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Barrhead siblings finish on the podium in two biathlon events

It has been a good start to the biathlon season for the Quintilio siblings. So far in this season, Henrik and Antija have raced in five biathlon races at two different events and finished on the podium every time except one.
Henrik Quintilio (m) with Lance Sekora (l) of Devon Bears, who trains with Quintilios and Aidan Latime of Foothills Nordic after a race in Camrose on Jan. 8.
Henrik Quintilio (m) with Lance Sekora (l) of Devon Bears, who trains with Quintilios and Aidan Latime of Foothills Nordic after a race in Camrose on Jan. 8.

It has been a good start to the biathlon season for the Quintilio siblings.

So far in this season, Henrik and Antija have raced in five biathlon races at two different events and finished on the podium every time except one.

However, that shouldn’t be a surprise given the family’s background. The Quintilio family name is well known in biathlon circles.

That’s because Henrik and Antija’s parents, Kevin and Ntala Quintilio, competed on the World Cup circuit from 1993 to 1998. Ntala, then known as Ntala Skinner, for the United States team and Kevin for Canada. Besides racing on the World Cup circuit, Ntala qualified for both the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway (although she didn’t race) and 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Kevin also qualified for the 1998 Olympics for Canada.

Biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting disciplines.

The first event of the Calforex Cup Biathlon Alberta six race season was in Canmore on Dec. 4 and 5. Henrik, 13, brought home two silver medals in both the individual and sprint events, while Antija, 10, unfortunately didn’t get to compete as her events were cancelled due to cold temperatures.

On the first day, Henrik, who competes in the Developmental One division using a .22 calibre rifle shooting at targets 50 metres away against athletes 15 years old and under, raced in the sprint race.

In a sprint event athletes begin by skiing one kilometre, then stopping to shoot at five targets in a prone position. They then ski another kilometre before stopping to shoot at another five targets. They finish the event with a one-kilometre sprint to the finish. Henrik finished the race hitting eight of 10 targets.

“For every target you miss you are assessed a 100 metre penalty lap,” he said.

Despite the extra time and energy the extra 200 metres added Henrik finished in second place. The next day, in the individual event, he placed second again. This event is similar to the sprint, but is one kilometre longer and an additional series of targets is added.

Henrik skied well enough to win, but the added time due to the penalties probably was the difference, Ntala added, noting in the individual event, penalties are assessed as time and not laps.

Due to cold weather the next race, which was also held in Camrose, was delayed until the weekend of Jan. 8.

Once again, Henrik started by competing in the sprint event where he finished fourth, which placed him in good stead for the pursuit race the next day.

In the pursuit the winner of the race is the person who crosses the line first, which Henrik did. Often in biathlon it is overall time that determines who wins and not who crosses the line first.

“It’s a really fun race to watch. Who starts first in a pursuit race is determined by how you finish in the sprint. So Henrik started in fourth place, but in his category there is only a five second difference between skiers so there are a lot of people on the course at the same time and the lead can change very quickly because missed shots are assessed as penalty loops,” Ntala said, adding Henrik missed only one out of 10 targets.

Antija finally had her chance, on Saturday, Jan. 8, and she didn’t waste it, winning the sprint air rifle race, finishing over her nearest opponent by over a minute and taking the perfect shot award.

At every Calforex Cup race, competitors who hit all their targets are awarded a prize of chocolates.

“Every race is different,” Antija said, adding she didn’t know what type of chocolates she received, but they were really good.

Ntala noted Antija has always been an accurate shooter as demonstrated by her winning last season’s Perfect Shot trophy, also named the Veli Niinimaa Award, to the competitor who goes the entire season without missing a target.

Antija was also scheduled to compete in the individual event, but it was cancelled once again due to cold temperatures.

“It was -15.7 Celsius and the cutoff is was -15,” Ntala said. “The reason why that is the cutoff is because anything colder air rifles can become really erratic.”

This past weekend the Quintilios competed in a Calforex Cup race in Camrose, but the Leader didn’t get the results by our press deadline.


Barry Kerton

About the Author: Barry Kerton

Barry Kerton is the managing editor of the Barrhead Leader, joining the paper in 2014. He covers news, municipal politics and sports.
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