Crazy year but lockdown worked for me...

It’s been almost a year that myself and the team were sat in Sweden ready to compete at the Para Biathlon World Championships.  With the opening ceremony done and us preparing our kit for the first race the next day, a team meeting was called and we were told we would be leaving Sweden and heading home the next morning due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. We all understood why and it was 100% the right call looking back at it now, but there and then we were all absolutely gutted. 

I know the first lockdown (and subsequent ones) have been hard for many.  For me it gave me the focus I needed to train without distractions and kick off pre-season with a bang. I knew that we wouldn’t be able to get away on our early season training camps but we were very lucky to still be able to train more than once a day plus travel to safe gyms run by the English Institute of Sport (EIS), where COVID protocols were followed to keep the gyms clean and safe for all elite athletes to train in a secure bubble environment. 

“So from April to September that was my life, travel to the gym train, cycle and roller ski around my local area, grab family time where possible week in week out.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.” 

In September we got the good news that a roller ski camp in Italy was a go, it would be the first time the team had trained together since bugging out of Sweden in March 2020. It was just what we needed back together banter, laughs, bad chat and of course face to face coaching, the team was on a high and the ten days flew by. 

After that we managed to squeeze in a few more camps in and around Europe, the coaching staff working hard to get us in and out of countries and also finding snow as we desperately needed snow time. 

Germany at the indoor snow tunnel and Sweden twice were the destinations that were chosen. The team as a whole has improved massively with ski technique, shooting, fitness, and just being confident in all different snow conditions. Personally I put this down to the lockdowns, I worked my ass off because there was nothing else to do. I stuck to my training programme but all the other distractions were gone no pub, no family BBQs, no late nights out of the blue boozing with mates, no surprise family visits.  

“Don’t get me wrong I can’t wait to see people again soon for now though it’s made me a far better athlete.” 

Due to all our competitions being cancelled for this season (2020/2021) I was home for Christmas which was great.  Even though we weren’t racing, we had trained hard and it was time for a break (3 days off). Early in the new year (Jan 2021) we got told a few races might be back on in the March so the Coaches got their heads together again and came up with some ideas to give us the best chance of maintaining the gains we’d made.  The best option was for the team to head out to America for a month and get some quality training and racing in with the US Para Ski Team as well as the Brazilians who had travelled to America also. 

GB Para Snowsports (Nordic) Team in Salt Lake City, February 2021

The first half of the camp was in Bozeman, Montana where we got the feeling of being on snow again at altitude (1700m) and compete in a couple races the US team were putting on. The second half of the camp was a 7hr drive south to Midway, Utah the home of the 2002 Olympic Games (Soldier Hollow) for more training but more importantly racing, 2 biathlon and 2 cross country in the last week. 

The first race was the 6km biathlon sprint which was a good one to do to break us in as we hadn’t shot in a race for almost a year.  The team did awesome with a 2nd, 4th and 5th place (me). 

The next day was the cross country sprint which isn’t usually my favourite event but for some reason I felt massively up for it and I qualified in 10th, sending me into the second semi-final where again I came 4th and giving me a place in the A final.

“I’ve never raced in a semi-final in the sprint, let alone the final so coming 8th (last) in the final was more than I could have ever expected.”

The rest of the team did great also with a 7th in the final with me and the other two guys making it into the B final. 

After a training day, the third race was the 12.5km biathlon.  For some reason the whole team didn’t go great in this.  We all skied well but our shooting let us down.  I personally missed 7 out of 20 which is 6 to many to be in the mix but that’s biathlon and I’m always going to have a love hate relationship with it. Results for the team were 3rd, 5th and 6th for me which doesn’t sound bad but it was my skiing that kept us all in there just about. 

The last race was the 10km cross country again the team pulled it out the bag and had great results on a slow snowy day which is nice if you want to have a snow ball fight but not great for fast skiing with only your arms.  We had a 3rd, 7th and 11th with me coming in 5th which I’m still buzzing about now. 

With our trip now coming to an end it’s 3 weeks at home then off to Finland for a World Cup competition and hopefully see more nations racing.

This season has been a crazy one but I’m looking forward to the summer already, to make more gains and hit the 2021/22 season at full speed and hopefully qualify for the Paralympic Games in Beijing March 2022. 

Reset and start again

After some very disappointing news at the end of last season with not getting a chance to compete at the Paralympic Games due to things that were out of mine and the teams control, I had some serious thinking to do over the summer months. I had to decide if I wanted to carry on with sport and not just the skiing but any kind of sport as I wasn’t sure if I could handle the disappointment  if it did happen again.

Thankfully, I had the opportunity to train with the British Paracanoe team in Nottingham and Eton Dorney for a fair bit of the summer and it gave me that spark again to get back on the horse (as it were) and try again and to become the best athlete I can be and see where it takes me.

First things first though was the birth of our beautiful daughter who arrived in late September. She is another reason I want to carry on in sport. I want her in years to come to be proud of her dad and know sometimes life can be horrible and tough but most of the time there is light at the end of the tunnel and you can achieve your dreams with hard work and determination.

I’m not going to lie it’s been hard getting back into a full time training routine over the past few months and I’m not in the shape I’d like to be in just 3 weeks out from our first World Cup but this week in Norway has shown I’ve still got it even if it’s not pretty right now. So all I can do now is get my head down these last couple of weeks and fingers crossed I will put in a good performance at the World Cup in Finland.

I’d like to thank everyone who have supported me the past 6 months and I’m really excited to be part of GB Snowsport and be on this journey to the next Paralympic Games in 2022.

From ParalympicsGB: Arnold determined to end whirlwind year on a high with PyeongChang on the horizon

Article from ParalympicsGB

With Paralympic qualification up for grabs in only his second ever race, Steve Arnold has had far from a steady introduction to para Nordic skiing.

Having only taken up the sport in January, 2017 has proven to be a whirlwind year for Arnold, making his debut at February’s World Championships with only ten hours on the snow in his locker.

But as the former GB handcyclist prepares to mount his qualification campaign for PyeongChang, he’s determined to show a summer of hard work has paid off.

This weekend, the first Nordic World Cup of the season gets underway in Canmore, with Scott Meenagh and Terry Ahrens also flying the flag for Great Britain on the Canadian slopes.

And having missed out on the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games during his cycling career, Arnold is more determined than ever to make it onto the plane to PyeongChang.

“It’s been a hectic year, a whirlwind, because I haven’t even been doing the sport for a year yet,” said Arnold, who was vice-captain for the UK team at this year’s Invictus Games.

“Nordic skiing was a sport I had never done before, even before I was injured, so it interested me when I was given the opportunity.

“I wasn’t even thinking about PyeongChang when I first started. The first race I did was in February at the World Championships, and I only went because I needed to race.

“I definitely wasn’t good enough to be there at the time but I needed to go to make sure I raced that season.

“Over the summer, going to the Paralympics has become more and more of a reality. I’ve been getting a lot quicker and better at picking things up.

“Words can’t describe what it would mean to me to get to the Paralympics. It would be absolutely incredible.”

"Words can’t describe what it would mean to me to get to the Paralympics. It would be absolutely incredible."Steve Arnold

Para Nordic skiing sees athletes compete in biathlon and cross-country races, with Arnold getting his World Cup season underway on Saturday.

The action in Canmore runs from December 9-17, with the British team having spent the last week getting used to the conditions and fine-tuning their last-minute preparations.

But while he admits to feeling the pressure slowly starting to build on his shoulders, Arnold is quietly confident for the months ahead.

“We’re really looking forward to starting to race in Canmore,” he said.

“The track is looking good and we’ve been training a couple of times a day. The excitement is really starting to build.

“I’m starting to feel a bit of pressure and a lot of that is from myself. I don’t really know how this World Cup is going to go, I’ve only ever raced once before, but I know I’m in a better place than I was in February.

“Hopefully I can hit the qualifying standard, and if not, close to it, and then at least we know we’re moving in the right direction.

“Myself, Scott and Terry are all confident this season can go well. We feel like we’re really ready to go and we don’t think we’re that far behind the rest of the field now.”

Photo: Help for Heroes