Sarah Beaudry is now in the big leagues of biathlon and she's proving she belongs racing with the best in the world.
In Ruhpolding, Germany on Friday, the 22-year-old from Prince George finished 55th in a 97-skier field in a 7.5-kilometre sprint to qualify for her first World Cup pursuit. Beaudry had just one miss in her prone shooting round and was a perfect five-for-five while standing at the range to finish in 22:09.5, 2:23 off the winning pace of Franziska Hildebrand of Germany (19:46.5).
Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic won silver, a third of a second behind Hildebrand, while Kaisa Makarainen of Finland finished third, 2.3 seconds behind the winner. The three medalists all shot cleanly.
In other Canadian results, Julia Ransom of Kelowna was 49th, 2:02.1 off the pace, and Zina Kocher of Red Deer was 76th, 3:10.7 behind Hildebrand. Megan Tandy of Prince George did not start Friday's race.
Only the top 60 racers in the sprint qualified for today's pursuit.
In the 10km men's sprint, Nathan Smith of Calgary was the top Canadian in 15th place, 59.9 seconds behind gold-medalist Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway, who stopped the clock in 21:57.5, three seconds faster than older brother Tarjei Boe (22:00.5).
Emil Hegle Svendsen was third in 22:05.1, making it a medal sweep for Norway. The top three men all shot cleanly.
In other Canadian results, Christian Gow of Canmore was 34th, 1:32 behind; Macx Davies of Canmore was 55th, 1:53.5 off the winning pace; and Scott Perras of Regina was 72nd, 2:27.5 behind.
The Ruhpolding course will also be the site of mass start races on Sunday.
In other local biathlon news, Emily Dickson of Prince George has qualified for the youth/junior biathlon championships set for Cheile Gradistei, Romania, Jan. 26 to Feb. 2.
Dickson, a native of Burns Lake and a multiple medalist at the 2015 Canada Winter Games, competed in Canadian team trials races in Canmore just before the Christmas break to qualify for the team.
