St. Albert biathlete Jennifer Paterson is making tracks to her second Winter Universiade Games in three years.
Paterson, 23, will compete for Canada in the individual and sprint events at the Dec. 11 to 21 Universiade in Trentino, Italy.
“My goal is to have some personal best races, shoot in the range of 90 per cent and above for accuracy and hopefully qualify for Canada’s relay team. Only two female Canadians can get on the team and there are four of us,” said Paterson.
Results in the 15-kilometre individual and 7.5-km sprint distances will also determine her role in the 10-km pursuit and 12.5-km mass start races.
“The pursuit is an interesting race. It’s based on the sprint finishers so you get to start where you finished in the sprint. So if you finished the sprint 30 seconds behind the leader you get to start 30 seconds behind the leader the next day for that race,” Paterson said. “In the mass start the top 30 women go in that one. It’s based on your overall results for the week and everyone starts at the same time.”
At the 2011 Universiade in Erzumen, Turkey she finished 35th in both the individual and sprint in the open women’s category.
“I had a cold for the majority of the time so the sprint and individual didn’t go that well but I was feeling better for the relay.”
The Canadian relay team placed eighth overall.
“That was my best race when I was there,” Paterson said of the six-km female distance.
There will be no surprises this year for the Bellerose Composite High School alumna.
“Having done it once before I know what I’m getting into. The level of competition was pretty high. There were some girls there who competed at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics so it was tough.”
Qualifying for the Universiade at the Canadian Biathlon Championships at Whistler in March was the highlight of Paterson’s season.
“It was exciting. I was very happy,” said the Bachelor of Science graduate, majoring in physical education in kinesiology, at the University of Alberta Augustana Campus in Camrose.
At her sixth nationals Paterson placed eighth in pursuit as the third-fastest Alberta female, ninth in sprint as the fifth-best Alberta female, 10th in women’s mass start as the fifth Alberta finisher and in the relay was part of the eighth-place Alberta No. 4 team.
Short distances are Paterson’s forte.
“I’m exposed to it more so I’m pretty good at it,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of sprints every weekend when we’ve raced here in Alberta so I would say I’m better at the sprints.
“But when I’m having a good day I’m a stronger shooter.”
Paterson trains and works on her shooting with the Edmonton Nordic Ski Club and hones her skiing skills with the University of Alberta ski team.
“My skiing has improved and so has my technique and my speed in general,” said Paterson, who averages 10 hours a week skiing and shooting or in the weight room.
Paterson discovered the biathlon with the 533 Royal Canadian Air Cadet squadron in St. Albert.
“It’s one of those weird sports that not a lot of people have heard of or know what it is so I like it, especially compared to cross country skiing. It’s not just downhill,” she said. “The shooting can change the race at any moment. You can be in the lead and shoot one target down instead of all five and you can just be last or it can go the other way too and be towards the back and all of a sudden you shoot five for five and you’re in the lead.
“I like the excitement and how it can change at any point in time.”
It didn’t take Paterson long to climb up the ranks in the sport.
“After I started in the air cadets I moved to real biathlon on the normal racing circuit. I qualified for Team Alberta for nationals in Whistler in 2008 and that’s when I started putting in more time and training more seriously. That’s when I also decided I’m going to go to Augustana and race biathlon for their team.”
On tap for Paterson after the Universiade are the 2014 nationals in Charlo, N.B.
“I’m still in the midst of qualifying for that,” said the recipient of a $750 grant through the St. Albert Games Legacy Award Program.
