In a short race against the best in the world on the IBU Cup biathlon stage, a bad day on the shooting range can make for a miserable race.
Such was the fate of Sarah Beaudry Friday in Canmore, Alta.
After posting an impressive sixth-place finish in Wednesday's individual race, Beaudry missed four of five targets in her first bout and had two misses in her final shooting segment and the penalty time cost her dearly.
The 20-year-old from Prince George finished 33rd out of 36 women in the 7.5-kilometre race, 4:46 slower than Anna Nikulina of Russia, who won in 20:09.8.
Karfolin Horchler of Germany won silver (20:19.2) and Marine Bolliet of France was the bronze medalist (20:34.0).
Zina Kocher of Red Deer just missed a medal, 15.1 seconds behind Bolliet in fourth place. Emma Lunder of Vernon was 16th and Claude Godbout of Quebec also cracked the top-20, finishing 19th.
In the men's 10 km sprint, Christoph Stephen of Germany claimed gold, stopping the clock in 12:41.3, 38 seconds ahead of silver medalist David Komatz of Austria. Vegard Gjermundshaug of Norway locked up bronze.
Aidan Millar of Canmore was 32nd, Macx Davies of Canmore was 33rd and Marc-Andre Bedard of Quebec was 35th and Scott Perras of Regina was 39th - the top Canadians. Matt Neumann of Prince George was 42nd in the 46-skier men's race, 3:59 off the winning time.
Kocher, Lunder, Bedard and Davies will represent Canada in today's mixed relay.
Meanwhile, at the biathlon world championships in Kontiolahti, Finland, Megan Heinicke of Prince George will start 20th in a field of 106 women in today's sprint. Julia Ransom of Kelowna, Rosanna Crawford of Canmore and Audrey Vaillancourt of Quebec are also entered in the race. Nathan Smith of Calgary, Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T., and Scott Gow of Canmore will fly the Canadian flag in the men's sprint.
