CANMORE – In a season where not a lot went right for the ’s senior national team, this goal hit a bull’s eye.
Four starting spots were claimed by the men’s biathlon team for Milano-Cortina 2026, which was something that had been coming into the 2024-25 season.
“We f—---g did it,” wrote on social media.
A mostly disappointing season results-wise, Runnalls, Canada’s top-ranked man in biathlon, went on to write that it wasn’t easy, but he was stoked that the team achieved their goal.
At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the Canadian men's relay had a historic sixth place finish. Runnalls is the only active member of that team.
However, due to an IBU World Cup quota at the start of the 2024-25 season, the Canadian men only had three starting spots – not four. The men lost one quota in the 2023-24 season following injury and illness that hurt the team’s chances of being in the top-20 in Nations Cup points, which are made up of relay and individual result points. Nations inside the top-20 have four quota starting spots.
Last season, the Canadian men were 22nd in Nation Cup points.
Put simply, the Canadian men needed better results, especially in the four-man relays. The World Cup tour started out dicey in late 2024, with a few results outside the top-20, but the boys eventually began landing inside the top-20, despite being lapped on several occasions.
At the end of the 2024-25 season, the Canucks – with relay mainstays Runnalls and Logan Pletz, and revolving three and four men, Haldan Borglum, Daniel Gilfillan, Jasper Fleming, Zachary Connelly, and Gavin Johnston – squeaked into the . The women were 16th this season in Nation Cup points.
“Damn, that was hard and honestly didn’t feel like it was going to happen at times. But we did it. I couldn’t be more proud of this team. Everyone sacrificed, everyone fought against setbacks, and everyone showed up and did what they needed to do. Some tough moments, some funny moments, and some of the worst and best times of my life,” Runnalls wrote.
Biathlon Canada’s CEO Kerry Dankers said the men getting the fourth quota was really great for the organization and high performance program, which is undergoing significant changes in the coming months.
“We have some really great guys and we also have some emerging, next gen guys coming up through the program,” said Dankers.
The senior national team, which trains on the Canmore Nordic Centre’s ski trails and biathlon range, is undergoing major changes going into the Olympic year.
The team will be without two pillars of the senior national team. Emma Lunder, Canada’s top-ranked woman for the past six years, who recently retired, and Justin Wadsworth, the senior national team coach and high performance director, who is May 1.
