January 09, 2013 (Canmore, AB) – Rosanna Crawford, the 24-year-old biathlete from Canmore, Alberta has had the most successful world cup start of her career thus far, regularly finishing in the top 30 and just out of the top ten at the Pokljuka World Cup Sprint with a career-high 12th-place finish. SkiTrax caught up with Crawford as she prepared to return to Europe for the next rounds of World Cup racing and the World Championships to talk about her breakout season, how she spent the holiday break, and what she expects for the rest of the season.
How satisfied are you with your performance for the first part of the season?
Rosanna Crawford: I am really happy with how the start of the season went. My goal had been to get a couple top 30’s but after Sweden to be making top-30 every race and getting a top-12 was pretty exciting.
Has your skiing been what you expected? How about your shooting?
RC: My skiing has improved a lot since last year and I am happy with how things are shaping up. I usually get faster as the season goes on. Shooting has been better than last year but still not where I want it to be. I think my shooting average is 81% and to be around 86% or 87% would be ideal for me.
What have you been up to since the last World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia?
RC: Since I got home I spent some time with my family and boyfriend and enjoyed the amazing Canmore Nordic Centre. Brendan [Green] and I also spent two nights up at Mt. Engadine lodge up the Spray Valley, which was incredible! It got pretty cold here over Christmas, so there was a lot of -25 classic skis!
What do you want to improve on during this next block of World Cup racing?
RC: For this next block of racing I would like to improve my shooting percentage in the four-bout races. And keep working on consistent loop times.
What are your expectations heading into the World Championships in Nove Mesto?
RC: For World Champs right now I am focusing on what I can control, trying not to think too much about results, but the process of biathlon. I think a good goal would be top 30’s and shooting average of 85%. I didn’t attend the World Cup race there last year, but it was tough shooting conditions – really windy and foggy. I’m flying over on Sunday and our first race will be the relay in Ruhpolding on Wednesday!
December 14, 2012 (Pokljuka, Slovenia) – Canada’s Rosanna Crawford leaped up the field in the women’s 7.5k Sprint at the IBU World Cup in Slovenia today, cutting her PB result earned last weekend in half finishing a stellar 12th with a perfect shooting record to trail winner Gabriela Soukalova (CZE) by only 52.1s.
“Yep new PB!! I am really excited about todays results. It’s always nice to shoot clean, but to also place a personal best in the top 12 is fantastic! Shooting has always been my strong point. I am also pretty fast in the range, shooting time and getting in and out. I feel like this makes up a little bit for not being as fast on the skis,” Crawford told Trax.
“I didn’t feel very good in my warm up this morning so I didn’t go as hard as I normally would in my warm up. My first loop was pretty slow and I got faster as the race went on and had my best loop my last loop. The opposite to last weekend where it was really hard to get to the finish line!
“The snow was tricky, the track was much slower than it had been in training days, but it was pretty even for the whole field. The range was also pretty calm which was nice. Defiantly the shooting made my race for me. It’s hard to be in the mix for top 15 with missed targets,” she added.
Soukalova also earned a big PB – her career-first World Cup victory. She out-gunned second place, Miriam Goessner (GER), who faced two penalties in the second round of shooting, to win by 2.1s. Nadezhda Skardino (BLR) scored the bronze, accumulating zero penalties and trailing by 30.1s.
Susan Dunklee (USA) was the top U.S. finisher, placing 14th and 53.2s back. Teammate Annelies Cook was 40th. Canadians Megan Heinike and Megan Imrie finished 45th and 90th, respectively.
“Today was a great day for me and for the team. We had three women not only qualify for tomorrow’s pursuit but also score World Cup points. After years training together and putting in lots of hard work, it is nice to see that pay off. There was heavy snow falling during the race making the skiing a little tough. I didn’t quite have my highest gear, but I don’t think
most of the field did,” Dunklee told us.
“Hitting 90% of my targets was awesome. I been struggling a lot on the range the last couple weeks but had a few really good training days earlier this week that helped me regain confidence. Tomorrow is another day to practice what we do everyday- skiing and shooting. I’m looking forward to it and we’ll see what happens,” she concluded.
For tomorrow’s Pursuit Crawford is optimistic but realistic… “For the pursuit tomorrow I am just going to take it one shot at a time! It’s supposed to snow 40cm over night which could make things even tougher tomorrow,” offered Crawford.
January 07, 2011 (Oberhof, Germany) – Sweden took advantage of key shooting, despite heavy rain and high winds, on the final two legs of the 4x6km Women’s Relay held yesterday to execute a come-from-behind victory at Oberhof’s World Cup venue. Sweden’s team of Jenny Jonnson, Anna Carlin Zidek, Anna Maria Nilsson and Helena Ekholm suffered only one penalty, while utilizing eight spare rounds, to finish 52.3 seconds ahead of second place France, who compiled three penalites and nine spare rounds respectively. Belarus rounded out the top three with a time of 1:19:24.5.
Sweden’s team got off to a slow start, despite a solid shooting performance from Jonnson, and found themselves in fourth place after the first leg. Trailing the likes of Slovakia, Ukraine, and Finland, the second leg was no change in fortune for the team, as they remained in fourth after Zideck passed off to Nilsson.
Sweden’s third leg proved to be a spark for the team as they moved up to second placed behind Nilsson’s three spare round performance, and Ekholm brought home the victory with a no-miss final lap.
Thursday’s harsh weather conditions were undoubtedly a factor in determining the champions, as there were 84 penalties and 263 spare rounds used across all of the 21 teams who competed. The heavy rain and powerful winds made shooting no easy task for the world-class athletes.
Canada’s relay squad consisting of Zina Kocher, Megan Imrie, Rosanna Crawford, and Melanie Schultz, North America’s lone representative, was among an astounding nine teams who were disqualified as a result of being lapped in the challenging conditions.
The United States, although present in Oberhof, did not field a team on Thursday due to a lack of available racers.
