The pursuit of excellence on the BMW World Cup circuit drove Prince George biathlete Sarah Beaudry to a top-40 finish in Thursday's sprint in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy.
The 24-year-old Caledonia Nordic Ski Club graduate placed 40th out of 94 starters to qualify for Saturday's 10-kilometre pursuit.
Beaudry hit nine of 10 targets in two shooting bouts and crossed the finish 1:33.5 behind gold-medalist Marketa Davidova of the Czech Republic, who clocked 21:40.7.
Kaisa Makarainen of Finland (0-1, +1.7 seconds) and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway (1-0, +3.5) won silver and bronze respectively.
Rosanna Crawford of Canmore (0-1, +58.3) was the top Canadian in 23rd place. Megan Bankes of Calgary (0-1, 1:05.8) placed 26th and will join Crawford and Beaudry in the pursuit. Emma Lunder of Vernon (2-1, +2:25.5) just missed the top-60, finishing 61st.
Beaudry's best-ever World Cup finish came in December when she was 12th in the sprint in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. She placed 29th in the individual race at the 2018 Olympics in Pyongchang.
The Canadian men - Scott and Chiristian Gow of Canmore, Aidan Millar of Canmore and Jules Burnotte of Sherbrooke, Que. - are entered in today's 10 km sprint. Mass start races are on the schedule Sunday.
The World Cup tour returns to Canmore for races Feb. 7-10.
Meanwhile, in other local biathlon news, Emily Dickson of Burns Lake is in Osrblie, Slovakia, preparing for the world junior championships, which start on Sunday with individual races. The 21-year-old Caledonia club member, a seven-time qualifier for the youth/junior world championships, is coming off a 39th-place finish Sunday in the IBU Cup women's pursuit in Arber, Germany. Dickson started the race 56th.
