February 13, 2012 (Canmore, AB) – Canada’s Nathan Smith made history on Saturday in the Rockies when he won the men’s IBU Cup sprint race, becoming the first Canadian male to win an IBU Cup tour competition. Then on Sunday, he did it again, scoring gold in the 10k. Hear what the 26-year-old Canmore local has to say about his recent success.

December 16, 2011 (Obertilliach, Austria) – Two young Calgary biathletes shocked the world by finishing third and fourth in a men’s 10-kilometre sprint competition at the IBU Biathlon Cup in Obertilliach, Austria on Friday.

Nathan Smith put his name in the history books as one of a handful of Canadian biathletes to win a medal in international racing after capturing the bronze with a time of 24 minutes, 18.1 seconds, while senior team rookie, Scott Gow, narrowly missed the podium placing fourth at 24:31.4 against a deep field of nearly 100 athletes – many of whom compete regularly on the World Cup circuit.

“It feels great. Only a few other Canadians have had top-four results on the IBU Cup so two in one day is exceptional,” said Smith, who turns 26 on Christmas Day and becomes the sixth Canadian biathlete to medal on the IBU Cup over the last decade. The Canadian squad also finished fourth in Wednesday’s mixed relay.

“During the training season I made some strong improvements in both skiing and shooting and I was hoping to carry those over to the competition season. This result is affirmation the work is paying off in actual results.”

Both Smith and Gow shot clean with light winds blowing through the range, and took advantage of good skis on the hard-packed, fast Austrian course.

“Our coaching and waxing team have been doing an awesome job. I’m fairly certain our skis in Obertilliach have been the best of all the teams thus far,” added Smith. “So far this winter four men have put down top results on both the IBU and World Cup. This shows that our team is building depth. I also hope younger biathletes in Canada will see our results and strive to match and exceed them.”

Russia’s Evgeniy Garanichev won the gold medal with a time of 24:09.7 despite missing one shot in his first round of shooting. Germany’s Daniel Bohm snagged the silver with a time of 24:11.4.

Despite finishing just shy of the podium, it was a stellar day for the 21-year-old Scott Gow who made the climb to the senior ranks this year where he has split time on the World Cup and IBU Cup Circuit – a feeder series to the World Cup.

“The race today felt amazing. It was one of those rare days where great skiing with perfect shooting came together, and I’m more than ecstatic it happened today on the IBU Cup,” said Gow, who was clean in his two rounds of shooting. “The skis were the difference today. I have felt great the last two weeks on the boards and they were really good today which gave us an edge on our competitors.”

Equally brilliant off the snow, the sharp-shooting biathlete was an honours student at the National Sport School where he was one of a small group of students selected from around the world to attend United States Space School four years ago at NASA in Houston. An incredible experience for the young Canuck, Gow’s mission has since been focused on achieving his Olympic dream. He enjoyed a memorable campaign in 2011 where he carried the Alberta flag into the closing ceremonies of the Canada Winter Games after winning four gold medals in as many competitions, one week following a ninth-place finish at the Junior World Championships.

“This result is important for me because I feel like it validates my training over the past year, and gives me the confidence going forward to know that I am competitive on the IBU Cup,” said Gow. “Doing as well as I did today against the competition I had is a real boost of confidence because they guys we’re finishing with have good results on the World Cup and are considered World Cup caliber athletes, so it’s another major boost for sure.”

Two other Canadian men suited up on Friday. Calgary’s Tyson Smith shot clean to finish tied for 50th at 26:23.5. Aaron Gillmor was 96th (28:05.9).

Quebec’s Claude Godbout finished as the top Canadian in the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint, placing 32nd at 24:32.2. Yolaine Oddou, of Val Belair, Que., was 34th (24:44.8), while Melanie Schultz, of Camrose, Alta., finished 53rd (25:43.1).

Russia’s Ekaterina Glazyrina shot clean to win the women’s competition with a time of 22:30.8.

Meanwhile, the top women’s biathletes in the country also had a solid outing on the World Cup circuit down the road in Hochfilzen, Austria.

Megan Imrie, of Falcon Lake, Man., skied to the final spot in the top-25 for the best result of her career. The 25-year-oldImrie, who represented Canada at the 2010 Olympics, missed two shots in her first of two bouts of shooting to clock a time of 22:18.1 in the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint competition.

Zina Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta., will join Imrie in the pursuit competition with the top-60 athletes after placing 50th with a time of 23:08.0. Rosanna Crawford, of Canmore, Alta., rounded out the Canadian performances in 73rd (24:05.7).

Russia’s Olga Zaitseva won the women’s sprint with a time of 20:36.6. Darya Domracheva, of Belarus, settled for the silver medal at 20:%0.5, while Sweden’s Helena Ekholm locked up the bronze after clocking-in at 21:06.8.

The IBU Cup and World Cup events continue on Saturday in Austria with the pursuit competitions.

FOR COMPLETE RESULTS: www.biathlonworld.com

IBU Men
1. Evgeniy Garanichev, RUS, (1+0), 24:09.7
2. Daniel Bohm, GER, (0+0), 24:11.4
3. Nathan Smith, Calgary, CAN, (0+0), 24:18.1
4. Scott Gow, Calgary, CAN, (0+0), 24:31.4
5. Johannes Kuhn, GER, (0+1), 24:36.1

IBU Women
1. Ekaterina Glazyrina, RUS, (0+0), 22:30.8
2. Juliya Dzyhma, UKR, (0+0), 22:40.4
3. Sabrina Buchholz, GER, (1+0), 22:44.8
4. Ekaterina Shumilova, RUS, (0+2), 22:53.8
5. Roberta Fiandino, ITA, (0+0), 23:03.2.

32. Claude Godbout, Quebec, (0+1), 24:32.2
34. Yolaine Oddou, Val Belair, Que., (2+0), 24:44.8
53. Melanie Schultz, Camrose, Alta., (2+2), 25:43.1

World Cup Women
1. Olga Zaitseva, RUS, (0+1), 20:36.6
2. Darya Domracheva, BLR, (1+1), 20:50.5
3. Helena Ekholm, SWE, (1+0), 21:06.8
4. Magdalena Neuner, GER, (1+1), 21:21.5
5. Vita Semerenko, UKR, (0+1), 21:32.2.

25. Megan Imrie, Falcon Lake, Man., (2+0), 22:18.1
50. Zina Kocher, Red Deer, Alta., (1+3), 23:08.0
73. Rosanna Crawford, Canmore, Alta., (3+0), 24:05.7

February 12, 2011 (Fort Kent, Maine) – Emile Hegle Svendsen of Norway took the men’s 12.5km pursuit competition today after a thrilling final lap duel with Martin Fourcade (Fra) than ended in a photo finish. Both men had a single penalty and were timed at 35:46. Third went to Tarjei Boe of Norway, with three penalties, 1:00.3 back.

From the outset, the battle was between Svendsen and Fourcade. Although both shot clean in the first prone stage, Svendsen held a 9-second lead leaving the stadium. Fourcade quickly closed the gap and was locked on the Norwegian’s shoulder for the next two loops. They both shot clean simultaneously in the second prone. Their initial tight battle ended when Fourcade had a penalty in the first standing stage, while Svendsen shot clean and got a gap.

The tables reversed in the final standing stage, when Svendsen had to tour the penalty loop and Fourcade was perfect. They went back into the Maine woods separated by just 2 seconds. Fourcade quickly closed the gap and they were elbow-to-elbow for the next 2.2km. They entered the stadium in a full sprint side-by-side. Fourcade seemed to have the edge until the final five meters when Svendsen pulled up just a bit and out-leaned Fourcade who tumbled to the ground.

Svendsen almost seemed relieved that he won the competition after the battle with Fourcade. “I saw Martin shoot clean as I was on the penalty loop and thought, ‘Oh my god’. We were not actually skiing that fast in the first part of the final loop. I knew he was a very strong skier and I knew he was there with me.

“I tried to save some energy for one last attempt. I tried to do that over by the wax cabins and hold it until the finish. But he was super strong and stayed with me. It came to a sprint and I was sure he was before me at some point. But I think I was stronger in the final meters. I managed to pull it off and am very happy about that.”

Fourcade had similar feelings to Svendsen as they approached the final loop. “I saw Emil on the penalty loop and had to make a decision, take it easy and go on the final loop by myself or try to catch him. I decided to go after him and hit all five.”

He was philosophical about second place. “This is a strange weekend. In the sprint I missed the podium by a half second and today miss the win. I hope tomorrow to reverse that trend.”

Boe retained the yellow Jersey, but said he let down a bit in the final standing stage, missing two shots while knowing he could not move up. “I saw Martin hitting all of the targets and knew Emil was away. I thought ‘no chance to take the top two.’ I knew there was a big gap and I had no chance so I took it too easy.”

Lowell Bailey of the US continued his run of strong performances with a move from 31st at the start to 25th at the finish despite a rookie move as he came into his third shooting stage two clips short losing about 40 seconds. Despite the blunder, which likely cost him a top-20 result, he maintained his composure shooting clean and missed only two shots – one in the first prone stage and the second in the final standing stage – to finish 3:23.7 behind Svendsen.

“That was such a stupid mistake. I can’t blame anyone but myself,” said Bailey in a US Biathlon release. “I just took two out of the four needed clips with me. I had some troubles zeroing and focused more on the wind and my problems in prone. I simply forgot to take the two other clips with me. I waved at the coach but I probably lost more than 40 seconds waiting for some extra clips. Of course it’s not their fault. Something like that shouldn’t happen in the first place.”

American Jay Hakkinen also had another solid day, as he got away with just three penalties to finish 34th at 4:35.5 back. Beyond those two men, it was another less-than-stellar day for North Americans.

Canada’s Brendan Green had three penalties in 39th place at 4:51.1 back, just ahead of the USA’s Leif Nordgren, with five penalties. Canuck JP Le Guellec finished 44th, while Scott Perras was 48th, one place ahead of Tim Burke of the USA.

Michal Slesingr of the Czech Republic after falling back in the middle of the competition had a brilliant last 2.5km to move into fourth, with three penalties, at 1:19.6 back, just ahead of Sweden’s clean-shooting Carl Johan Bergman, 1:20.1 back. Sixth went to Christoph Sumann of Austria, with three penalties, 1:56.2 back.

Full results HERE.