January 17, 2018 – The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Biathlon Canada officially announced the ten athletes and two coaches nominated to represent Team Canada in biathlon at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

Canada secured ten spots based on performances during the 2016-17 IBU World Cup season. Biathletes were selected to positions based on their performances in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 IBU World Cup seasons.

The biathletes nominated are:

– Sarah Beaudry – Prince George, BC
– Rosanna Crawford – Canmore, AB
– Macx Davies – Canmore, AB
– Christian Gow – Calgary, AB
– Scott Gow – Calgary, AB
– Brendan Green – Hay River, NT
– Emma Lunder – Vernon, BC
– Julia Ransom – Kelowna, BC
– Nathan Smith – Calgary, AB
– Megan Tandy – Prince George, BC

The team will be coached by National Team Head Coach Matthias Ahrens, and National Team Women’s Coach/High-Performance Director Roddy Ward. Technical staff include Head Ski Tech Raphael Grosset (France), and ski techs Pavel Stolba (Czech Republic), Andrzej Lesnick (Poland) and Martin Struna (Canmore, AB).

Two-time Olympian Rosanna Crawford is the veteran of the women’s team. She has been on superb form lately, with third and fourth-place finishes at World Cup #5 this past weekend in Ruhpolding, Germany. Crawford joined forces with Julia Ransom, Megan Tandy and Emma Lunder, for an eighth-place finish in the relay at the Olympic test event. Sarah Beaudry, Crawford, Lunder, and Ransom have all experienced personal-best finishes on the World Cup circuit this season.

The men’s team includes a mix of experienced and first-time Olympians. In 2016, two-time Olympian Brendan Green and Sochi 2014 team member Nathan Smith joined with the up-and coming Gow brothers to make history by capturing bronze for Canada’s first ever relay medal at the IBU World Championships. The year before, Smith had become the first Canadian male biathlete to win a world championship medal, earning silver in the 10km sprint. He is also the second Canadian man to stand on a World Cup biathlon podium, winning gold in a 12.5km pursuit.

Over the past two seasons, the Gow brothers have climbed the IBU rankings, scoring personal-best results. Smith missed most of 2016-17 due to illness but emerged strong enough to compete at the Olympic test event.

The team will take part in a training camp in Canmore, Alberta until February 2 before making their way to PyeongChang.

Canada has won a total of three medals in biathlon at the Olympic Winter Games, the most recent coming at Lillehammer 1994. At Sochi 2014, Team Canada biathletes achieved best-ever Olympic results in seven of the 11 events.

Biathlon will take place February 10-23 (Days 1-14) at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre.