Prince George biathletes Megan Tandy and Sarah Beaudry tested their rifle aim and ski speed against international competition for the first time this season over the weekend in Europe.
Tandy, 30, skied the second of four legs in the BMW World Cup mixed team relay Sunday in Pokljuka, Slovenia, and helped Canada to a 10th-place finish. Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Nathan Smith of Calgary and Scott Gow of Canmore also wore the maple leaf in Sunday’s race.
Tandy and Crawford had just one miss each and together used just two spare rounds, while Smith and Gow shot clean. They finished 2:33.2 behind the gold medalists from France (Anais Bescond, Justine Braisaz, Martin Fourcade and Simon Desthieux), who finished the relay in 1:10:02.8.
Switzerland (Elisa Gasparin, Lena Haecki, Benjamin Weger, Jeremy Finello) won silver, 38.7 behind, and Italy (Lisa Vitozzi, Dorothea Weger, Dominik Windisch, Lukas Hofer) took bronze, 52.1 off the pace.
In the single mixed relay Sunday, Megan Bankes of Calgary and Christian Gow of Canmore placed sixth. They were 37.8 seconds behind after 10 misses on the range in four shooting bouts.
Thekla Brun-Lie and Lars Helge Birkland of Norway won gold in 38:26.7. Austria (Lisa Therese Hauser, Simon Eder) won silver, 8.5 seconds behind, and Ukraine (Anastasiya Merkushyna, Artem Tuchenko) captured bronze, 20.7 behind.
At the IBU Cup events in Idre, Sweden, the 24-year-old Beaudry finished eighth in Sunday’s women’s pursuit. She passed seven skiers who left the start gate ahead of her in the 15-kilometre event. Beaudry started the race 15th, her finishing position in the 7.5 km sprint race on Saturday.
In the pursuit, Beaudry missed four of her 20 targets. She stopped the clock 1:27.4 after gold medalist Svetlana Mironova of Russia crossed the finish. Ingela Andersson of Sweden won silver, 17.6 behind Mironova, and Anastasiia Morozova of Russia was the bronze medalist, 21.7 behind.
Emma Lunder of Vernon placed 32nd, after a 27th-place result in Saturday’s sprint.
In the men’s 20 km pursuit, Carsen Campbell of Bedeque, P.E.I., placed 31st and Aidan Millar of Canmore was 50th. Campbell ended up 20th in the 10 km sprint Saturday and Millar was 28th.
Racing resumes Wednesday in Pokljuka with the men’s 20 km individual race, followed Thursday by the women’s 15 km individual event.
The IBU Cup tour switches to Hochfilzen, Austria, starting a week from Wednesday with the women’s sprint.
