The Paterson sisters of St. Albert are going great guns in the sport of biathlon.
At the national level, Jessica and Jennifer ranked among the top biathletes at the recent Canadian championships in Charlo, N.B.
Jessica, 18, won bronze in the youth women’s 7.5-kilometre pursuit race.
“It was awesome,” said the Grade 12 Bellerose Composite High School student. “I wasn’t expecting to come third but I really pushed hard through the race.”
Jennifer, 21, competed in the junior women’s category and finished fourth in the 12.5 km individual race, fifth in the 10 km pursuit and sixth in the 7.5 km sprint. Her team also placed fourth in the 3x6 km mixed relay.
“I’m satisfied with my placings. I had some good races and some not so good races; it happens to all of us,” said the kinesiology student at the University of Alberta Augustana Campus in Camrose. “I would’ve liked to have shot better in the sprint race. I had great skiing for the pursuit race and I shot and skied very well for the relay race.”
It was Jennifer’s fourth trip to nationals. Last year in Canmore she was a near-perfect 19-for-20 shooting in the individual event for silver.
“It was an amazing race, where both my skiing and shooting came together perfectly,” said the Bellerose high school graduate.
The third time at nationals was the charm for Jessica.
“Third place was best I’ve ever done,” she said. “It’s been a goal of mine to place at nationals. Last year and the year before that [in senior girls] I was pretty close with a couple of fourth and fifth placings. I just missed [winning a medal] by a couple of seconds and that was tough and now finally this year I made it to the podium. It was a good feeling to know that I accomplished one of my goals.”
Jessica also won silver in the 3x6 km mixed relay and ranked fourth in the 10 km individual and fifth in the six km sprint at this year’s nationals.
“I was expecting to place quite high there but not as well as I did.”
Her last major event before nationals was the Canada Winter Games in February at Halifax, N.S. The Edmonton Nordic Ski Club member finished ninth in the 7.5 km sprint and 10th in the 12.5 km individual and 10 km pursuit.
“It was a real good experience,” Jessica said. “I was competing against girls that are older than me because it was a bigger age group. It was junior women and they were under-21.”
Leading up to nationals for Jennifer was the World University Winter Games in January at Erzumen, Turkey. The qualification races were held in Canmore in December and she finished fourth for a spot on the Canadian team.
“It was a fascinating and enriching experience. The calibre of competition was very high. I competed against women who regularly race internationally on the world cup circuit,” said Jennifer, who placed 35th in both individual and sprint in the open women’s category and was ranked as the third Canadian female.
“Unfortunately, I suffered from a cold for the first week of the competition. However, I managed to race well in the second week of the games. It was a good learning experience to race against some of the best women in the world. It gave me a good indication of the intensity and seriousness of racing internationally.”
Jennifer also made the Canadian relay team that wound up eighth overall at the games.
Jessica came close to racing internationally for Canada this year with a strong effort at the world junior trials in Whistler.
“I was very close to going. I was the sixth person to qualify and I was within one or two per cent of qualifying to go internationally,” said Jessica, who was on target shooting 10-for-10 in the sprint race and 19-for-20 in the individual race. “It really opened my eyes. I didn’t think I would be able to compete with girls that are going internationally but I was close enough. It kind of helped me go and do well this season because I knew I was up there near the top and I could compete well.”
This is Jessica’s fifth season in a sport that traces its origins to an exercise for Norwegian soldiers, as alternative training for the military.
“I like the challenge. You go, go, go when you’re skiing and then you have to calm down and just hit targets that are really small. You’ve got to change from one extreme to another and I like that challenge. No race is ever the same either, depending on the conditions and competitors, so it’s that challenge of being able to adapt to all of these changes that I really like.”
The individual and sprint races are her main events.
“The individual is mostly based on shooting. If you miss you get a minute penalty so if you shoot well you do well in the race and I’ve been shooting well this year than in past years,” Jessica said. “Skiing is what I’ve substantially improved on the most. I started out five years ago skiing, where as most of my competitors have started skiing when they could walk. It’s a very technical sport and I somehow grasped it quickly.”
Jennifer’s biathlon career started with the 533 Air Cadet squadron in St. Albert, with Zanette Frost as the coach. This is her seventh year in the sport but has been racing seriously the last four years.
“I like to compete and I like the challenge. It gives me something to work at and improve on,” Jennifer said. “I would like to improve on my skiing technique and become a more efficient and powerful skier. I would also like to further improve my shooting speed and accuracy.”
Next season Jennifer will move up into the senior women’s category, an open division where she will race against national team members.
“My goal is to place top five at the 2012 nationals,” said the former Edmonton Nordic club member who now trains in Camrose. “In the future I hope to race internationally again in the World University Games and in the Biathlon IBU World Cup series.”
Next winter Jessica plans to take another shot at making Team Canada for world juniors.
In the meantime, she will continue to train and follow in her sister’s footsteps towards fast times and top finishes.
“I do wish that we both excel in the sport and go as far we can,” said Jessica, the 2010 Alberta Winter Games’ gold medallist in the senior girls’ sprint and modified sprint races. “We push each other. She is a good athlete and a good competitor. We’re close in skiing times and being able to compete in the sport.”
Jennifer is her sister’s biggest fan.
“She is becoming a great racer. She has raced extremely well this season. We’re all very proud of her results at Callahan Valley [world junior trials] in December and her bronze medal at nationals,” said Jennifer, the Alberta Calforex Cup winner in 2008/09 and 2009/10.
