The end of January meant I was headed back to Europe for the next competitive block of the season. This one is the highlight or the priority block of the season. I started in Val di Fiemme, Italy, for a Para World Cup, acting as the test event for next year's Paralympic Winter Games. From there, I went to Pokljuka, Slovenia, for the IBU Para Biathlon World Championships, which were immediately followed by the FIS Para Cross Country World Championships in Toblach-Dobbiaco, Italy. There was a possibility for ten races in the three weeks I was in Europe. With the importance of the World Championship races, I had planned not to start all the races in Val di Fiemme. This block had a lot of additional significance, above the normal World Cup or World Championship prestige. The test event for the Games is my only opportunity to see the venue before next year. A competitive chance to test out the course, the range and the overall atmosphere in Val di Fiemme. Paired with the World Championships as the final dress rehearsals before the Games.
The first two days on the ground in Val di Fiemme were challenging, with very soft, wet snow conditions, quite warm during the day, barely freezing at night, and light rain throughout the two days. On the first race day, it turned around: clear sunny skies, firm tracks, icy but very skiable. I very much enjoy these conditions and usually ski well in them. After weeks of not racing, there is always some uncertainty about performance after bigger training loads. I didn't know where I was. So, going into the first race, there are several questions. Have I done enough or too much? Am I fast right now, or is it still coming? Will today feel terrible for tomorrow to feel better? What have the others done? Toss in some jetlag for good measure, and of course, I'm anxious about my performance until I get a split or some indication of where I am at.
The first race was a Biathlon Sprint Pursuit. Despite not feeling all the best in performance in the qualifier, the result spoke overwise, taking a strong lead into the final. The range in Val di Fiemme presents some challenging light conditions, with the sun shining directly into your face as you shoot. Something to overcome, while for the Visually Impaired system, it was far more disruptive. I didn't have my smoothest shooting bouts in the qualifier, but I hit all ten targets, and with strong, powerful skiing, I won the qualifier by a fair margin. Now that I could compare my feeling of performance to a result, it helped settle the nerves a little going into the final. It was a long day and probably felt longer while fighting jetlag. Eventually, it came time for my Final; by this point, I was already beyond thrilled as my teammates had already set an amazing bar for performance that day. Derek won his first Biathlon World Cup in the Men's Sitting. At the same time, Brittany took her first win of the season in the Women's Standing. Now, it was my turn. I would start second, but it was only a few meters into the race before I caught the leader, went by and started to extend my lead. With the stadium layout, I had to do almost a lap and a half before my first bout of shooting. I controlled the first bout, but it was still quick and hitting all five targets. I completed my second lap, and as I approached the range for the second and final time, I was told I had a 38 second lead. This was where I felt the pressure: a massive lead, no one challenging, but I still had to hit the targets. It was not a fast bout, and I almost missed one of the shots, probably giving my coach a mild heart attack. In the end, I cleaned the bout and went on for the rest of the lap, up the biggest climb, downhill and straight into the finish. Making it three wins for Canada on the first day of the World Cup.
The next day was the Biathlon Sprint, which was a much closer result despite being more than twice the length. I would seal the victory after clean shooting and solid skiing. My first bout group was virtually a single hole; the second was a little more spread out, but all hits. I left the range after the second bout with barely a second in the lead and had to push throughout the final lap. So much so that into the final corner, I was coming in with more speed than I realized and nearly lost control. I was up on one ski, out of balance and sliding for the edge. I saved it and still had plenty of speed to get airborne over the next rise. I tried to control the time in the air, but in all three laps, I got airborne. That hard charge paid off with a second victory in as many days, this time by almost ten seconds.
With the upcoming Worlds, I planned not to race in the following two Cross-Country races—a Sprint and a 10 km classic. I still watched the races, which I think will be important to learn from for next year. It's an interesting Sprint course, but with several changes throughout the World Cup, I'll still wait and see what the finalized course will be for the Games. Instead of racing, I spent one of the days higher up in the valley, skiing at Passo Lavaze. It was shocking to see how little snow they had at that altitude. I've never seen it so thin. It usually feels like endless trails up there, but this year, there was an eight kilometre loop, and that was it. I did get to share that loop with some of the best Biathletes in the world (from Canada, Norway, Italy, and Ukraine) as they were training for their upcoming World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Now for two weeks of World Championship competition.
The second new venue in about a week was Pokljuka, Slovenia. A trusted IBU venue, and as recently as 2021, hosted the IBU World Championships. And would become the first host of the IBU Para Biathlon World Championships. Again, they were struggling for snow but had done a fabulous job to protect and set up the courses for the event. This was their first experience with Para Biathlon, and they were very professional, welcoming, and open to delivering the highest quality product possible. After the first training, there was some concern regarding one corner of the Sitting course: they heard what was needed and, that evening, added a little snow to that one section to make for a safer, more skiable course. It was ready for official training the next morning. Everything was well put together, and it was a fantastic event with an amazing host.
Beautiful sunshine and very little wind on the range made for a few awesome training days before the first competition on Thursday. Testing skis was challenging, with variable sections throughout the course affected by the bright sun. Some never saw the sun and were very dry and fine-grained snow, while other sections were dirty, in constant sun and slushy snow. The best we could do was balance the two extremes and settle on the best skis in both.
The first race of the World Championships was the Sprint. I had a fair bit of confidence in my fitness from the Val di Fiemme week and how my body felt. But it was time to perform and prove it to myself and others. I had a steady but strong opening lap, came to the range, and went clean. I got the split that I was a few seconds ahead, and I felt right where I needed to be. I had a good second lap. I can't say that I thought it was amazing, but with how things unravelled, it had to have been. On the range for the second time, a moment of distraction, thinking about something else, was enough to pull my attention off my shot, and I missed. It was the first miss of my international season. I was out of the range, quickly did my penalty loop, and expected the German to come out of the range any second. I had practically given him the victory on a silver plate, or so I thought. I went into focusing on salvaging a silver or maybe only a podium; I wasn't sure yet. There was a small out-and-back section early on my course, and the German was about where he was a lap earlier. So, I suddenly assumed he had missed as well. Now I'm back in the fight, or so I thought. Finally, I got the split information that I was second when I left the range, down by 2.4 seconds. This was a real race. I had the rest of the lap to make up that gap. I was pushing every little bit I could. I crossed the line; I had done everything possible, and now I had to wait and see where that left me. It was close, but when the German crossed the line, he went into second. I had won the race by 1.2 seconds! I still thought he had missed, so we were skiing at almost the same speed. It wasn't until later that I realized he had gone clean, meaning I had outskied a penalty to win. Starting the World Championships with a World title and hearing O' Canada is a special feeling.
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