After months of practice, they started firing real bullets Thursday on the IBU Cup biathlon tour in Idre, Sweden.
The opening race was not one of the better days on the slopes for Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, who finished 55th out of 83 in the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint, but it’s just one race in a season that lasts four months.
Beaudry, a 24-year-old Caledonia Nordic Ski Club member, finished the course three minutes and 19 seconds behind the 23:44 pace of gold medalist Ingela Andersson of Sweden.
Beaudry missed one target in her prone shooting round and had three misses while standing. Each miss required her to ski a 150-metre penalty loop, which dropped her further behind.
Emma Lunder of Vernon, the only other Canadian in the race, placed 36th, 2:25.8 behind Andersson. Lunder had three prone misses and one in her standing bout.
Irina Kruchunkina of Belarus claimed the silver medal, eight seconds behind, while Anastasiia Morozova of Russia won bronze, 32.9 seconds off the winning pace.
In the men’s 10 km sprint, Anton Babikov of Russia won in 26:00. Silver medalist Aristide Beque of France was 17.4 seconds behind the Russian, and Lucas Fratzcher of Germany was third, 22.7 seconds behind.
Aidan Millar of Canmore was the top Canadian in 45th place, 2:50.3 off the pace. He missed one while prone and three while standing. Carsen Campbell of Bedeque, P.E.I., was 61st, 3:38.6 behind, after missing four standing targets. Men’s and women’s sprints are scheduled for Saturday, with pursuits set for Sunday.
