Megan Heinicke encountered some bad luck during her 10-kilometre biathlon pursuit race Tuesday at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The 24-year-old from Prince George did not finish her race after a piece of icy snow flew up into the back sights of her rifle on the first loop of the course.
"By the time I arrived on the range the ice was frozen solid across the peephole," she said on her Facebook page.
"Despite trying to blow the sights clear and eventually taking our spare rifle, the five minutes total I spent in the range put me well out of contention. I'm not a quitter by nature - but in this circumstance dropping out of the race was the smart thing to to do; it was better to save my energy for the upcoming individual race and frankly less of an embarrassment for myself and for Canada."
Heinicke will now compete in the 15km individual race on Friday.
"I am somewhat consoled by knowing that this technical disaster was not my fault and am feeling like I have a whole lot to prove in the next race," she said.
She had qualified for Tuesday's pursuit after finishing 59th in the women's 7.5km sprint Sunday.
Heinicke (nee Tandy), grew up in Prince George and began competing in biathlon with the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club as a 12-year-old.
She competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler and eventually married her coach in the B.C. High Performance program, iLmar Heinicke, and the couple moved to his home country of Germany where they now live.
