December 12, 2013 (Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France) – The Biathlon Canada Women’s Team scored a stunning 4th place at the IBU World Cup women’s 4x6km relay in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France in great conditions on Thursday, for a career-best performance with a time of 1:08:03.6 at 1:35 behind Germany who topped the podium.

Team Canada (l-r) Rosanna Crawford, Megan Imrie, Megan Heinicke, Zina Kocher celebrates their best-ever relay result © Matthias Ahrens

It was a remarkable day for Rosanna Crawford, of Canmore, Alta., Megan Imrie, of Falcon Lake, Man., Megan Heinicke, of Prince George, B.C., and Zina Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta., who used nine spare rounds as they chalked up the best-ever result for a Canadian women’s biathlon squad just two months away from the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Kocher, a two-time Olympian, is the only woman on the current national squad to win a World Cup medal claiming the bronze medal in Oestersund, Sweden in 2006.

Zina Kocher - the only woman on the current Canadian squad to win a World Cup medal ©

“I couldn’t be more proud of all of us finally pulling together what we knew was possible,” said Kocher. “To perform together as a team is an incredible satisfying and rewarding experience. It’s not the same as performing as an individual. This joint successful effort has brought us all together to be stronger and more confident than ever before.”

Imrie and Rosanna Crawford both enjoyed some of their best results at the opening two races this season in Ostersund, Sweden and Hochfilzen, Austria.

“I am so proud of these girls,” said the 27-year-old Imrie. “I have witnessed each and every one of them train through blood, sweat and tears to the breaking point. We are fit. We are hungry for results and this isn’t the last you have seen of us.”

Megan Heinicke (CAN) punched her ticket to Sochi © Nordic Focus

“We’ve known this type of result is within our grasp for so long so it feels great to finally get it,” added Crawford. “Our whole support system has really helped us get here, coaches, wax techs and everyone behind us!”

The result secured the 25-year-old Megan Heinicke’s ticket to Russia where she’ll now join Imrie, Crawford and the 31-year-old Zina Kocher on the women’s team.

Meanwhile Team USA had a strong day as well racing to a second-consecutive eighth place finish as Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT), Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID), Hannah Dreissigacker (Morrisville, VT), and Annelies Cook (Saranac Lake, NY) posted a time of 1:09:11.9, using six extra shots on the range.

Susan Dunklee (USA) had a strong lead off leg © Nordic Focus

The Canadian team was in third place at the end of the second leg behind Norway with Germany in front as early leader Switzerland faded quickly. France was in fourth but it was the Ukraine’s Valj Semerenko, who’s clean shooting allowed them to overtake the Canadians and sit in third at the final exchange.

Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier shot clean on the final leg to claim the gold as Norway’s Tora Berger could not contain the Ukraine’s Olena Pidhrushna who also cleaned. Berger fought back with strong skiing losing the silver to Pidhrushna by only half a second.

Kocher anchored the Canadian team and used four spare rounds but was able to hold off a charging Marie Laura Brunet from France who shot clean as she tried to save face at home.

Hannah Dreissigacker had a career-best performance © Nordic Focus

Dunklee, who led off for Team USA, used one spared round before handing off to Studebaker in eighth. Studebaker needed four spares tagging Dreissigacker in 12th. Dreissigacker posted the best performances of her career with the 5th-best leg time, moving the team up to 10th, shooting clean in both stages. Cook anchored the team to an eighth place finish with just one extra shot needed in standing.

“I’m really psyched with today,” said Dreissigacker.  “It was my second time ever shooting clean in a race, and definitely my first time cleaning in a world cup! It’s a pretty exhilarating feeling. Annelies and I were warming up together and the warm-up loop goes right by the race course in several places, so we had a great time cheering Susan as she led the field off of the start.  I know we were all really excited to have bib 8 today, after our good relay in Hochfilzen, and now we proved that 8th can be our new norm!”

Team Canada hams it up (l-r) Rosanna Crawford, Megan Imrie, Megan Heinicke, Zina Kocher © Nordic Focus

“I am happy that we were able to match our relay performance from Sunday because I didn’t get to race that one,” said Cook. “Watching Susan take the lead right from the start and look so relaxed was pretty awesome. I was proud of all the girls, and being the last leg I could just race and do my own thing.”

The four Canadian women have come a long way since taking off their clothes four years ago to produce a nude calendar, Bold Beautiful Biathlon, in an effort to raise money in support of their journey to the international podium. Since that time each of the athletes have produced career-best results, and head into the 2014 Olympic Winter Games deeper and stronger than ever.

Final podium © Matthias Ahrens

Results (brief)

1. Germany, 1:06:27.8
2. Ukraine, 1:06:51.1
3. Norway, 1:06:51.6
4. Canada – 1:08:03.6 [Rosanna Crawford (AB), Zina Kocher (AB), Megan Imrie (MB), Megan Heinicke (BC)]
5. France, 1:08:11.6.

8. USA – 1:09:11.9 [Susan Dunklee (VT), Sara Studebaker (ID), Hannah Dreissigacker (VT), and Annelies Cook (NY)]

Full results here.