Biathlon Canada —Gow nearly perfect on range missing one in solid day of shooting—

ANTHOLZ, Ita.—Scott Gow built on what is shaping up to be the strongest season of his young career, finishing 17th at a Biathlon World Cup race in Antholz, Italy on Thursday.

The 26-year-old Gow took advantage of nearly perfect race conditions with firm, fast trails to clock a career-best 17th place time of 53:15.8 in the men’s 20-kilometre individual start race – the longest of any biathlon discipline.

“It was a great race. The skiing felt quite good and my shooting was nearly perfect,” said the sharp-shooting Canuck from the Stampede City. “My goal leaving the start gate was to ski as tactically as possible, and to gain as much time in the transitions as I could muster.”

“The key to success today was my ability to race my own race, and stick to the plan I set out. I wanted to ski my own pace and I was able to do that,” added Gow, who was a member of last year’s men’s bronze-medal winning World Championship relay squad.

Competing in a race that puts a premium on shooting – docking athletes with a one minute penalty for every missed shot – Gow was up for the challenging, missing just one shot in his second round of prone on the range.

“I just tried to be as mechanical as possible and keep a clear head so that I wouldn’t get too caught up in the shooting,” added Gow, whose previous best was an 18th place finish in a sprint race earlier this year, and in an individual start at last year’s World Championships.”

Russia’s Anton Shipulin won his first World Cup individual race of the year with a time of 50:38.1 (0+0+1+0. Martin Fourcade, of France, skied to the silver medal with a time of 51:19.1 (0+1+1+0). Sergey Semenov, of the Ukraine, dropped into the bronze medal position after missing one in his final standing. Semenov clocked a third-place time of 51:34.9.

Canada’s Brendan Green (Hay River, N.W.T.) and Christian Gow (Calgary) finished tied in 75th at 57:47.7. Green missed six shots (2+1+2+1), while Gow missed two in each of his two standing bouts on the range.

The World Cup continues on Saturday with the women’s mass start and men’s 4×7.5 kilometre relay events.

Biathlon Canada is the governing body for biathlon in the country, and oversees the IBU Cup, World Cup, Canadian Championships, Eastern and Western Canadian Championships, and North American Cups held in Canada. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Halti, Mackenzie Investments, Roeckl Sports, Lapua, Nordic Marksman Inc, biathlontravel.de, and Zizu Eyewear – along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee and Own the Podium, Biathlon Canada’s mandate is to provide national level programs for the continuous development of biathlon athletes from the grassroots to the elite level. For more information on Biathlon Canada, please visit us at www.biathloncanada.ca on the Internet.

Complete Results: http://biathlonresults.com

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Chris Dornan

Media and Public Relations

T: 403-620-8731

E-mail: hpprchris@shaw.ca