November 24, 2008 (CANMORE, AB) – Fresh off one of the team’s most successful summer training sessions and a year of record results, Canada’s top biathletes will head to Europe on Sunday to hit the start line for the first event of the 2008-09 World Cup in Oestersund, Sweden, December 3-7, 2008.

Biathlon Canada named 17 athletes to the senior Canadian Biathlon Team that will compete on the World Cup and IBU Cup circuits this winter following a pre-season selection process in Canmore in September allowing the selected teams to prepare adequately for the first events of the season.

Zina Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta., will lead the six Canucks on the World Cup this season. The 26-year-old Olympian will kick off the season by returning to the competition site in Sweden where she made history two years ago by becoming the first Canadian in more than a decade to win a World Cup medal by crossing the line third. One of two targeted athletes in the Canadian Biathlon program with medal potential, Kocher is regularly stacked in the top of the pack with the worlds elite despite having competed on the World Cup for just four seasons.

Kocher will be joined on the women’s World Cup team by Olympic teammate Sandra Keith, of Calgary, who enjoyed a breakthrough season last year by posting her career-best 11th-place result on the World Cup. Rounding out the women’s team will be World Cup sophomore, Meagan Imrie, of Falcon Lake, Man. The 28-year-old Keith continues to make strides on the international scene as the veteran of the national team, while the 22-year-old Imrie, who is one of the first athletes in recent years from Manitoba to make it into the senior national team ranks, will continue to search for valuable international experience in her continued preparation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Two-time Olympian, Robin Clegg, will guide Canada’s male trio through Europe this winter. The 31-year-old Ottawa native, who is entering his 10th season on the team, also posted a best-ever finish on the World Cup last season when he finished eighth. Clegg is determined to keep fighting the world’s best to accomplish his career goals of standing on the international podium. Clegg will be joined by Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, of Val Belair, Que., who is evolving into one of the top male biathletes in the national program. Le Guellec, who competed for Canada at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in just his second year on the team, solidified himself with the world’s elite last year after consistently placing in the top-25. Another flatlander, Scott Perras, of Regina, Sask., will also return for his second year on the World Cup to round out the men’s contingent.

Despite being one of the youngest teams on the circuit, Canada has assembled a group of athletes that brings a combination of Olympic and World Cup experience, with success at both the junior and senior international level, said Joanne Thomson, Executive Director, Biathlon Canada. Our veterans continue to post career-best results each season, which gives our young athletes the confidence to know they can win too. As a group, we are determined to get Canada back on the world biathlon podium.

Biathlon Canada will also send nine more athletes to Europe this winter to compete on the IBU Cup circuit.

Patrick Cote, of Grand-Sault, N.B., who will also compete in the first World Cup of the season, will lead Canada on the development circuit. Cote will be joined by Maxime Leboeuf, of Val Belair, Que.; Jaime Robb, of Edmonton; Nathan Smith, of Calgary; Marc-Andre Bedard, of Valcartier,Que.; Brendan Green, of Canmore, Alta.; and Tyson Smith of Calgary.

Megan Tandy, of Prince George, B.C., who competed at the World Championships last year, will lead the Canadian women on the IBU Cup circuit. Tandy will be joined by Claude Godbout, of Quebec, Que. Rosanna Crawford, of Canmore, Alta and Melanie Schultz of Camrose, Alta were also scheduled to compete on this team but will remain in Canada for the start of the season due to injuries.

Canada’s high-performance biathletes received a boost of support in their quest for the international podium earlier this year when Geret Coyne took over the reigns as head coach of the World Cup Team. Coyne, who has been involved with the national program for nearly two decades, has served as a development coach for 16 years following a four-year stint competing internationally for Canada. Coyne has coached at all major international events since 1992, including the 1994 Olympic Winter Games. The Canmore, Alta. native has helped guide Canadian biathletes to the last four Olympic Winter Games.

Coyne will lead Canada’s biathletes to the season-opening World Cup competition, December 3-7 in Oestersund, Sweden, while the first IBU Cup competition will take place December 12-14 in Obertilliach, Austria.

The lone Canadian stop on the World Cup for the nations top biathletes will be in the Callaghan Valley near Whistler, B.C., March 10-15.