Prince George biathlete Megan Tandy called it one of the most difficult decisions of her biathlon career.
She's been sick in bed in her room the past three days with a head cold and fever and has decided she won't be able to race in the Olympic women's 15-kilometre individual race set for Friday afternoon in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
That opens the door for Sarah Beaudry. The 23-year-old from Prince George, the alternate on the Canadian team, will take Tandy's spot in the start gate for the individual race.
"Today I made one of the hardest choices of my sport career," announced the 29-year-old Tandy, on her Facebook page posted on Wednesday. "Tomorrow is the 15-kilometre individual, one of my favourite races and I was really looking forward to racing it here at the Games. Unfortunately I got sick three days ago and have spent the last three days in bed with a fever and feeling really rough.
"That led me to forfeit my start position to another athlete (Beaudry) this morning. I'm super-sad, it's really disappointing and a brutal time to be sick but I think the Olympics are about so much more than just one athlete's goals, it's about Canada putting its best foot forward every day.
"I believe the best way I can represent Canada today is being honest enough to recognize that I'm not healthy enough to bring an Olympic-worthy performance. So I'm going to sit this one out and I'm going to focus on getting healthy and strong because we have team relays coming up (Feb. 23) and on the plus side, Sarah Beaudry is stepping up to the plate and she's a great athlete."
This will be Beaudry's first Olympic start. She was named to the team as the fifth female member and arrived in Pyeongchang knowing she was scheduled only to take part in the team relays next week unless an injury or illness prevented one of the other four from racing.
The Olympics schedule makers are giving bleary-eyed Prince George biathlon fans a break.
The women's 15-kilometre individual event will be broadcast three hours earlier than originally scheduled on Thursday morning. Instead of the original 3:05 a.m. PT start, the race will start at 12:15 a.m. PT (5:15 p.m. Friday in Pyeongchang).
Tandy began her third consecutive Olympics on Saturday, finishing 57th in the sprint race to qualify for the pursuit on Monday, but was too sick to race. Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, who finished the sprint 53rd, picked up 34 positions in the pursuit to finish 19th, while Julia Ransom of Kelowna placed 29th. Crawford and Ransom and Beaudry will join Emma Lunder of Vernon in the individual race.
Nathan Smith of Calgary, Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T., and the Gow brothers of Canmore, Scott and Christian, are entered in the men's 20 km individual event, which will follow the women's race.
Also today on the Olympic schedule today (Friday in Pyeongchang), Meryeta O'Dine of Prince George will go for gold in the women's snowboard cross event. That starts Thursday at 5 p.m. (PT) with the qualifying runs. Quarterfinals are set for 7:15 p.m., semifinals are at 7:36 p.m., with the small final (7:56 p.m.) and big final (7:52 p.m.) to follow.
O'Dine, 20, currently ranks sixth in the World Cup points standings.
Carle Brenneman of Comox,, Zoe Bergermann of Erin, Ont., and Tess Critchlow of Kelowna are also entered in the women's snowboard cross event in Pyeongchang.
The Canadian men's snowboard cross team - Baptiste Brochu of Saguenay, Que., Kevin Hill of Vernon and Chris Robanske of Calgary competed Wednesday night PT. Pyeongchang time is 17 hours ahead of Prince George.
