Regina student heading to Biathlon world championships

Like many kids in Saskatchewan Logan Pletz’s sports career started with hockey.

But after a move to Regina he decided hockey wasn’t for him and his mom took him to an open house for a sport he had never considered: Biathlon.

There wasn’t any biathlon in the family, but Pletz’s grandpa was a hunter and his mom wanted that knowledge to be passed on, but didn’t much care for hunting.

“I’ve always kind of been a good cross country runner and distance athlete, so the skiing aspect isn’t that hard for me, however, I’ve always been a pretty gifted shooter as well,” Pletz said.

For the uninitiated, Biathlon consists of a distance of cross country skiing combined with a section of shooting at small targets.

It’s the combination of the two that makes the sport challenging, Pletz said.

After completing the ski portion of a race, his heart is beating at 190 beats per minute.

“So trying to steady a rifle and hit a target that’s the size of a toonie when you’re laying down and the size of roughly a CD disc when you’re standing up in under 30 seconds is quite a task,” he said.

It’s one that Pletz seems to have perfected as he’s just earned a spot representing Canada at the Youth World Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia at the end of the month.

His qualifying event didn’t come without drama, however. After finishing in first on day one at the competition in Valcartier, Pletz found himself disqualified after completing his second race of the week for taking a wrong turn on the course.

The competition takes your best two out of three races but because of the disqualification Pletz didn’t have a second race setting up a lot of pressure for day three.

“In addition to starting at the back of the pack because I didn’t have results (from race two) … I had to work my way through the whole field,” he explained.

But he was able to do just that, finishing second place overall out of roughly forty racers and earning one of four spots at the World Championships.

“I actually have no idea how I’m going to do,” the 18-year-old Luther College student laughed. “Going into a competition, especially nationals the past two years, I’ve kind of been able to judge – maybe I want to get on the podium this year or maybe I want to be in the top ten – but going into this competition I have absolutely no idea where I’m going to place.”

Instead, Pletz, who trains at Qu’Appelle Valley Nordic Ski Club near Lumsden and at Level 10 Fitness in Regina, is going to focus on performing well under pressure instead of where he’ll end up in the rankings.

“I don’t really have any expectations for where I’m going to place, which makes it really easy for me to just focus on what I’m in control of and what’s important for my performance such as my mental performance state … while coming into the (shooting) range as well as if I’m taking the corners on skis fast enough and the small things that are going to add up to a good performance.”

The Worlds are also a valuable opportunity for Pletz to take the next step in his biathlon career and hopefully graduate from Biathlon Canada’s junior development team and into the senior program.

In the years that follow Pletz hopes to reach the world cup level.

But it will all start with the Youth World Championships which begin Jan. 26.