Home-Country Olympics

Of course, a top finish or a medal at the Whistler Olympic Park next February would surely top that. In an interview earlier this year, she discussed competing in a home-country Olympic Winter Games. “Having the Olympics in my own country is an absolutely amazing opportunity. . . I am going to embrace the opportunity and for sure, there will always be pressure around that experience. The pressure is a privilege, because if there was not pressure, you must be really bad. In addition, I will be embracing the fact that so many friends and family will be there to watch me compete, because we do not have many experiences like that. I will enjoy the moment and remember that it is only a biathlon race and it is just like any other day.”

Train, Eat, Sleep, Travel

Here are Kocher’s thoughts as the e.on Ruhrgas IBU World Cup season starts.

“Train, eat, sleep, train, eat, physio, massage, eat, train, sleep, PACK, PACK NOW, travel, sleep, eat, travel…. Ahh, the life of an athlete. Once again, that time of the season has come again.

The Canadian team has packed up their equipment, clothes and treasured belongings for life on the Biathlon World Cup circuit. Summer training is over and it is time for the racing season to commence already! We flew Saturday from Calgary to Frankfurt, to Stockholm, and final leg in an eighteen passenger plane to Sveg. Unfortunately, due to lack of snow in Sveg we continued travelling Monday morning to the winter wonderland of Bruksvallarna.

Crowded Tracks in Canmore

Last week we were training at home in Canmore. Our 1km ski loop had been expanded to almost 3 km… that is if skied in a particular figure eight order. Still the loop tended to be rather crowded when every ski club and both National teams decided to all train and do intervals in the exact same hour! The men’s team reluctantly returned midweek from Silverstar, BC, where they had amazing winter conditions and 60km of endless skiing options.

It’s great to be back on the road again and feeling the excitement for the start of the race season!

Two Australian Biathletes Vying for Vancouver Berth

When winter sports nations are mentioned, the mind naturally thinks Norway, Russia, Austria, Switzerland or Germany, but not Australia. Yet, the Australians have competed in World Cup Biathlon for years. Despite losing their training area near Alexandria, Victoria to wildfires last February, two Aussies, Mark Raymond and Alex Almoukov are ready to compete this season. The two are vying for Australia’s one start position in biathlon, at the Vancouver Games. The veteran Raymond has competed on the World cup circuit since 2003, while 19-year old Almoukov is entering his second season in the sport. The Australian federation will announce which of the two will go to Vancouver in mid-January.