Two Canadians ski into top-15 at Canmore biathlon mass start 60

CANMORE – Crossing the finish line with a pair of top-15s were biathletes Shilo Rousseau and Adam Runnalls, the top Canadians in the mass start 60 at the halfway point of the Canmore biathlon.

But Tuesday (Feb. 28) in the snowy mountain town was all about the Norwegians mining for precious gold as Aleksander Fjeld Andersen and Marthe Krakstad Johansen won the men's and women’s mass start 60 at the Canmore Nordic Centre in the final race of the IBU Cup 7.

Andersen had only one penalty and clocked in a time of 37:56.7 in the 15-kilometre men's race, while teammate Johansen also shot impressively, going 19-for-20 and clocking in at 36:52.6 through 12-km.

Women’s mass start at the #IBUCup in #Canmore #biathlon pic.twitter.com/1N2UQ88pPG

— Jordan Small (@jordiesmall) February 28, 2023

Early on though, a sharpshootin’ Canuck chomped at the heels of Johansen.

“Today was amazing for me,” said Rousseau. “I never imagined skiing with the leaders the first half of the race.”

For the second time in three races, the 22-year-old from Ottawa was the top Canadian woman, finishing 14^th and shooting 17-for-20.

Rousseau started aggressively, skiing her way up to the lead pack in the first half of the race, where more than 40 biathletes kicked off the start line at once. Because of this, Rousseau said the race’s format can be more taxing mentally, but she was able to keep focus in the range.

“I was really proud with how I held it together,” said Rousseau. “Definitely got lucky on some, on a few splits that went in my favour, but yeah, really proud of myself.”

For the first time at the local IBU Cup, three Canadian women finished in the top-30 as Zoe Pekos (18/20) and Gillian Gowling (16/20) were 28^th and 29^th, respectively.

Canadians Janice Grundahl (18/20) was 37^th and Anna Sellers was knocked out of the race after being lapped.

Rounding out the women’s podium were Germany’s Mareike Braun (20/20) taking silver and France’s Gilonne Guigonnat (18/20) won bronze.

After giving it everything in the women’s mass start. #ibucup #biathlon #canmore pic.twitter.com/5H6H77sg3a

— Jordan Small (@jordiesmall) February 28, 2023

Later in the day, the temperature outside cooled down, but Runnalls of Calgary started out the men’s mass start hot.

After two exceptional bouts in the range, the 24-year-old Olympian was perfect and threatening the big fish for a top spot. However, with the excitement of racing at home and fighting for a podium, Runnalls started to get into his own head.

On the Canuck's final two trips to the range, Runnalls missed half his shots. He ended up placing 15^th spot on 15-for-20 shooting.

“I really want to do well here and I don’t race much on this circuit and it’s such a different feeling when you’re racing for the win,” said Runnalls, who regularly competes on the world cup. “I just didn’t handle the pressure of that very well because I could feel there was possibility today for a really good result and then I was just thinking about it too much when I was shooting.”

On a day when Lucas Smith shot clean in three out of four bouts, the Canadian just missed a top-30 result, finishing 31^st on 17-for-20 shooting.

Canadians Haldan Borglum (15/20) was 33^rd, Tobias Quinn (14/20) was 38^th, Troy Martel (16/20) was 40^th, and Ryan Elden (14/20) came in at 47^th.

Taking silver and bronze were Martin Uldal (18/20) of Norway and Simon Kaiser (18/20) of Germany, respectively.

It will be a quick turnaround for the biathletes as the sprint races of IBU Cup 8 start Wednesday (March 1) in Canmore.

For Runnalls, who will compete in Wednesday’s sprint and Friday’s pursuit (March 3), a podium is still well in sight.

“I think I’ve shown that I have ski speed, I just need to hit my targets, which I know I can do. I just need to have things come together and put together a good shooting race and I think it’s going to happen,” he said.