh-place finish to qualify for Sunday's 10 km mass start race.
"As you’d probably expect, it was an exciting, nerve-wracking race day," said Dickson, in an email to The Citizen. "The conditions were tough. There was a fair amount of rain and there were times when even if it wasn’t raining, the humidity of the fog made it feel like it might as well have been pouring... But the organizing committee did a really great job of maintaining the course. They salted sections of it prior to the race which allowed it to stay relatively firm for most of the competition.
"I started near the back of the pack which allowed me to get a bit of feedback from our support team about those who had already raced (including Lunder), but also meant I was dealing with a slightly more chewed-up race course. Thankfully, our wax techs did a great job on our skis so I was equipped with great gear heading into my own race."
Dickson had just one miss in two shooting bouts, leaving one standing target up.
"I actually felt really calm and relaxed once I began my race," said Dickson. "I didn’t see many other competitors out on course (due to the timing, and the lack of visibility from the fog) so I stayed very focused on my own processes and, knowing the high importance of good shooting results in races on this level, I played it safe and didn’t take any big risks on the shooting range... which, evidently, paid off.
"Overall I’m pretty happy with my performance, especially given the fact it was my very first World Cup. That being said, I’m already feeling hungry for more. I felt decent on my skis (Thursday), but I have felt far better in many of my training sessions over the last month, so I am excited to see what kind of performances I can put together throughout the rest of the season."
While Dickson and Lunder were racing, Beaudry and Moser were finishing off a high-attitude training camp in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy, site of the biathlon world championships, Feb. 12-20.
Beaudry, Lunder, Moser and Megan Bankes of Canmore, Alta., finished fifth in the relay Dec. 14 in Hochfilzen, Austria, Canada's best women's relay finish since the 2013-14 season. A day later in Hochfilzen, the Canadian men - Jules Brunotte of Sherbrooke, Que., Scott and Christian Gow of Canmore and Aidan Millar of Canmore posted a fourth-place result in the 4 X 7.5 km relay. The same lineup will represent Canada Saturday in the 26-team men's relay.
Saturday's women's and men's relays will be streamed live on www.eurovisionsports.tv/ibu/ with coverage beginning at 2 a.m. PT.
In Friday's men's 12.5 km sprint, Scott Gow finished 30th as the top Canadian. His brother Christian was 55th, Matthew Sturm of Canmore was 82nd and Carsen Campbell of Bedeque, P.E.I., was 91st out of 110 starters.
Martin Fourcade of France won the sprint in 25:27.2 while shooting clean. Emilien Jacquelin of France claimed silver (0+1, +25.5) and Johannes Kuehn of Germany captured bronze (0+1, +33.0).
Dickson will join the IBU Cup tour next week in Brezno-Osrblie, Slovakia. Scheduled races include individual and team mixed relays, sprints and pursuits. she missed the start of the IBU Cup season while dealing with breathing issues related to asthma.
"It took a while to diagnose and treat, but it seemed worthwhile to take the extra time to regain confidence before heading over to Europe for a few months," she said. "It turns out I’m asthmatic, which I thankfully now have under control."
The World Cup tour stops in Ruhpolding, Germany next week.
