Battlefords native Matthew Hudec will be participating in two upcoming international biathlon competitions.
The first competition is the International Biathlon Union Open European Championship held in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4. The second event is an IBU Cup event from Feb. 7 to 9 in Brezno-Osrblie, Slovakia.
The 19-year-old biathlete is competing in the junior division at the European Championship after qualifying based on results at an event Dec. 20 and 21. The competition selected four junior-level athletes to go to the European Championships. Based on the length of the race, he was also picked as one of the five athletes to participate in the men's event in Slovakia.
Hudec said it is a surreal moment to be representing his country.
"It's obviously a huge honour to be representing Canada at a competition like this," said Hudec. "I'm really excited to be going over there."
In the Czech Republic, Hudec will begin the competition with a 10-km sprint. If he does well in the sprint, he will move on to the 12.5-km pursuit, where the athletes chase the winner of the sprint. The third race is an individual competition with added penalties for each missed shot.
Hudec says it is his biggest achievement so far in his career. He previously won a silver medal in the youth age division at the 2013 Canadian Biathlon Championship in Whistler, B.C. last March.
This season, Hudec's age has moved him up to the junior division. He said it is stiffer competition in the new category.
"Every second sort of counts more in junior," said Hudec. "It is quite a few of the same guys that I ended up racing last year that have moved up. The distances are a little longer so that makes it a little tougher, too."
Doug Sylvester, a biathlon coach since 1987 and Hudec's coach since 2006, said the competition at the world events will be some of the toughest Hudec has ever faced. However, Sylvester credits Hudec for being able to perform well at big races. Sylvester said the ability comes from a long history participating in events.
"I think he's been racing at a high level even when he was eight or 10 years old," said Sylvester. "He used to compete in really hard competitions. He's kind of had that bred into him from a young age."
Hudec started skiing when he was five years old when his entire family was introduced to the sport by family friends. He started practicing to shoot the next year. His original training ground was Blue Mountain and he still skis there when he has the opportunity.
"It's where I learned to ski," said Hudec. "It's like my second home out there. I do miss training there."
In order to focus on training full time, Hudec moved to Canmore, Alta. A typical week of training includes five days of a combination of skiing and shooting in the morning. In the afternoon, there is either a second session of skiing or time in the weight room depending on the morning's activities. The training has paid off for Hudec as Sylvester said he is in the top 50 of biathletes in the world in his age group. Hudec credits his work ethic for his success in the sport.
"I don't let other guys out work me. I think being able to be one of the hardest working guys out in Canmore has really helped me to progress and reach a position like I'm on right now."
When he isn't training, Hudec turns to his online kinesiology classes from the University of Regina. The classes help him take a break from the intense training regiment he goes through.
"Taking classes and doing school is so much different that it allows you to focus more when you're training, said Hudec. "When you're not training, you can really just focus on your school. That break, I think that's what mainly helped me the most in my sport."
Hudec has modest expectations for the events in Europe. For the European Championship, he says his goal is to finish in the top half of the competition, which will put him anywhere between 45th and 55th place. As for the event in Slovakia, Hudec will be competing as a senior. His expectation is to be in the top three-quarters, good for 60th to 90th.
Sylvester said the training and experience has put him on the path to have success at the senior level with the potential to make an appearance at the Olympics. He estimated in order to be an Olympian, Hudec needed to put in close to 10,000 hours of training. According to Sylvester, he is still far away from that total and will need to put in more hours during the summer to reach that level. However, he doesn't think it isn't possible.
"That's where his trajectory will take him in four to eight years if he keeps doing it."
