The ski trails at Otway Nordic Centre slowed significantly as the sun beat down and turned snow into slush Wednesday afternoon at the Canadian biathlon championships.
Not that it really mattered to Liam Sinclair of Prince George. The course at Otway Nordic Centre might have been slow but Sinclair made quick work of his assignments on the shooting range and that was his ticket to the medal podium.
Sinclair hit 17 of 20 targets – tops in the senior boys 7.5 kilometre individual event – and he went on to win the silver medal, his first piece of hardware in three days of competition at biathlon nationals.
As sharp as he was on the range, Sinclair didn’t quite have the ski speed to get the better of Kase Repp of Calgary’s Foothills Nordic Ski Club, who had just five misses (1+2+1+1) and won the race in 32 minutes, 23 seconds quicker than Sinclair (0+2+0+1), who races for the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club.
Zachary Grappolini won the bronze medal (+1:34.3, 2+1+1+1).
In the afternoon session, Sarah Beaudry of Prince George won her third silver medal of the competition. Racing in the women’s 10 km mass start event on a much faster course Wednesday morning, Beaudry didn’t quite have enough in her legs to keep up to Foothills club racer Megan Bankes of Calgary. Both were deadly accurate on the range, each shooting 17-for-20, but Bankes (1+0+1+3) covered the course in 29:53.8, a minute quicker than Beaudry (1+0+2+0), to win her third gold medal of the week.
Zoe Pekos of Chelsea Nordiq (Chelsea, Que.) won bronze (35:53.1, 3+0+2+2) for the third time in three races.
One other Caledonia racer, Moira Green, made her third trip to the medal podium after she placed second in the youth women’s 10 km individual race to rein in silver, adding to her gold medal in Sunday’s sprint and a bronze Monday in the pursuit.
Anna Marino, the pursuit winner, made it two in a row on the youth women’s class. Racing under the Team Trail Sports (Calgary) banner, Marino clocked 35:28.5 and shot 15-for-20 (1+3+1+0). Green had just six misses (36:16.9, 2+2+1+1), while Ema Chlepkova of Foothills won bronze (36:34.6, 1+1+0+2).
Reid Lovstrom of Foothills continued to dominate the junior men’s category. He won his third gold medal of the week – the 12.5 km mass start. Lovstrom missed all five prone targets in his first bout and left two untouched in his second prone session but went clean in both standing bouts to finish in 36:32.3.
Williams Moineau of Courcelette captured silver (36:57.2, 2+1+1+1) and bronze went to Zachary Demers of La Poursuite (36:57.2, 2+1+1+0). Liam Connon of Prince George, who was back on skis after he missed the first two races due to illness, finished 10th (39:22.3, 3+2+3+1).
Trevor Kiers kept his perfect record intact in the men’s category. The 25-year-old from Sprucedale, Ont., skiing for Chelsea Nordiq, finished the 12.5 mass start in 34:19.5 with six misses (2+1+2+1) to edge Haldan Borglum of Foothills (34:47.0, 2+1+0+2), with Ryan Elden of Quesnel’s Cariboo Ski Touring Club (35:28.2, 3+1+0+2) winning bronze.
In the youth men’s individual race, Daniel Gilfillan of Vancouver Island Ski Club had just two misses (0+0+0+2) and won the race in 35:55.4. Bjorn Baeger of Team Trail Sports won silver (37:24.9, 1+0+1+1) and Jasper Fleming of Sea To Sky was the bronze medalist (39:16.7, 2+2+1+2). Liam Simons of Caledonia was 27th (45:37.0, 2+2+4+1).
Thursday's single-mixed relays mark the end of the biathlon nationals. The morning session (International Biathlon Union classes) starts at 10 a.m., followed by the afternoon session (non-IBU classes) at 1 p.m.
Other medal winners and Caledonia Nordic Ski Club results Wednesday are as follows:
Senior girls 7.5 km individual – 1. Molly Caldwell, Sovereign Lake Nordic Club (37:02.2, 2+1+1+3); 2. Ella Niedre Chelsea Nordiq (“22.3, 1+2+1+2); 3. Allyson Thain, Camrose Ski Club (+42.2, 1+1+1+0); 6. Iona Cadell, Caledonia (+1:01.2, 2+1+2+0); 8. Aliah Turner Caledonia (+2:31.5, 2+1+2+0); 25. Payton Sinclair, Caledonia, +6:17.6, 4+2+2+2); 27 Mya Blackburn, Caledonia, +6:39.1, 2+2+1+2); 34. Cedar Wink, Caledonia, +10:29.6, 2+5+1+2); DNF Artemis Douglas, Caledonia.
Master men 35 10 km individual – 1. Brett Park, Saskatchewan Biathlon Club (45:01.41+1+1+2); 2. Christoph Dettling, Vancouver Island (+40.8, 0+0+2+1); 3. Eric Lemee, Foothills (+3:53.9, 5+3+1+1).
Master women 35 7.5 km individual – 1. Lea-Marie Bowes-Lyon, Bulkley Valley Ski Club (29:35.7, 3+1+3+1); 2. Callie Lancaster, Bulkley Valley, +4:25.5, 3+3+3+3); 3. Michelle Simone, Kenora Biathlon Club +7:36.8, 4+3+0+3).
Master men 50 10 km individual – 1. Chris Elden, Cariboo (42:55.7, 2+3+0+2); 2. Bryan Swansburg, Bulkley Valley (+5:32.0, 0+2+0+4); 3. Tim Wehner, Kenora (+6:07.7, 1+3+1+2).
Master women 50 7.5 km individual - 1. Jacqueline Hutchinson, Fast and Fossil of Canmore (42:36.3, 1+4+4+1); 2. Deborah Hall, Foothills (+2:12.0, 1+4+3+5); 3. Lise Le Guellec, La Poursuite (+8:05.9, 1+3+2+3).
