Prince George biathlete Sarah Beaudry is hoping her recurring back problems are a thing of the past.
An old injury flared up on her last week in Oberhof, Germany but she’s not feeling the pain now that the BMW IBU World Cup tour has shifted to Antholz-Anterselva, Italy and her first race result of the week was certainly encouraging.
The 26-year-old Caledonia Nordic Ski Club alumni finished 34th in Thursday’s 15-kilometre individual race – her best result in a solo event since Feb. 7, 2019, when she was 33rd in the short individual race in Canmore. Beaudry was nearly perfect on the range, shooting 19-for-20 through four bouts.
She completed the course 3:38.2 behind gold-medalist Lisa Theresa Hauser of Austria, who clocked 42:29.3. Megan Bankes of Calgary had just two missed targets and finished a career-best 25th, 3:14.5 off the pace. Nadia Moser of Whitehorse was 65th. The race drew 93 entrants.
Emma Lunder of Vernon was on the start list but did not race. She’s the only Canadian qualified for Saturday’s mass start race, which has a limited entry of 30 skiers, based on season points standings.
The four Canadian women are scheduled to compete in Sunday’s team relay.
In Friday’s 20 km men’s individual event, Adam Runnalls of Calgary was the top Canadian in 41st place.
Alexander Loginov of Russia topped the men’s field. He cleaned his targets and finished in 48:41.8, 58.5 seconds ahead of silver medalist Sturla Holm Laegreid of Norway and 1:10.6 in front of third-place Quentin Fillon Maillet of France.
In other Canadian results, Scott Gow of Canmore was 67th, Trevor Kiers of Calgary was 68th and Christian Gow of Canmore placed 86thout of 97 racers.
The men’s relay is set for Sunday.
Meanwhile, on the IBU Cup tour in Arber, Germany, Jules Brunotte of Sherbrook, Que., finished fifth and Aidan Millar of Canmore was 18th in a field of 156 racers Friday in the sprint event. The two Canadians are doing their best to return to the World Cup scene for the third trimester, after starting the season on the top circuit.
Darya Sepandj of Calgary was top Canadian in the women’s sprint, finishing 46th.
