Sarah Beaudry's latest tour of France was no holiday.
It was all business for the 25-year-old World Cup biathlon veteran from Prince George as she continued her second full season on the world's top circuit over the weekend in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France.
Beaudry finished 48th out of 97 starters in the women's 7.5-kilometre sprint, finishing two minutes off the winning pace set by Tiril Eckhoff of Norway with just one miss in two shooting bouts. Her top-60 finish qualified Beaudry for Saturday's 10 km pursuit , in which she placed 56th, 5:47.3 behind Eckhoff, the gold medalist. Beaudry had a total of four penalties in four shooting bouts.
Emma Lunder of Vernon was the top Canadian in the pursuit, placing 25th (2:46.3 behind Eckhoff). Lingrid Landmark of Norway won silver (+38.1, 1+0+1+0) and Lena Haekcki of Switzerland captured bronze (+46.1, 0+1+1+0). Megan Bankes of Calgary placed 71st in the sprint and missed the top-60 cut for the pursuit.
No Canadians qualified for the men's 12.5 km pursuit, won by Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway. Jules Brunotte of Sherbrooke, Que., was the top Canadian in the sprint, placing 66th (+2:27.2, 1+3). Boe won the men's 15 km mass start race Sunday, while Eckhoff was the women's 10 km mass start winner.
A week ago in Hochfilzen, Canada had one its best-ever showings in the World Cup team relays.
In the 27-team 4 X 7.5 km relay the Canadian men (Brunotte, Aidan Millar of Canmore, Scott and Christian Gow of Canmore) just missed a medal with a fourth-place result.
The Canadian women (Beaudry, Lunder, Bankes and Nadia Moser of Whitehorse, Yukon) finished fifth out of 21 teams in the 4 X 6 km relay. That topped the previous best for Canada set in 2015 in Oslo, Norway - an eighth-place finish for Beaudry and Megan Tandy of Prince George on a team which also included Rosanna Crawford of Canmore and Audrey Vaillancourt of Quebec.
The World Cup tour resumes Jan. 6 in Oberhof, Germany.
Races are also scheduled for Ruhpolding, Germany (Jan. 13-19) and Pokljuka, Poland (Jan. 20-26) leading up to the world championships in Anholz-Anterselva, Italy (Feb. 12-23). The tour continues in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic (March 2-8), Kontiolahti, Finland (March 9-15) and Oslo Holmenkollen, Norway (March 16-22).
In other biathlon news, Cole Bender of Burns Lake has been named to the Canadian team to compete in the youth world championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Jan. 27-Feb. 2.
