Mark Arendz: My season highlights

The 2016-17 Nordic skiing season was full of success for Canada’s Mark Arendz.

The 27-year-old shined at last February’s World Championships in Finsterau, Germany, winning five medals overall, including two golds, one silver and two bronzes.

Arendz reached the podium in all men’s biathlon standing events, finishing first in the middle distance and the sprint, and taking silver in the Individual. He also added two bronzes in the cross-country middle distance and open relay to his medal tally.

The two-time Paralympic medallist followed that up with an overall second place at the biathlon World Cup behind France’s Benjamin Daviet.

Whilst he sets a strict training plan in the build-up to the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, Arendz talks about his most memorable moments from the season.

World Championships

“It will take some time to forget about that week. The focus on what I had to do for each race, the excitement for each competition but then refocusing on the task at hand. To sound cliché, I was in the zone.”

Winning five medals in six races

“I had dreamed it was possible to win a medal in the cross-country middle distance but wasn’t sure if the body could hold up since it was the sixth race in nine days for me. It was a very special way to end those Worlds for me. It stills puts a smile on my face!”

Improving in cross-country middle distance

“The cross-country middle distance in PyeongChang, South Korea, at the final World Cup stood out as one of the most memorable races of the season. The final result wasn’t the highlight (fourth place, behind third by 0.4sec) but it was how I got there. Of the three laps, I was leading or a close second for two of them. Then I lost my focus, tripped, fell and caused me to miss out on one of my best races of my career. It proved to me that I was capable of winning that race, but I wasn’t quite ready to do so on that day.”