CANMORE, ALTA./HAY RIVER
Eighteen months ago, Brendan Green was in the midst of back surgery, wondering if his biathlon career would ever be the same again.

Hay River's Brendan Green is off to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, after winning both Olympic biathlon qualification races in Canmore, Alta., on Dec. 19 and 20. - Christian Manzoni photo

Now, his dream is as alive as ever.

The Hay River biathlete is making a return trip to the Winter Olympics after winning two qualification races in Canmore, Alta., on Dec. 19 and 20. Just for good measure – and maybe to prove a point – he even beat his Olympic teammate, Scott Perras, in the second race.

Green said it's been a long road to get back to the top of his game.

"It's been tough with the injury and the recovery," he said. "It's been a roller-coaster ride but punching my ticket (on Dec. 20) was a big relief and a big weight lifted off my shoulders."

Both qualification races were 10-km sprints, meaning it was full-on go from the start. Green came out like gangbusters in the first race, missing just one target on his way to victory in 27 minutes, 29.2 seconds. He was the only racer to break 28 minutes and won by more than a minute. The next day, Green went even faster than day one, again missing just one target and finishing in a time of 26 minutes, 44.8 seconds, beating Perras by 33 seconds.

Green returned home from racing in Europe with only nine days to get ready for the qualifiers.

"(I was) just focusing on the aspects that I could control and I really tried not to think about the outcome of any possible scenarios of qualifying or not," he said. "I just tried to focus on the process of racing and a lot of that was distraction control. Thankfully, it all paid off with two big races back-to-back."

Green was a member of the 2010 Olympic biathlon team and was on course to becoming one of the go-to guys in the sport when his back problems began. He lost an entire season in 2012-2013 because of his ailing back, prompting the surgery he underwent last.

He said the Olympics were the furthest thing from his mind while he was laid up.

"Prior to that, I was in the best shape of my career and everything was so on track to qualify early for Sochi," he said. "To go from the best shape of my life to, all of a sudden, an operating table was a very humbling experience. For the longest time, there was that ever-looming question of whether I could get back to living a normal life and secondly, whether I could return to racing at that elite level."

It appears those questions were answered in spades and now Green can focus on racing in Sochi. He will be able to race in every single biathlon event, including sprints and pursuits. He will also participate in individual events, something he wasn't able to do in 2010 in Vancouver.

"It's going to be a really busy Olympics with a lot of racing this time," he said.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.