Another day, another top-10 finish for local biathlete Sarah Beaudry on the IBU Cup circuit.
Beaudry started Sunday’s 10-kilometre pursuit in Ridnaun, Italy, in 11th place and moved up three positions to finish eighth. The 24-year-old Caledonia Nordic Ski Club member was 1:56.0 behind pacesetter Anastasiia Morozova of Russia. Beaudry had to reload one spare in each prone shooting round and had one miss in her second standing round after cleaning her first standing session.
It was a clean sweep for Russia on the medal podium – Victoria Slivko and Svetlana Mironova won silver and bronze respectively.
In other Canadian pursuit results, Emma Lunder of Vernon was 21st, after starting 30th, and Emily Dickson, a Caledonia club member from Burns Lake, was 57th.
In the men’s 12.5km pursuit, Aidan Millar of Canmore was the top Canadian in 27th place, while Adam Runnalls of Calgary finished 45th. Sprint winner Johannes Dale of Norway won in 33.36.8, followed by Russian Anton Babikov and Simon Fourcade of France.
Meanwhile, at the BMW World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria, it was a disappointing day for the Canadian women’s 4x6km relay team, which finished 16th out of 23 teams.
Megan Tandy of Prince George skied the lead leg and in two shooting bouts had just one miss, using three spare rounds to finally knock it down and avoid a penalty loop. Megan Bankes of Calgary, who skied the second segment, had difficulty on the range and was forced to ski two 150m penalty loops. Nadia Moser of Whitehorse, Yukon, needed just two spare rounds and anchor Rossana Crawford of Canmore went through four spares – both avoiding penalties.
“I’m happy with my clean prone shooting but am still looking for that ski speed,” said Tandy, in a Facebook post. “Altogether it was a rough day for our team – 16th. Sometimes strength is also found in staying positive, bringing each other up and fighting for the next race.”
Italy (Lisa Vittozzi, Alexia Runggaldier, Dorothea Wierer and Federica Sanfilippo) used to just three spare rounds to win the first women’s relay of the season in 1:10:58.7. Sweden won silver and France finished with bronze.
In Sunday’s men’s 4x7.5km relay, Canada (Scott Gow of Canmore, Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T., Jules Burnotte of Sherbrooke, Que., and Nathan Smith of Calgary) finished 20th out of 25. Norway (Peppe Femling, Martin Pousiluoma, Torstein Stenersen, Sebastian Sammuelsson) won gold. Germany took silver and Austria claimed bronze.
The World Cup tour stops this week in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. The women will race their sprint Friday, with the men’s sprint set for Thursday. Pursuits and a mass start race are also scheduled, with the men’s sprint.
The IBU Cup circuit shifts to Obertilliach, Austria this week, starting with men’s women’s individual races on Wednesday.
