Biathlon: Olympian all fired up for 'unique' sport

Sarah Murphy says the biathlon works you 'physically, mentally and ... emotionally'. Photo / Getty Images

It takes only a short conversation to get a firm conviction that Sarah Murphy is never happier than when she's got a rifle in her hands and snow beneath her feet.

New Zealand's 16th and last Winter Olympics team member will be the country's first biathlon representative, the sport which mixes the physical vigour of cross-country skiing with the disciplined mind required for shooting.

The sport has an ardent advocate in the 21-year-old Canadian-New Zealander, who divides her time between Banff, Alberta and Wanaka, when she's not pounding the slopes round Europe.

"The sport is genuinely unique," she said yesterday.

"You are so fit because of the cross country skiing, using every muscle in your body. It is a very intense, physical sport, then you have to come into the range, slow your heart rate down and try to hit the targets.

"It works you physically, mentally and, if you shoot badly, it works you emotionally," she laughed.

You get the feeling in a sense Murphy hasn't changed much from the 13-year-old who first took up the sport when her family returned to their hometown of Canmore in Banff eight years ago.

She was born there but her family moved to Nelson when Murphy was 9. Father Jim is Canadian, mother Patsy originally from Wellington.

She went to primary school in Nelson before moving back to the house her family built in Canmore at 13.

When she fractured an elbow at gymnastics, it was time for a change.

Her parents were cross-country skiers and the young Sarah took to it immediately - "I had a lot of friends who did it and at that age it was still social."

Then came a defining moment.

"They gave me this firearm and I thought it was just splendid. The power," she quipped.

"So I was a 13-year-old who loved guns, and still do."

After high school, Murphy trained fulltime and set off for Europe in 2008, representing New Zealand for the first time at a Europa Cup event in Sweden.

"I showed up and had nobody with me. I was all alone so walked up to the Ukraine team and they coached me.

"They looked after me, took me under their wing and I've been with them for the last two years."

Murphy began her Olympic qualifying campaign for Vancouver in earnest at the start of December.

She achieved the qualifying mark of finishing 12.5 per cent, or better, behind the top three placegetters in a World Cup at Oberhof, Germany, on January 8. Murphy finished 45th in the sprint event and hit nine out of 10 targets.

Significantly, it was the first World Cup event that her Canadian coach, Peter Zidek, had been at.

Before then "it had been hand signals and sign language" with her Ukrainian friends.

Murphy repeated her qualifying performance at Antholz, Italy, last weekend, finishing 47th. This week she was confirmed in the Games field when New Zealand received a quota spot from the international federation.

"I feel I'm getting stronger and stronger and had four of my best World Cup races out of the last four," she said.

But while the skiing is fine, it's the shooting that really gets Murphy buzzing. "I've always really enjoyed it, it's always been my strong point. It gets me going."

She is young for her sport. Biathletes tend to peak in their late 20s to early 30s. She is realistic about her prospects in Vancouver.

"I really just want to have good personal races. These are more of a learning experience, development in preparation for Sochi in 2014 (the next Winter Olympics). This is what you have to do if you have big goals."

Biathlon, a sport dominated by European nations, is open to the elements, which can play havoc with pre-event assumptions. "You never know what's going to happen with your shooting. If it's windy, or snowing, if your heart is going to jump at the wrong time and your finger twitches and you miss a target."

Murphy will contest the 7.5km sprint event on February 13. If she makes the top 60 out of an expected field of around 100, she goes into the 10km pursuit, and finishes off with the 15km individual event.

She has no world ranking. That starts with an athlete's first top-40 finish.

The bubbly Murphy will be back in Wanaka about April-May for six months, hoping to be on an adventure tourism course. And she's always wanted to be an aeronautical engineer. That's rolling around in the back of her mind.

"I keep saying I'm still young, I've got plenty of time. But I'll probably be saying the same thing in 10 years' time," she laughed.