Aviemore biathlete Calum Irvine knows there is plenty of room for improvement after his wayward shooting cost him dear at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Austria.
The 17-year-old was part of a 24-strong British team in Innsbruck but failed to find his best form in both the men's 7.5km sprint and the 10km pursuit at the Seefeld Arena.
Five misses on the shooting range in the sprint forced him to ski five extra penalty loops, which as a consequence placed him well down the overall rankings in 35th.
An improved performance in the pursuit saw him climb up to 29th overall, but Irvine admitted that his inaccuracy with the rifle had left him with too much to do on the skiing sections in both races.
He said: "Overall I would have liked to have finished higher of course, the results aren't where I wanted to be but still it was a great experience and I'm not unhappy with my performances.
"The pursuit went really well, I set off very strongly and had moved up about five places inside the first lap.
"I came in to the shooting range and missed one on the prone which was disappointing because I felt good and it was a really close miss.
"The next lap I was still moving up the field before the shoot but I missed three and that dropped me right back down the running.
"In both the sprint and pursuit my skiing was definitely the strongest part of my game but I came in too hard for the last shoot and that cost me big in the end."
Irvine was joined in Innsbruck by fellow Aviemore athlete Scott Dixon, who was also left to reflect on what might have been after he could only manage 37th in the men's cross country 10km classic.
Dixon narrowly failed to make the knockout stages of the sprint competition as well - finishing 33rd - but, despite the disappointment, he remained upbeat about his experiences in Austria.
"I gave it my all in both races, I really could not have pushed any harder, and considering I normally do biathlon this was a whole new experience for me," said Dixon.
Read the full story in this week's 'Strathy'
