The 40 centimeters of snowfall in the Austrian village of Obertilliach on Monday December 28th gave Vernons Emma Lunder and her Canadian senior biathlon teammates the opportunity to play in the snow instead of training and participating.
Obertilliach lies between the Lienz Dolomites and the Carnic Alps and is one of the most beautiful villages in the Lienz district in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Obertilliach was declared a monument in 1978.
The village is Lunder and the Canadian biathlon team is a second home during the BMW IWU World Cup season.
“We went tobogganing today and it was just a lot of fun,” said 29-year-old Lunder in her seventh season in the senior national team on a Facebook call.
Instead of a sled or toboggan run, Lunder is usually found on snow with two skis on his feet, two poles to push them on snow-covered trails, and a rifle over his shoulder.
Biathlon is a word of Greek origin and means “two tests”. That is exactly the sport – a combination test of cross-country skiing and shooting. Today’s sport is based on a hunting tradition that goes back more than 4,000 years.
Lunder walked in the snow in her hometown of Timmins, Ontario, the hometown of the Canadian country music goddess Shania Twain. She and her family did cross-country skiing, and that continued when the family moved to Vernon at age 12.
After spending a year on the Jackrabbits program at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Center, Lunder followed in the footsteps of older brother Angus and joined Sea Cadets and eventually the Cadet Biathlon program.
A graduate of Vernon Secondary School in 2009, Lunder continued his advances in the sport. She formed the national junior biathlon team in 2011 and is constantly improving. She is the oldest executive in the women’s team.
Before the 2020-21 BMW IWU World Cup season, Lunder’s three best career results were ninth in the sprint race in Oslo. 10th in the women’s relay at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea; and 17th at a sprint event in the Czech Republic in 2018.
During the four-week World Cup races in the 20-21 season, Lunder has achieved three top-10 results, including a ninth place in the Pursuit in Koniolahti, Finland, and finishing 15th or better five times this season.
She was 10th in the pursuit in Hochfilzen, Austria, and qualified for her favorite biathlon event by finishing 11th in the sprint. This goal meant that Lunder finished 11th overall in the pursuit and tried to catch the 10 skiers in front of him. She missed one target (out of five) in the four shooting laps, resulting in a penalty loop ski 150 yards.
“I enjoy hunting people,” said Lunder. “There are usually 60 people in the pursuit so there are a lot of women to ski with and try to fit.”
At the shooting stations, competitors can either shoot at the targets while standing or lying on their stomach. Lunder prefers to stand and also enjoys shifting focus from skiing to shooting.
“There’s a lot of stress in a race, you don’t want to miss a target and you don’t want to take the penalty loop, so I enjoy getting there and having to focus on shooting,” said Lunder, who has three other World Cup events are scheduled for 2021 before the World Cup of Sports from February 11-21 in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
The dates for the 2021 worlds will be roughly the same as for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which could be Lunder’s swan song in sports.
She competed in Korea in 2018, got a glimpse into Olympic life, attended the opening and closing ceremonies, felt impressed to see a Canadian gold medalist in the food lane of the Athletes Village, and helped the Canadian women’s relay team thereby a 10th place.
Her post-Olympiad results show that Lunder continues to improve, so Beijing may not be the last time the world hears about Emma Lunder in sports.
“It was overwhelming in Korea and I soaked it all up,” she said. “It was such a good experience. I see improvements every year so I hope to be more of a competitor in 2022 and if the results keep improving who knows? “
Lunder is the leader of the Canadian squad and takes the torch given to her by her idols when she joined the Canmore, Altas Rosanna Crawford and Brendan Green squad of Hay River, NWT.
“I bring experience and leadership to the team,” said Lunder. “Rosanna and Brendan showed me the ropes and I’m trying to emulate them.”
As for COVID, Lunder said during World Cup season that the athletes are being tested every four days and the Canadian team is wearing masks everywhere. The troupe enjoyed a socially distant gift exchange with Secret Santa to celebrate Christmas.
Aside from biathlon, Lunder is a fan of the TV show Grey’s Anatomy, enjoys reading and playing cards, and lists dog sitting and bread baking as her hobbies.
READ MORE: Lunder Named to Olympic Biathlon Roster
READ MORE: Lunder goes hard for silver
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Local sports
Get local stories you won’t find anywhere else straight to your inbox.
Sign up here
