Megan Tandy of Prince George made the cut for Sunday's World Cup biathlon pursuit in Ruhpolding, Germany, but knowing she was at the bottom of the order and would be leaving the start gate well after the leader, she decided not to enter.
In pursuit races, the start order is determined by the sprint results and only the top 60 sprinters qualify. Tandy, who was 56th in the sprint, ended up two minutes 54.3 seconds behind sprint winner Kaisa Makarainen of Finland, who went on to win the pursuit.
Tandy and Canada's Rosanna Crawford (who was 55th in the sprint) were among a group of six qualifiers who chose to rest up for this week's races in Italy rather than drain their energy supplies in the pursuit. One other Canadian, Julia Ransom of Kelowna, finished 60th after starting the pursuit in the 53rd position.
Tandy posted on her Facebook site: "The #goodnews: I'm not sick, nor have I been kidnapped or snowed in! The #badnews: no race for me today. We decided at the last minute that resting and recovering for next week is smarter than racing today."
Martin Fourcade of France captured the men's 12.5-kilometre pursuit and Saturday's 10km sprint.
The World Cup tour resumes this week in Anholz-Anterselva, Italy, starting with the women's 15km individual race on Thursday. There are also mass start races and team relays this weekend.
Hochfilzen, Austria, will be the site of the world championships, Feb. 9-19, followed by World Cup events in Pyeongchang, South Korea, March 2-5; Kontiolahti, Finland, March 10-12; and Oslo, Norway, March 17-19.
Meanwhile, at the IBU Cup biathlon in Arber, Germany, Sarah Beaudry of Prince George was the top Canadian in 28th place in the women's 15km individual race Saturday. Beaudry, 21, who began her biathlon career as a member of the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, finished 7:25.8 behind gold-medalist Irina Starykh of Russia. Leilani Tam Von Berg of Ottawa was 58th and Erin Yungblut of Wroexeter, Ont., was 64 out of 102 starters.
Matt Neumann of Prince George, 27, was 60th out of 116 competitors in the men's 20km individual race. Neumann was 9:08 behind race winner Alexander Loginov of Russia. Carsen Campbell of Bedeque, P.E.I. was the top Canadian in 31st spot; Matthew Hudec of Edmonton was 70th; and Aidan Millar of Canmore, Alta. was 73rd.
Next up on the IBU Cup calendar is the European Open championships, Jan. 25-29 in Duszniki Zdroj, Poland.
