Julia Ransom of Kelowna, B.C., gets some encouragement from a coach as she competes in the women's sprint at the World Cup biathlon in Canmore, Alta., on Friday, Feb. 5, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Ridewood

CANMORE, Alta. - Nathan Smith needs speed to match his shooting and Julia Ransom must channel her effervescence into fuel if Canada's biathlon team is to win a medal on home soil at the Canmore Nordic Centre.

The BMW World Cup biathlon concludes Sunday with mixed relays — the four-skier event that made its Olympic debut in 2014 and the new singles relay that features a man and a woman from each country.

The latter was introduced at the World Cup level last year. Calgary's Smith and Rosanna Crawford of Canmore combined to win silver in the season-opener in Oestersund, Sweden.

With Crawford not fully healthy due to strep throat, Ransom, of Kelowna, B.C., will join Smith in the mixed singles.

A day after her 23rd birthday, Ransom was one of only seven women to shoot clean in Friday's sprint, finishing 19th.

Racing before a pro-Canadian crowd had Ransom "so excited I can barely contain myself,'' and she expects another emotional experience Sunday.

"I'm just going to harness them in to make maximum speed," Ransom said. "I'll have Maple Leafs on my face.

"Maybe I should get some bright red lipstick too."

Smith feels Ransom could be the pick-me-up he needs after two races in Canmore where his shooting was sharp but his legs weren't.

"She's definitely in a really good mindset and physical shape right now," the 30-year-old Smith said. "That's probably our best chance tomorrow, is in the single mixed.

"When everyone is in shape on our team, we could definitely have a strong full mixed relay, but we've got some injuries and illness right now."

Crawford will join Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T., Canmore's Macx Davies and Sara Beaudry of Prince George, B.C., in the four-skier mixed relay Sunday.

With 230 athletes from 26 countries, the World Cup is the biggest biathlon event at the Canmore Nordic Centre since the 1988 Winter Olympics. The host Canadian team trains at the Nordic Centre never has hosted a World Cup.

Success in the new mixed singles combined with Smith winning world championship silver and a World Cup gold last year had the Canadian team hoping to produce a medal on home snow. But Smith has yet to find a higher gear on the seventh stop on the World Cup circuit.

The lone Canadian qualified for Saturday's mass starts, Smith's 17-for-20 shooting was good enough for the podium but he didn't have the speed of the top-three men. He finished 16th in a field of 30.

Smith also complained of lethargic legs in the men's sprint Thursday when he finished 31st.

"I'm still feeling kind of tired on the skis," Smith observed. "It's hard to know (why).

"Your body is so complicated. It's not like a machine. There's so many moving parts it is hard to really pinpoint what is going on. "Hopefully (Sunday) I'll feel better. I kind of expect myself to."

Italy's Dominik Windisch won the men's 15-kilometre mass start with teammate Dorothea Wierer taking the women's 12.5-kilometre event.

Windisch and runner-up Benedikt Dol of Germany missed four targets, while bronze-medallist Quentin Fillon Maillet of France had three misses in windy conditions.

Wierer, runner-up Marie Dorin-Habert of France and bronze medallist Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic were all 15-for-16 in shooting in the women's race, so each skated a single penalty lap.

The full mixed relay features two women and two men from each country skiing relay legs in that order. Crawford, Green, Megan Imrie of Falcon Lake, Man., and Regina's Scott Perras finished in the event's Olympic debut in 2014.

The full mixed relay will be a medal event at next month's world championship in Oslo. But the mixed singles relay isn't yet on the world championship program.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2016