Women's History Month - AB Evelyn Merritt

In February this year, AB Evelyn Merritt won the British National Junior Women’s 15-kilometre Classic Biathlon title while representing the Royal Navy.

In an event dominated by the other services and civilian clubs, Evie’s win was not only a huge personal achievement but undoubtably the highlight of the season for the Royal Navy Nordic team. 

Evie’s success this season did not go unnoticed and at just twenty-two years old, Evie has become the first Royal Navy woman in history to be selected for the Great British Biathlon Development Programme. 

Evie said, “The Navy had a very small team in comparison to the Army and RAF, so I was very surprised and happy when the GB development team reached out to me asking if I would like to train with them this year.”

Having never done any winter sports before, Evie attended a grassroots taster week for biathlon where participants were introduced to roller-skiing and shooting, with promising individuals invited to travel to Italy to train and compete with the Royal Navy Winter Sports Association. 

Evie was selected to travel to Italy for a month after her taster week but unfortunately competitions were cancelled due to covid. The time was instead used to get the newcomers comfortable on the snow and make the most of the training opportunity.

This year, Evie was able to return to Italy to once again train alongside other novice and advanced athletes from the Royal Navy, Army and RAF.

The training for biathlon is physically demanding and can be quite intense for those who have never tried the sport before, but the association and team provide a supportive and encouraging environment for newcomers to the sport. 

Evie said, “Despite the physical and mental exhaustion, Coach Jacko’s encouragement and firm belief in my ability kept me motivated. I believe that the first few days were the hardest I have pushed myself in a very long time, but I now feel much more resilient as a result.”

After the challenging training time in Italy, Evie travelled to Ruhpolding in Germany for the competitions, where she was selected for the GB development programme. 

“I felt so much better at it this year and it was really fun to compete. Biathlon is hard but extremely enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to give it a try!” 

An outstanding achievement and an opportunity Evie is able to pursue whilst continuing to build her career in the Royal Navy.