The intense scrutiny that came with racing her first senior world championship event last February wilted the nerves of Burns Lake biathlete Emily Dickson.
Thousands of cheering spectators enveloped the shooting range of South Tyrol Arena in Antholz, Italy watching her shoot and reload her rifle in the mixed relay and Dickson’s steel fortitude held up initially as she put down all five targets with just one miss.
But it was a different story in her second shooting bout. Dickson fired off all five rounds in her magazine and after three reloads she still had one target standing, which meant skiing a 150-metre penalty loop. By the time she tagged mixed relay teammate Emma Lunder, Canada was well off the pace of the leaders and finished 14th.
In that gathering of the world’s best biathletes, with her mom, sisters and nephew watching in the crowd, Dickson earned a shot at redemption nine days later in the women’s 4 X 6-kilometre relay. Again skiing the lead leg, she was nearly perfect in first trip to the range with just one reload needed and used just two spares in her second bout to get through the race penalty-free. Dickson handed off to Megan Bankes and they teamed up with Lunder and Nadia Moser for a top-10 finish, placing ninth out of 24 teams.
“World champs was definitely a highlight of the season, I learned a few things for sure and I did let the pressure get to me in the mixed relay but I used that pretty quickly to my advantage later on in the week and turned it around and had some successful results,” said Dickson.
“It’s all about taking those experiences and working on them and using them to your advantage as quickly as possible. It was pretty unique opportunity to start and end the world championships with the same race, a six-kilometre race on the starter leg, and finish it on a more positive note.”
Dickson joined the World Cup tour in January and posted a season-high 46th-place result in the sprint in Oberhof, Germany. Her success in the sprint continued in Antholz when she finished 56th to make the top-60 cut for the world championship pursuit, in which she placed 54th.
The start to her season was delayed by breathing issues which kept her grounded in Canada. While she was unable to determine the cause, medical staff on the biathlon team were able to get it under control and Dickson’s engine was in fine form when it came time to experience the first World Cup events of her career.
“Last year was definitely a really big step, the training season felt quite good and I was in a lot better shape than I’d ever been in,” said Dickson, who celebrated her 23rd birthday on Saturday. “My breathing problem was kind of acting like asthma and it’s still not fully diagnosed. I had planned for some more tests when I got back from the end of the race season but with COVID now, all the work of pulmonologists and respiratory clinics is pretty locked down.
“We were able to manage that enough to get me overseas and I was pretty happy and I felt quite fit and healthy. I did some racing (IBU Cup) and managed to get moved up to the World Cup quickly, which was huge for me. My first World Cup start was the sprint in Oberhof, which ended up being my best individual result of the season on the circuit.”
Dickson already had several years of competing in IBU Cup and European circuit races behind her but the World Cup stage is much-bigger spectacle with massive crowds and millions tuned in to TV and webcasts. The top biathletes from European countries attract rock-star idolization and draw healthy six-figure salaries and lucrative endorsement opportunities.
“It’s a different arena, it’s the same old thing I’ve been doing for 13 years now, but when you’re on the World Cup it’s a very different feel having tens of thousands of spectators watching you, it’s pretty wild,” she said.
“I like to think I keep a pretty cool head but it’s not something I’ve been exposed to before. Canada is not necessarily on top of the ranks but people love Canada and love to cheer for us. We have a good reputation and we were getting applause and that really helped you dig a bit deeper. Hopefully next year I’ll get used to all those eyes and applause and noise and stuff and I’ll be more comfortable off the start and actually start working towards some solid results.”
Dickson is nearly fully recovered after a four-year battle with celiac disease, an allergic immune-system response to gluten grains – wheat, barley and rye. It attacks the small intestine and prevents absorption of some nutrients, which left Dickson in a state of chronic fatigue.
COVID-19 restrictions haven’t had much of an effect on Dickson training regime at her home in Canmore, Alta. Most focuses on individual exercises – biking, roller skiing, running, rock climbing – and the only group activity is shooting practice, four times a week at Canmore Nordic Centre. The centre was closed for a few weeks and is back in operation on a limited schedule and the senior national team, which includes Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, has a smaller window of opportunity, sharing the range with regional and club teams. Just half of the 30 shooting lanes are open to allow athletes to respect physical distancing orders and that reduces the time each team has to practice.
“They’ve had to put extra precautions in place and it took them awhile to come up with those safety measures,” Dickson said. “We are able to do normal combo training and shooting but the coaches have to do a lot of extra work and do some pretty extensive cleaning before, during and after the training. We’re on the range but it’s limited to one team at a time and we’re a bit more isolated.”
Biathlon Canada’s funding struggles continue and Dickson said the national teams will be staying close to home for summer training camps in Canmore and Revelstoke, with one high-altitude camp on tap for September in Park City, Utah, dependent on whether border restrictions are lifted.
The World Cup season is scheduled to start Nov. 27 in Kontiolahti, Finland.
