December 14, 2013 (Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France) – Nathan Smith became the latest Canadian biathlete to secure a ticket to the Sochi 2014 Olympics as he nailed a 16th-place finish in the Men’s 10km Sprint at the IBU World Cup in France on Saturday as Norway’s Johannes Thinges Boe, 20, shot clean to win his first ever World Cup.

Nathan Smith (Can) is bound for Sochi © Nordic Focus file photo

The Czech Republic’s Ondrej Moravec also shot clean to claim the silver medal at 32.9s while local favourite, Martin Fourcade, was 37.1s behind Boe, landing third on the podium for the bronze. The French star looked strong early on but faltered with a penalty and then lost a ski pole. Boe, younger brother of Norwegian star Tarjei and a former World Junior champ, was one of six skiers out of the top 10 who shot clean today and skied fast as well for a convincing win.

“This is a huge relief as this result was pretty last minute,” said the 28-year-old Smith from Calgary, who matched his career-best 16th in the men’s 20-kilometre individual competition at the World Cup season-opener in Oestersund, Sweden this past November.

“Today was the best ski time I’ve had yet at World Cup level, and a solid 9/10 in shooting.  Unfortunately my shooting speed was a lot slower than normal. I really had to slow things down and fight for every shot.  Thankfully my skiing made up for this so in the end it was still an excellent result that I’m very happy about,” added Smith in a team release. Without a top-30 result this weekend he would have had to race the domestic trial races back in Canmore next week.

Tim Burke © Nordic Focus file photo

The USA’s Tim Burke placed 28th (2 penalties) at 1:22.1s with Canada’s Scott Peras just out of the points in 31st (1 penalty). Lowell Bailey (USA) placed 35th (2 penalties), Jean-Philippe Le Guellec was 49th (2 penalties), the USA’s Leif Nordgren as 83rd (3 penalties) and Jeremy Teela (USA) also suffered 3 penalties finishing 87th.

“Most of my race went very well, but I was definitely disappointed with my standing shooting today,” said Burke. “The range approach here is quite easy, so two penalties is way too many for this venue. On the other hand, I most likely would have made it to the podium today with clean shooting, so this is always a good sign. The times were very close today so that should make for an exciting pursuit tomorrow!”

Chris Lindsay, high-performance director, Biathon Canada, was praised Smith for his patience and performance. “Nathan showed tremendous focus this training season. He was not happy with the results from last season and he channeled that emotion into performance. He is meticulous, constantly challenging himself, and resolute in his desire to play the game at the highest level possible,” he commented.

Meanwhile the younger Boe did not expect a victory this early in his career. “I thought maybe I could win or be on the podium in an individual competition, but not a sprint and by more than 30 seconds. This morning my legs felt a bit tired and I did not feel very strong. I have not raced for a couple of weeks. But I guess the results show that I was very strong…It is cool to beat Martin here,” he told Biathlonworld.com.

Full results here.

With files from Biathlon Canada.