It feels awesome to have that success. It makes skiing less of a chore and you’re excited to get back to the range after the next lap.
Nathan Smith. RMO File photo
By Justin Brisbane, Rocky Mountain Outlook February 12, 2015. Quick with the rifle, lightning on his skis, Canmore biathlete Nathan Smith is the undisputed king of Canadian biathlon, and proved as much with two of the best results of his career – fifth- and seventh-place world cup results in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic on Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 7-8)
Smith defeated the best in the world with perfect shooting, missing the podium by a mere 11 seconds in Sunday’s pursuit race, and finished 24 seconds behind winner Jakov Fak of Slovakia.
He was in the mix for the podium through the entire race, hunting Martin Fourcade of France for much of it. The top racers didn’t falter in the range, and Smith settled on fifth.
“These are my first back-to-back cleans of my career. I came close last year in Sochi (29/30), but today is extra special because it is the first 20/20 clean of my biathlon career,” said Smith, who was also perfect on the range in Saturday’s sprint.
“It feels awesome to have that success. It makes skiing less of a chore and you’re excited to get back to the range after the next lap.”
The 29-year-old started the year strong, but saw his race results dip in January, while Brendan Green picked up the slack on Team Canada. A strong two weeks of training helped him climb back on top.
“I was trying really hard to knock the targets down, but sometimes shooting is just like that. During the break two weeks ago I stepped away from my rifle. Then when I started shooting again I focused on a couple of things I wanted to work on. So far it seems to have done the trick. The next race is an individual, so it would be pretty awesome to equal Brendan’s beastly 50 for 50,” Smith said.
