Aliah Turner’s Italian experience competing for Canada at the FISU World University Games was like no other the Prince George biathlete has ever encountered.
Racing on a brand-new course built in the shadow of the ski jumps used in the 2006 Olympics at Pragelato, Italy, Turner’s first taste of international competition only left her hungry for more.
Jet-lagged and skiing on trails she had only a day or two to discover, the first-year University of Calgary kinesiology student starting off with a bang. In the short individual race, a 12.5-kilometre event, she shot 16-for-20 and ended up finishing 22nd in a field of 47 as the top North American..
Turner, 18, raced in four of the five events over 13 days and was satisfied with all her races.
“It was two of the most exciting, action-packed rewarding weeks I’ve ever done,” said Turner. “I was happy with how I performed. I’m pretty sure myself and my teammate, Ella Niedre, who’s 11 days older than me, were the two youngest out there in the field.”
The course built on the edge of the Piedmont mountains near Val Troncea Nature Park was quite flat and offered few resting sections and it took an all-out effort to ski the course before entering the shooting range.
“There was nothing super technical like climbs and descents, you’re just working for the whole 2 ½ kilometres and that was something new to me and it kind of threw me for a loop,” said Turner. “It was fun to race on a different type of course on a different type of snow. All of the races were a lot of fun, with a lot of support from the Canadian parents out there cheering us on.
“It’s an experience not a lot of people get to do because it’s every two years and you have to be a student-athlete at a high level for both, something that’s kind of unique and I was really excited to be part of FISU family now.”
The World University Games were the perfect lead-in to the junior world championships for Liam Simons. Simons, a 20-year-old first-year engineering student at UBC-Okanagan in Kelowna, will represent Canada again at the world finals set for Oestersund, Sweden, Feb. 26-March 5.
Simons competed at the world trials Prince George in early January and finished third overall.
Competition wise, the highlight of World University Games for Simons was his 28th-place result in the sprint, Jan. 18. He finished as the top North American after shooting eight-for-10.
“I’m pretty happy with how the races went,” said Simons. “It all came together in the sprint, I pulled things together from what I learned in the first two races. It felt good.”
“It was a great experience and a wild two weeks, lots of fun. It was cool to get the first international race done. It was a quick turnaround, just learning the course and how people skied.”
Simons raced in all five biathlon events, including the single-mixed relay, teaming up with Anna Perry of Calgary to finish 10th out of 17 teams.
Walking into the big sold-out arena in Torino with a crowd of more than 12,000 watching behind the Canadian flag during the opening ceremonies was an unforgettable part of the trip for Simons.
“The opening was so cool, just the walk-in and seeing so many people, it was something else,” said Simons.
Ther biathlon/cross-country skiing venue was about a 90-minute drive away from Torino, where a majority of the events, including the opening and closing ceremonies were held. The biathletes stayed in a hotel near the top of a mountain and one of the highlights was racing past a downhill ski school where a group of enthusiastic Italian kids gathered up against the fence to cheer on the biathletes as they skied past. Turner watched some of the cross-country events and Simons got to see short track speed skating and they both took part in the opening/closing ceremonies.
“Having a multisport event made it even more of a well-rounded experience,” said Turner, “It was so fun. I met some of the best people I’ve met in the sport in Canada and other countries so I got race with them and spend time outside of competition with them and it was super-fun. It’s got me even more jazzed for the rest of the season.
“The closing ceremonies were more of a celebratory event with really cool performers on stage and a DJ and we got to spend the night on the town in Torino and got to see the city from more of a touristy perspective.”
The biennial World University Games are for university or college athletes under the age of 25 and Turner and Simons anticipate they’ll eventually return to the FISU event.
Both will meet up again in Valcartier, Que., for the Canadian biathlon championships in March. Simons will fly directly from Sweden to Quebec for the national event, March 8-13.
Turner, who lives and trains in Canmore, will be back on her home trails at Otway Nordic Centre for the Teck BC Cup cross-country races Feb. 14-16.
Simons is looking forward to heading to Sweden for the junior word championships and knows he will have to raise his game competing in the highest-calibre event of his career.
“FISU was a good warm-up for that and this is the real deal, it’ll definitely be another step up,” he said. “It’s a World Cup venue, which will be so cool to be at and experience.”
