Sarah Beaudry

A year of reflection has Beaudry eager for 2021

Dec 31, 2020 | 5:41 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – While 2020 didn’t go the way many of us had hoped, it was actually 2019 that was far from what biathlete Sarah Beaudry was hoping for, admitting fatigue and feeling burnt out from the season.

“In January-February, I was a bit lost,” explained Beaudry. “I went home for a bit mid-season to try to recover and figure it out, and it never really came around. Then COVID hit the world and everything shut down.”

The 26-year-old admits that while others find the time to be lonely in isolation, she in fact actually found the time to be a period to think about what she wanted both as a person, as well as an athlete.

“It gave me a good chance to reflect on everything and then figure out what I needed to do moving forward, and how I wanted to get back to where I wanted to be with biathlon,” said the local athlete. “Especially this year, it’s still important but with the Olympics next year, I’m trying to be in the right spot. The spring was tough and going through all of that was hard but I started building up again.”

From spring through until the fall, she was able to get in a solid period of training prior to heading over to Europe for World Cup events.

“Racing got started at the end of November and my ski speed definitely went in the right direction. I did a huge improvement off of last year and I’m back to where I need to be.”

Beaudry says with the first weekend back competing at the end of November in Finland, the happiness in skiing resurfaced. However, she struggled with her shooting, something that had typically been a strength of hers. From there, she was then off to Austria where she rebounded and has been carrying some much-needed confidence as the year comes to a close.

“Definitely going in the right direction. I do think in the new year I now have some more confidence in my shooting and a little bit of a training block. I’m looking to do more but I’m satisfied with the start.”

In January, Beaudry will have three more weekends of world cup races, two in Germany and one in Italy, before having a bit of a break ahead of World Championships in Slovenia.