Whitehorse biathlete Nadia Moser has once again proven herself to be one of the best in the country. This time in an international championship.
Competing at her first IBU Youth/Junior World Championships, Moser twice skied and shot into the top 25 for youth women last week in Cheile Gradistei, Romania.
“I am happy with how I did in my races. It is great just to be able to compete here,” said Moser in an email to the News.
“I didn’t really have expectations because I’ve never competed against these girls before.”
The 18-year-old led the Canadian team with a 19th place finish in the six-kilometre sprint on Friday. She reached the finish in 19:47.7, just 1:32 behind the winner, and was the top finisher from the Americas.
Moser shot nine out of 10 at the range. (Only three biathletes in the field of 91 cleaned.)
“The sprint is usually one of my better races. In this race everything just came together well for me,” said Moser. “The wax techs did a really great job on the skis and my skiing felt pretty good that day.”
Moser then placed 24th in the 7.5-kilometre pursuit on Sunday, finishing in 32:07.6 - 4:52.4 behind the gold medalist. She shot 12 out of 20 and was the second finisher on the Canadian team.
Moser finished the championship by helping the Canadian team to 10th out of 19 teams in the 3x6-kilometre relay on Monday.
“The relay was a pretty good experience. It was really fun just to race as a team with my other teammates,” said Moser.
The three-time Team Yukon biathlete began the championships with 47th - third out of four on her team - in the 10-kilometre individual start race last Wednesday. She shot 12/20 at the range and finished in 41:39.9.
Moser punched her ticket for the youth worlds by winning gold, silver and bronze over three races at the Calforex Cup #2/world youth/junior trials races this past December in Canmore, Alta.
A year ago Moser won silver en route to placing fourth overall in the division at the 2015 youth world trials. But Biathlon Canada decided to send a larger team of juniors (19- and 20-year-olds) and Moser was denied a spot.
On the bright side, by not competing at last season’s youth worlds Moser could race for Yukon at the Canada Winter Games and would go on to make history.
Moser captured Yukon’s first-ever medal in biathlon at the 2015 Games in Prince George, B.C., eventually leaving with a silver and two bronze. She was the only Yukon athlete to win three medals at the Games.
She pulled off a similar feat the previous year at the 2014 Arctic Winter Games in Fairbanks - coming away as the only athlete on the entire Yukon team to capture three gold.
She also won a gold, silver and bronze at the 2012 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse.
Following her performances in Prince George, Moser went on to win two silver at the 2015 Canadian Biathlon Championships and then moved to Canmore to train full-time at the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre.
Moser, who is originally from Atlin, B.C. and moved to Whitehorse for high school, was only the second Yukon biathlete to compete at the youth/junior worlds last week. Whitehorse’s Erin Oliver-Beebe became the first four years ago in Finland.
“I just enjoyed being here. It was a really great experience. It was so much fun to race as well as watch my teammates race,” said Moser.
“Thank you to everyone who supported me to help me get this far and thank you to Sport Yukon.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com