Sarah Beaudry did not expect to have the lead Friday as she took the hand-off from Rosanna Crawford in the second exchange in the women's 4 X 6-kilometre relay at the world biathlon championship in Oslo, Norway.
Julia Ransom of Kelowna, the lead skier on the Canadian team, came in 37.6 seconds behind leader Kaisa Makkarainen of Finland when she tagged Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Alta., and Crawford made up the gap and was first into the stadium to send Beaudry on her way.
For Beaudry, a 21-year-old World Cup rookie from Prince George, it was a daunting experience to have 22 of the best biathlon skiers in the world chasing her as she left the stadium lined with thousands of spectators to begin her 6km race.
"Starting out in the lead was definitely nerve-racking and almost a bit scary," said Beaudry, in an email sent to The Citizen.
"I kept on thinking that they were going to catch me, which made me ski extra fast. I might have started a bit too fast but with all the adrenaline it didn't feel like I was going that fast."
In relays, each skier has to complete two shooting rounds - one prone and one standing - using rifle magazines loaded with five rounds. If a target is missed, they each have three spare rounds which must be loaded individually.
"I came in to my first prone in Lane 1, which was something I never thought I would be doing this year," said Beaudry.
"I missed my first shot then hit my next four and used two spares to get the last target. During that shooting it felt like an eternity but at the same time like everything was happening so fast. I was happy to have got them all down with only two spares. I then skied my next loop just behind two girls not close enough to be able to work with them, which was unfortunate.
"I came in for standing much less stressed and had a super solid and quick five hits and went out on my last lap. I was pretty tired and just after Italy passed me I got caught on some soft snow and crashed, which was unfortunate, but I got up quickly and gave it all I had."
Beaudry was in ninth place when she tagged Canada's relay anchor, Zina Kocher of Red Deer, Alta., but Kocher lost ground when she was penalized for leaving one target up on her prone round and two up in her standing bout. Canada finished 15th, four minutes 48.6 seconds behind the gold medalists from Norway.
Norway (Synnoeve Solemdal, Fanny Horn Birkeland, Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu) clocked a winning time of 1:07:10.0. France (Justine Braisaz, Anais Bescond, Anais Chevalier and Marie Dorin Habert) was 5.3 seconds behind and bronze medalist Germany (Franziska Preuss, Franziska Hildebrand, Maren Hammerschmidt, and Laura Dahlmeier) was 18.6 seconds off the winning pace.
Beaudry said she was happy with her performance and is looking forward to cheering on the Canadian men - Nathan Smith of Calgary, brothers Scott and Christian Gow of Canmore and Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T., in today's men's 4 X 7.5km relay. Beaudry will also be on the sidelines to watch Crawford compete in the mass start race on Sunday. Crawford made the cut for the 30-athlete race when she finished 13th in the individual race on Wednesday.
