Fresh from her first Olympic competition, Sarah Beaudry returned to the World Cup biathlon scene in Kontiolahti, Finland.
The 23-year-old from Prince George entered Thursday’s women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint and finished 66th in a field of 96 starters. Beaudry missed one of her 10 targets and finished 2:20.3 behind pace-setter Darya Domracheva of Belarus (20:56.8).
Franziska Hildebrand of Germany won silver, a half-second behind Domracheva, and Lisa Vitozi of Italy took bronze.
Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Alta., was the top Canadian in 12th place. Emma Lunder of Vernon was 43rd and Julia Ransom of Kelowna finished 58th.
Beaudry raced the individual event at the Olympics in Pyeongchang and finished 29th.
In the men’s sprint on Friday, Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T., was the top Canadian in 34th place. Anton Shipulin of Russia won gold in 23:51.6 and he shared the podium with Andrejs Rastorgujevs of Latvia (5.8 second behind) and Quentin Fillon Maillet of France (17.3). Christian Gow of Canmore was 79th and Scott Gow of Canmore was 86th.
In Saturday’s single mixed relay, Crawford and Christian Gow teamed up to finish seventh, 23.8 seconds behind the gold medalists from France, Anais Chevalier and Antonin Guigonnat. Austria took silver and Norway claimed bronze.
Canada (Lunder, Ransom, Scott Gow and Green) finished 17th in the mixed relay, 4:34.9 behind race winners, Italy. Ukraine and Norway were the respective silver and bronze medalists.
Crawford is the only Canadian who quailed for Sunday’s mass start race.
The World Cup tour will move on to Oslo, Norway this week, starting with sprint races on Thursday. Pursuits and relays (male and female) are also scheduled.
