Etcheverry aims for summer and winter excellence
By Philip Saunders
for CBC Sports Online

Biathlete Jodi Etcheverry is rising through the ranks quickly for someone who has been skiing for less than two years and shooting at targets for even less.

“Last year was really hard,” she says, “I was still learning how to ski and shooting was totally new to me.”

Already a top distance runner, Jodi Etcheverry is showing she has the skills to become an elite biathlete too

Etcheverry already had a local reputation as a top distance runner when she took the advice of her friend and teammate David Zurevinski and checked into the biathlon as a way to cross train. Two years later, Etcheverry is representing Saskatchewan at the Canada Winter Games.

Soon after taking up the sport, she joined a biathlon club in North Battleford. The Blue Mountain Bullets have been teaching and promoting the sport for about six years.

Doug Sylvester teaches kids the finer points of skiing and shooting, and now the fruits of his labour are showing as pupils like Etcheverry compete for the province at the national level.

At 17, Etcheverry is no stranger to elite-level competition. As a track and field athlete she competed in the 2000 Canada Summer Games and the provincial championships. Recently she has shown great improvement by placing first in several competitions, including two first-place finishes against out-of-province competitors.

She admits that sprints are her best event, because shooting misses are penalized with laps instead of time, and she considers herself among the fastest on her team. Her shooting skills are another story.

“I’m up to between 50 and 60 per cent,” she says, “I still have a lot of work to do there.”

Sylvester, who will be accompanying the biathlon team as manager, says that the biggest challenges in this sport are the mental.

“In the elite athletes, the hard work has been done with the training. Now we are focusing on the mental aspects,” he says. “We want to make sure they have a good race.”

Sylvester is also no stranger to elite competition. He was once ranked in the top five nationally in the triathlon and ironman competitions. He says that his interest in the biathlon came from legendary Quebec biathlete Myriam Bedard.

“The secret is to get out there and ski with the kids,” he says. “The easier time you have skiing, the easier time you have shooting. The more energy you exert, the harder it is to catch your breath and you won’t be able to hit anything.”

Etcheverry admits that her major challenge has been the mental aspects of shooting.

“I have really had to train myself to get into a focused metal state,” she says, “It’s one thing to get your heart rate under control, but when you are shooting, you can’t really allow what’s going on around you to affect your concentration.”

Sylvester says that, psychologically, the biathlon is a lot like golf.

“You have to make big puts in golf and you have make big shots in Biathlon,” he says. “Some need to be more focused, while others are really focused and need to be relaxed.”

Etcheverry has fallen in love with the biathlon. These days she is concentrating almost exclusively on the sport. As she gets ready to graduate from high school this year, she hopes to train hard next year go to the World Championships with an eye on the Olympics.

Her coach says that Etcheverry has shown incredible talent in the sport and her commitment has been proven by her steady rise in the last year. No doubt, she’ll be someone to keep an eye on at this year’s games.