Athlete of the Month: Anna Sellers

We are bringing our Athlete of the month series back for February… We started this blog series to showcase a local athlete connected to the store and community and ask them questions about their sport and learn from their experiences! 

This month we are featuring Strides Staff member Anna Sellers who qualified to represent Team Canada in Europe this season at Open European Championships in Switzerland and IBU Cup in Austria for biathlon. We are very happy to see Anna racing well and representing her country again after many years of injury. Anna has been working with us from the very start of our store and keeps returning to us whenever she moves away for skiing. Even when she is on the road she is still our photo/social media expert and will always have a place with us at Strides!

What got you into xc skiing and biathlon?
I grew up in Canmore with parents who were very into xc skiing. I started off in Jack Rabbits, like many other kids who grew up in Canmore, and then continued into the Track Attack program with Canmore Nordic. I then started biathlon because I wanted an extra night of skiing because I enjoyed it so much when I was 12 years old. 

What are your goals for biathlon? 
My main goal for my sport is to be able to compete in an international competition at home. I grew up watching Beckie Scott, Sara Renner and Chandra Crawford medalling at world cups in my backyard and that is what inspired me to do the sport. I still want to be like them even now that I’m older :)

Tell us a little about your highlights of racing in Europe so far…
My favorite race so far in Europe has been the Single Mixed relay in Lenzerheide Switzerland. I was competing in a large field with a lot of strong athletes who are often at the World Cup. Despite slower skiing I was able to have the best and fastest shooting out of everyone in the race which I am very happy with! Other highlights of Europe have been seeing friends from other countries like the USA and Switzerland and also eating a lot of Milka and Haribo!

What’s next for the rest of your season?
After my biathlon competitions I will be competing in a 42k skate race in the Dolomites in Italy before returning back to Canada. After that I will have more competitions in Whistler, Revelstoke, Quebec, Silverstar and possibly Canmore… I will let you know if I’m back racing in Canmore ;)

Thanks for answering these questions for us Anna and good luck in the rest of the season. If you want to follow along with Anna’s racing check out her instagram @anna4036