Canada’s Emma Lunder is in hot pursuit of an Olympic medal.
The 30-year-old from Vernon blasted her way to a 32nd-place finish in the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint Friday on the Beijing Olympic course in Zhangjiakou, China.
Lunder had just one miss in two shooting bouts, going nine-for-10 on the range and took advantage of the quick snow conditions to put herself in a solid position at the end of the 89-skier race. Her lone miss on the range came during her standing shooting bout.
Her top-60 result guarantees Lunder a spot in Sunday’s 10 km pursuit race.
“I’m much happier with the race I put together today,” said Lunder. “Just one mistake in standing, which is too bad. But I’m in a good position for the pursuit on Sunday and I’ll give it everything I’ve got.”
Lunder finished 2:03.3 off the gold-medal pace set by Marte Olsbu Roeisland of Norway. Roeisland stopped the clock in 20 minutes 44.3 seconds, 30.9 seconds ahead of silver medalist Elvira Oeberg of Sweden. Dorothea Wierer of Italy won bronze, 37.2 seconds off the pace. All three medalists shot clean.
In other Canadian results, Megan Bankes of Calgary placed 77th with three misses (1+2, +3:51.1), Sarah Beaudry of Prince George was 80th with two misses (1+1, +4:01.6) and Emily Dickson of Burns Lake had three missed targets and was 81st (2+1, +4:06.0). Each missed target requires competitors to ski a 150-metre penalty loop.
“I’m a little bit disappointed,” said the 27-year-old Beaudry. “My skiing is not where I wanted it to be these Games and I just knew I had to hit nine of 10 to make the pursuit and missing two was not what I needed.”
Bankes started 20th, the first Canadian on the course.
“It wasn’t my best race ever, but I’m at the Olympics and I didn’t think I would necessarily be here this year, so every race is an opportunity and I’m just happy to be here,” said Bankes, 24, who placed 33rd as the top Canadian in Monday’s individual event.
Swirling winds kept the flags moving on the shooting range, adding to the challenge of racing the sprint at a high elevation. The Olympic course is at 1,700 metres, near the allowable upper limit of World Cup courses.
“Today wasn’t exactly what I’d hoped for,” said the 24-year-old Dickson. “It was a challenging race for me and a grind right from the start, but definitely I was out there pushing and things weren’t going my way. I was thinking about some of the messages I got from all the people at home, saying that no matter what happens they’re super proud of you, so that kept me going.
“It’s been awesome, a great learning experience for me. I really hope I can come back (to the Olympics) in Italy in four years as a stronger athlete and I can compete a bit higher in the rankings.”
The Canadian men – Scott Gow of Canmore, Christian Gow of Canmore, Adam Runnalls of Calgary and Jules Brunotte of Sherbrooke, Que. – will race Saturday in the men’s 10 km sprint. Scott Gow is coming off an impressive fifth-place finish in the individual race.
All eight Canadians will be in action Tuesday in the team relays.
