Best Ever Relay Result for Brendan in World Cup Biathlon Competition

Hochfilzen, Austria

December 11, 2011

In the first men’s relay event of the season, Brendan Green demonstrated top form in shooting and skiing, cleaning his two sets of targets without using any spare rounds.  With the men’s team ranked 21st going into the race, Brendan faced the challenge of an unfavourable start position being boxed in at the back of the pack.  He showed the great form he is capable of by threading his way through the crowded field, even overtaking the powerful Norwegian team, to tag off in 6^th position at the end of his leg. Although the team was unable to hold this strong position, it helped boost the team to a respectable 15^th placing, one place higher than in last season. The higher ranking will allow the team a more favourable start position in the next men’s relay event.

The relay event was a hopeful conclusion to a very difficult season start for Brendan. In a statement he made following the previous race (the 12.5 km Pursuit) one day earlier:

 “It's been a really roller coaster week for me. After the last race in Sweden my back flared up quite badly related to a disk herniation that happened in late July. I thought I was going to have to fly home, but our support staff worked extra hard to get me back on my feet and things improved a lot over the last few days,” said Green who has been one of Canada’s most consistent biathletes over the last two years. “Although I picked up some misses late in the race during the standing bouts, I had a much stronger ski and was actually able to enjoy the race as apposed to yesterday which physically was a struggle from the get go. I am satisfied that I was able to maintain my position, and I am hoping I can keep things rolling in the right direction.”  (from Biathlon Canada news release)

Although not able to give 100% in the skiing up until now, Brendan still managed some impressive performances in his first set of 6 World Cup events. He now leads the Canadian men’s team in total World Cup points, ranking 20^th place in his strongest event: the 10 km Sprint. His accuracy in shooting has enable him to earn World Cup Points in the 4 of the 5 individual events completed so far, making this the strongest World Cup start of his career.