Canada’s World Cup biathlon team got off to a great start Saturday in Oestersund, Sweden, posting three top-10 finishes in the season-opening races in Oestersund, Sweden.
Scott Gow of Canmore, 31, led the way for Canada with a fourth-place result in the men’s 20-kilometre individual event, and his 28-year-old brother Christian was 10th out of 114 starters.
It was also a memorable day for Emma Lunder of Vernon, who placed sixth out of 114 starters in the women’s 15-km individual event.
Scott Gow shot clean in four bouts on the range and crossed the finish one minute 26.8 seconds after gold-medalist Sturla Holm Laegreid of Norway stopped the clock at 51:04. His Norwegian teammate, Tarjei Boe, won silver, 59.2 seconds off the wining pace, while Simon Desthieux of France (+1:00.6) claimed bronze.
Marketa Davidova of the Czech Republic won the women’s race, completing the course in 42:43.5. Lisa Marie Hauser of Austria (+1:11.7) and Denise Hermann of Germany (+1:23.0) won silver and bronze respectively. Lunder had just one miss on the range and was 2:05.32 behind Davidova.
Sarah Beaudry of Prince George shot 19-for-20 and was 6:33.6 off the winning pace to place 79th.
In other Canadian results, Nadia Moser of Whitehorse was 27th (+3:48.8) and World Cup rookie Benita Peiffer of Vancouver placed 104th (+9:37.5). In the men’s race, Jules Brunotte of Sherbrooke, Que., was 73rd (+6:44.4) and Trevor Kiers of Spruce dale, Ont., was 109th.
Racing resumes Sunday in Oestersund with the women’s 7.5 km sprint and men’s 10 km sprint.
Canada’s biatletes are trying to make the cut for the Beijing Olympics, Feb. 4-20.
