Missed it by that much.
For Megan Heinicke, 3.6 seconds was all that separated her from Norway's Elise Ringen for a 60th-place finish in Friday's World Cup biathlon 7.5-kilometre sprint in Hochfilzen, Austria. It meant Ringen qualified to race in Sunday's pursuit while Heinicke, a 26-year-old from Prince George, will be a spectator. Ringen crossed the finish in 2:35.6 just ahead of Heinicke, who clocked 2:39.2. Both had three misses on the range.
While her failure to qualify was obviously a disappointment for Heinicke, it was still a great day for Prince George. That's because 20-year-old Sarah Beaudry made her World Cup biathlon debut, the first time in history two Caledonia Nordic Ski Club biathletes have earned the right to race at the highest-possible level in the same event.
Beaudry finished just behind Heinicke in 63rd place, posting a time of 23:37.6, 2:42 behind the winning pace of Kaisa Makarainen of Finland. Silver medalist Karin Oberhoffer of Italy was 10.4 seconds behind Makarainen, and Tiril Eckhoff of Norway won bronze.
Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Alta., was the top Canadian in 34th place. Audrey Vaillancourt of Quebec was 66th and Zina Kocher of Red Deer placed 82nd in a field of 102.
Heinicke will ski the lead leg of today's
4X6 km relay. She will tag Crawford, Beaudry will race the third leg and Vaillancourt has the anchor position.
Nathan Smith of Calgary was 44th as the top Canadian in Friday's 10 km men's sprint, while Brendan Green of Hay River,. N.W.T., also qualified for the pursuit, placing 49th. Boe Johannes Thingnes of Norway won in 24:34.9, followed 14.3 seconds later by Simon Schempp of Germany. Andreas Birnbacher of Germany was third.
In other Canadian results, Marc-Andre Bedard of Saint-Croix, Que, was 82nd and Scott Perras of Regina finished 100th out of 105. Smith, Green, Bedard and Perras make up the Canadian relay order for today's 4X7.5 km relay race.
