Squamish-based biathlon Olympian Megan Tandy felt confident and "snappy" during this week's competitions.
During her first two competitions this week, she gained confidence each time as she proved herself an ace shot hammering down 29 out of 30 targets at the Callaghan Valley's Whistler Olympic Park.
Tandy said it was thrilling to race "in my own backyard." She's been training in 麻豆社国产for two years with BC High Performance coach iLmar Heinicke.
"It's been awesome. I've loved living in 麻豆社国产and training in 麻豆社国产- a super welcoming community. So I would say thanks to CORSA Bike shop -- they have a sweet, sweet road bike, we've had so much support everywhere from Galileo Coffee and obviously the BC High Performance program. I mean I'm racing in my own backyard. It doesn't get much more fun than that."
On Saturday (Feb. 13), Tandy shot 10 for 10 in the 7.5 km biathlon sprint at the Callaghan Valley's Whistler Olympic Park to place 46th out of 88 - a feat she felt was sure to improve her standing in her next Olympic competition, the 10-km pursuit on Tuesday (Feb. 16).
"Shooting-wise, it gives me a lot of confidence because I've proven to myself that I can mentally manage the pressure of the shooting range and that's definitely going to be a benefit come pursuit time when I'm going to be able to put more of my focus on the skiing and the tactics and that sort of thing," said Tandy Saturday.
Slovakia's Anastazia Kuzmina upset the 7.5 km sprint biathlon favourites, German athlete Magdalen Neuner and Swede Helena Jonsson, by missing only one shot to take her first Olympic gold with a time of 19 minutes, 55 seconds.
Of the three other Canadian women who competed in the 7.5 km sprint biathlon, Zina Kocher took 65th, Rosanna Crawford 72nd, Megan Imrie was 76th.
While Tandy said she was proud to be the only Canadian to have qualified for the pursuit, she added, "That's a bit disappointing because I have talented, strong teammates who were capable of being in the field [Tuesday]."
The disappointment didn't hinder her performance, however. On Tuesday, Tandy missed one of her first five shots, falling back to 52nd, but then shot clean in her three subsequent trips to the range for a 36th place finish. The second race went all the better, she said, because she'd regained "that snap in my legs."
"I felt way better on the course today," Tandy said. "I didn't quite have that snap in my legs for the sprint but today I felt motivated and strong,"
Biathlon Canada coach Geret Coyne said he couldn't have asked much more of Tandy on Tuesday.
"One miss is excellent, and she skied really strong and moved up, so you've got to be happy."
Germany's Magdalena Neuner, 23, the two-time world champion, brought home her first Olympic gold medal on Tuesday, using her strong skiing skills to overcome sprint winner Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia. Kuzmina was just 6.3 seconds behind Neuner as the two came out of the fourth and final trip to the shooting range, but could not catch Neuner in the final 2.4 kilometres and took the silver, 12.3 seconds behind Neuner.
France's Marie-Laurie Brunet took the bronze.
Tandy returned to the competition field for the 15-km individual race after deadline on Thursday (Feb. 18).
She'll be competing in the 12.5 km mass start
"As a team we expect to be strong and have a good showing in the relay," she said of the women's relay event that takes place on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
