Whitehorse biathlete Nadia Moser had the chance to live out her dream – even if it was briefly – and is eager to make the return to the World Cup circuit.

The 20-year-old just returned from Otepää, Estonia where she competed in her final biathlon junior world championships. But before that, Moser had the chance of competing in the top World Cup circuit in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy in January.

Moser said the Canadian Olympic team that was competing in the World Cup returned home to train before the Games which allowed the IBU Cup team to move up to the highest level.

“So I knew I was going to race there from the beginning of the tour and that was pretty exciting,” Moser said in an interview with the Star Wednesday.

In the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint race, Moser was the top Canadian finisher in 85th spot of 102 finishers. This was the only event in the three-race series that the Canadians participated in.

“It was really cool to race at a World Cup even if, you know, you’re one of the worst ones there,” Moser said. “Just the whole atmosphere with all the fans, it’s quite different and seeing all the big names skiing around with you, it’s pretty cool.”

The experience is one Moser hopes to get used to in the future with the goal of competing in more World Cup races.

“It was nice to see how hard it actually is,” she said. “It was kind of what I was expecting but it’s nice to actually experience it.”

At the junior championships, Moser had a top 10 finish in the 12.5-km individual race, placing eighth as the top Canadian finisher.

“I guess it went pretty well,” she said of the achievement. “I shot OK. I would have liked to hit a couple more targets but I got a little bit lucky because other girls were missing more than I was.”

The longest-distance race at the competition consisted of four rounds of shooting and a one-minute time penalty for each miss of the 20 targets.

Moser said she didn’t have a specific goal heading into the championships, but was pleased with this long-distance result.

“I wasn’t focused on any particular race. Every race is different and I just focus on it as I’m racing,” she said. “I don’t pick one and really train for that or anything it just depends on what happens on the day.”

In the 7.5-km sprint race, Moser placed 21st and she placed 11th in the pursuit race.

She said the weather in Estonia was a factor throughout the championships with temperatures dropping to -20 for a few of the days making for chilly racing conditions.

Rather than continuing on the IBU Cup circuit as the biathlon season wraps up, Moser is back in Canmore gearing toward the upcoming national championships in Charlo, New Brunswick.

The competition runs March 20-25 and Moser said she will be competing in the junior division in the sprint, pursuit and mass start races.

This is the final year of junior eligibility for the biathlete and she said her goal next year is to again make the IBU Cup team and represent Canada as she has done the past two years – the only difference being she won’t be able to compete at the junior championships.

After the national event, Moser said April will be a rest month and she plans to return to Whitehorse for some time as well before she resumes training for the next season.

Training in Canmore with the national team, Moser said it was cool to be able to cheer on her biathlon teammates as they competed at the Olympic Games in South Korea.

“It was really cool to watch this year because as I’ve been living in Canmore you get to know the national team a little bit because we do stuff with them some times,” she said. “It makes it more exciting because you know the people that are racing.”