Canada finished fifth in the men’s biathlon relay, its best finish in nearly five seasons on the IBU World Cup circuit.
Adam Runnalls of Calgary, Jules Brunotte of Sherbrooke, Que., and the Gow brothers of Canmore, Christian and Scott, had just one penalty and used only eight spare rounds in eight shooting bouts on the course in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy, finishing two minutes 31.5 seconds behind the gold medalists from Norway.
It was Canada’s best relay finish since March 12, 2016, when the Gows teamed up with Nathan Smith and Brandan Green to win bronze at the world championships in Holmenkollenn, Norway.
Norway (Sturla Holm Laegreid, Tarjei Boe, Johannes Thingnes Boe, Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen) went penalty-free and needed just four reloads to complete the 4 X 7.5-kilometre relay in 1:21:14.7.
They won by a margin of 1:57.2 ahead of second-place Russia and were 2:04.4 ahead of the bronze medalist from Germany. France was fourth.
The Canadian women (Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, Emily Dickson of Burns Lake, Emma Lunder of Vernon and Megan Bankes of Calgary) were 12th in their relay on Saturday.
Both relay results bode well for Canada. The races in Italy were the last on the World Cup tour before the Olympics in Beijing, Feb. 4-20.
