The women’s field leaves the start during the single-mixed relay at the biathlon World Cup in Canmore, Alta., on Feb. 7.Mike Ridewood/The Canadian Press
Accustomed to racing in obscurity, Canada's biathlon team now knows what it is to be the host country at a World Cup.
The Canadian squad finished outside the medals and capped four days of racing at Canmore Nordic Centre placing sixth in Sunday's mixed-gender team relay.
The BMW World Cup was the largest biathlon event held at their training centre west of Calgary since the 1988 Winter Olympics for which it was built. The Nordic Centre was the site of the 2009 world junior championship and a small world team championship in 1994.
With family, friends and race volunteers from their community among the 22,000 spectators, Canada's biathletes loved the attention, but were also unaccustomed to the adrenalin and pressure it produced.
"I know we had a lot of external pressure on us from media and really trying to promote the sport of biathlon in Canada because it is a relatively small sport right now," Biathlon Canada high-performance director Eric de Nys said.
Their Canadian cross-country counterparts have hosted World Cups in Canmore, Alta., in recent years, but the biathletes spend their winters confined to Europe. They feel they've checked an important box in their careers after a rare opportunity to race on home snow.
"Outside of going to the Olympics, it's probably the most unique event I'll ever do," Canada's Nathan Smith said.
Without a medal to hold up in front of the hometown crowd, Canada's biathlon team hopes the experience sets the table for a podium at next month's world championship in Oslo.
Smith won silver in the sprint in last year's world championship in Kontiolahti, Finland, and a World Cup gold in pursuit a few weeks later in Russia. Canada is also developing depth on both the men's and women's side to be a threat in the mixed relays.
"We'd like to take a medal in Oslo," de Nys said. "That would be fantastic and repeat what we did last year, but it's a crazy sport and things change fast.
"If you get a bad gust of wind, it can change everything. We have to be ready to adapt and we have to be in good shape when we're there."
Germany and France won gold in Sunday's mixed-gender relays. The Germans took the team relay featuring two men and two women from each country. The French claimed the new mixed singles event, which is one man and one woman a country.
The latter was introduced to the World Cup last year, while the mixed team relay made its Olympic debut in 2014.
Italy and Norway took silver and bronze respectively in the team relay, while Austria and Norway were second and third behind the French in mixed singles.
After two days of unpredictable wind blasts, the relay teams had calm, clear and sunny conditions Sunday.
Veterans Brendan Green of Hay River, NWT, and Rosanna Crawford of Canmore and World Cup rookies Macx Davies of Canmore and Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, B.C., combined for the Canadian team's best result in Canmore.
They ranked third among countries in shooting accuracy and finished 10 seconds out of a spot on the podium. Green shot clean rounds skiing the anchor leg and had Canada in fourth when he left the range for the final.
But the 29-year-old was overtaken by France and the United States over the final sprint.
"Definitely more nervous today than I typically am," Green said. "We have the two veterans on the team with two of the youngest on the team so that kind of shows the depth and hopefully a glimpse of our potential in the future."
Smith and Julia Ransom of Kelowna, B.C., were 12th in mixed singles. Smith, from Calgary, didn't have the ski speed he wanted in Canmore and hopes to find it before the world championship.
"This was one of the points of the year when I wanted to be in really good shape," Smith said. "It didn't really happen, but that's how it goes, right? You never know when you're going to be at your best."
Canada's biathlon team was to depart Sunday for Fredericton and head to Presque Isle, Me., for the next World Cup starting Thursday.