The Yukon’s Cheyenne Tirschmann had a strong showing at her first international event.

Tirschmann, 16, competed in four biathlon events at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympics from Jan. 20-24 (Days 1-5) in South Korea.

In her first race, the 10 km individual, she was the highest-placing Canadian woman, finishing 27th.

In her second race, the Single Mixed Relay, Tirschmann had an excellent first leg which had the team in ninth. Some missed shots in later legs bumped the team down to rank 20th overall.

Her third day of competition saw Tirschmann place 24th in a field of 95 in the women’s sprint. She was one of only three athletes to make no errors in the standing shooting segment.

The biathlon events wrapped up with the mixed 4x6 km relay. The Canadian team of Tirschmann and Calgary’s Flora Csonka, Luke Hulshof and Justin Konoff had an exceptional race, placing sixth out of 26 nations. No shooting errors were made by the Canadians on the first prone shooting segment – an accomplishment only shared by two other nations in the race.

The Star spoke with Tirschmann and her mother Anke Rhein recently about their experience at the Games.

“It was really amazing,” recalled Tirschmann. “It was so much fun. I had really great support from the coaches, my clubs. And the team atmosphere was really awesome.”

Needless to say, she was quite happy with her strong results.

“I went into the competitions not knowing what to expect, as it was my first international races. But overall, I was super proud of my results, especially cracking top 25. That was quite the achievement for me. And I was just super happy with it.”

Tirschmann said she found the recent gold medal win by Sonjaa Schmidt at the U23 Cross Country Worlds inspiring.

“It is extremely inspiring, especially as she used to train at the exact same club as I am currently training at. It’s just great to see how somebody from a small town like Whitehorse can go so far with their sport if they stick to it and really dedicate themselves and work really hard. It’s super inspiring.”

Other experiences besides the racing stood out for Tirschmann.

“We were super lucky. And we got to cheer on Team Canada in short track. It was amazing how different the sport was compared to our sport.

“And we also got to go out for dinner one evening. Korean food. It is so good. Korean food, Korean barbecue in particular, I could live off it.”

Tirschmann was impressed with the hospitality in Korea.

“I’ve never been to Asia before. But I was pleasantly surprised how enthusiastic everyone was that we were there, and how ready to help the volunteers were. And they were super keen to get to know us. It was such an awesome atmosphere. They were so welcoming. It was really great.”

Asked what else stood out for her at the Games, Tirschmann replied, “We had a bunch of really good coaches and a really good team. I think that’s always a really important aspect of having a good experience at a competition and they definitely made the trip what it was.”

Tirschmann has had many contributors to her success.

“There are honestly so many people,” she said. “Obviously coaches, from the Yukon, from Sovereign (Lake Nordic Club in Vernon, B.C.), older athletes who I look up to, my family, teammates who I trained with, basically everyone in the ski and biathlon community.”

Tirschmann said Sovereign has had a big influence on her career.

“I moved down to Vernon B.C. and trained with the Sovereign Lake Nordic Development Academy for a semester. So last semester. They’re a really nice team super welcoming, super supportive. It was a really great experience.

“They helped build on the base that I had built with my Yukon clubs up here in the North.”

Rhein said Gangwon was an awesome experience for her as well.

“I’m really grateful that I could go over there and watch my daughter race. It was such a rewarding experience after seeing her putting all the effort and the training over the years. She started when she was really young with her skiing at Mount Lorne and over the years to get more and more serious. Joined by a bond to the cross country ski team.

“And having her going outside of Canada and representing Canada at the Youth Olympics is really special. So I was feeling happy that I could go and watch her live.”

Rhein said it was a great feeling to see her daughter competing at the Games.

“It was kind of the feeling, ‘she has achieved something really special in her life.’”

Rhein said it was great to see Tirschmann’s long hours of training pay off.

“It made me happy to see her because she really looked happy. She seemed to enjoy the support she got from her team and cheering on her teammates. Seeing your child happy, that was great.”

Rhein was asked if she ever thought that Tirschmann would go this far.

“Nope,” she replied honestly, laughing.

“It’s good to see your daughter having fun and competing, but it was for such a long time that she could not travel for almost three seasons out of the territory. During COVID. So it was really hard to see where she is nationally. It was really great to see that she placed so well at the Canada Games last year. That was somehow the spark that she was asking, ‘Mom, could I move to Sovereign Lake and train there?’” They felt that training at Sovereign Lake would be more intensive than in Whitehorse.

“And so we made that move and it really paid off,” recalled Rhein.

Tirschmann won bronze in the Mixed Single Relay at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in P.E.I.

That led to her competing in the Youth Olympic trials in Canmore, Alta during the first week of November. She was the top performer in the women’s category.

“There wouldn’t have been disappointment if she wouldn’t have qualified because it is quite a competitive field,” related Rhein. “Somewhere deep you might hope for it.”

There were over 30 girls competing at the trials, but only three would go to the Youth Olympics.

“I moved down to Sovereign in September,” said Tirschmann. “And then I started training super intensely 18 hours a week, roughly, to build up to trials to give qualifying my best shot.”

As for how far she wants to take her career, Tirschmann said, “I honestly don’t know. Just have fun with it. See where it goes.”

Rhein added, “I’m really, really grateful to all the volunteer coaches and parents who over the years gave their time to train Cheyenne here in Whitehorse, as well as in Sovereign Lake, to make (the Youth Olympics) possible.”