Megan Tandy fought off windy conditions on the shooting range Saturday in the Olympic women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint in Pyeongchang, South Korea and made the cut for the pursuit race.
The 29-year-old from Prince George managed to hit eight of 10 targets and finished 47th out of 87 competitors.
In the first biathlon event of the Pyeongchang Olympics, Tandy finished 2:36.6 behind gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier of Germany, who shot clean and covered the course in 21:06.2. Marte Olsbu of Norway won the silver medal, 24.2 seconds behind Dahlmeier, and Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic captured bronze, 25.8 seconds off the winning pace.
Julia Ransom of Kelowna placed 40th as the top Canadian. She had just one miss and finished 2:08.8 behind Dahlmeier. Rosanna Crawford of Canmore was 53rd, 2:23.0 behind with three misses and Emma Lunder of Vernon was 54th with two missed targets, 2:24.2 behind.
With their top-60 results, all four Canadian women qualified for Monday’s 10 km pursuit. Dahlmeier will have a head start over the other 59 competitors in the pursuit. The rest of the field will have to wait to leave the start gate for a time period which reflects how far each finished behind the sprint winner.
“Just like that, my 3rd Olympics are underway!” said Tandy, on her Facebook page.
"Although I am somewhat disappointed with today's result (57th with two misses and heavy legs) I am thinking positive: Eight years ago I was the only woman to qualify for the pursuit, this Olympics all four of us will be putting up a fight.”
The women's pursuit is scheduled to start at 2:10 a.m. PT on Monday.
Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, 23, an alternate on the Canadian team, is also in Pyeongchang and is expected to compete in one of the team relays during the second week of the Games.
"I am super-excited to be here in Korea," said Beaudry, in an email to the Citizen.
"It definitely wasn't easy and I am proud of my hard work paying off. Its fun being here with Megan as she definitely was someone I looked up to growing up with her always being the first PG girl on the international biathlon scene.
"It's so fun being here in the village see all the athletes from different countries and learning about other winter sports from my Canadian teammates. I have definitely gotten into pin trading with all the countries."
Nathan Smith of Calgary was the only Canadian to qualify for the men's 12.5 km pursuit, also set for early Monday morning (4 a.m. PT). Smith, of Calgary, finished 44th in the 10 km sprint on Sunday. Scott Gow and his brother Christian, both of Canmore, Alta., came agonizingly close to making the top-60 cut for the pursuit. Scott finished 61st in the sprint and Christian was 62nd. Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T. placed 82nd.
