Biathlete Megan Tandy will feel right at home when she skis up to the Olympic start line next month.
The 21-year-old Prince George native was recently nominated to the Canadian Olympic team, having moved to Squamish to be closer to the Nordic venue in the Callaghan Valley. The official announcement will be made on Jan. 28.
Intense training paid off in mid-December when she recorded career-best results at World Cup races in Slovenia, including a 21st placing in a 7.5-kilometre sprint field of 108 competitors. She also finished 35th out of 113 biathletes in the 15-kilometre individual race and 35th again in the 10-kilometre pursuit.
Tandy's coach iLmar Heinicke estimates she has cut about 90 seconds from last season's average time, having quickened both her shooting and skiing paces. Tandy said her significant improvement is beyond what she expected heading into the season, but can be attributed to her strong drive to discover her potential.
"That's what I train for," said Tandy while on her way to Whistler Olympic Park for a training session on Wednesday (Jan. 6).
"My goal is to do everything: I want to shoot well, I want to ski faster. My entire motivation is to be able to bring the performance on a higher and higher level, so I think it was really good for the confidence to see that I could have those results."
Her career-best results in Slovenia strengthen a confidence already boosted by competing on familiar ground. Most recently, Tandy spent last spring and summer training at Whistler Olympic Park before winning two rollerski gold medals at the junior IBU Summer Biathlon World Championships in Germany in September.
It means a lot to compete at home for her first Olympics, she said.
"When it comes to the Olympics and I'm actually on the start line, I know these trails. I know the wind, I know the course, everything about here I feel totally comfortable and I feel totally confident performing and racing at this site," she said.
As a first year senior biathlete, Tandy does not expect to reach the podium in February. But she does have top 30 finishes in her sights for the individual, sprint and relay events, as well as the pursuit, granted she qualifies for the event with a top-60 finish in the sprint.
According to Heinicke, Tandy proved in Slovenia that she has the shooting and skiing speed to capture great results. It's just a matter of bringing all the elements of the sport together when she enters her first event, the sprint, on Feb. 13, he said.
"Megan is talented to be a hard worker. And her talent is to put the different pieces of a performance together at the right moment."
