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Biathlete Beaudry teams up for 15th-place relay finish; Gow 35th in pursuit

After a posting a fifth-place finish a year ago in the 4 x 6-kilometre relay in Hochfilzen, Austria, the Canadian women’s biathlon team was set to replicate their top-notch race performance when they returned to the BMW IBU World Cup relay course on
Ted Clarke
17 Sarah Beaudry in Hochfilzen Dec 2020
Sarah Beaudry of Prince George powers her way up a steep hill on the BMW IBU World Cup biathlon course in Hochfilzen, Austria. Beaudry teamed up with Emma Lunder, Megan Bankes and Nadia Moser to finish 15th in Saturday's women's relay. Beaudry, Bankes and Lunder are among 60 racers qualified for Sunday's pursuit race.Handout photo

After a posting a fifth-place finish a year ago in the 4 x 6-kilometre relay in Hochfilzen, Austria, the Canadian women’s biathlon team was set to replicate their top-notch race performance when they returned to the BMW IBU World Cup relay course on Saturday.

It didn’t happen. The Canadians had trouble on the shooting range, as they did the previous week in Finland, and finished 15th out of 23 teams.

Forced to ski two penalty loops and reload 16 spare rounds, the team of Nadia Moser of Whitehorse, Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, Megan Bankes of Calgary and Emma Lunder of Vernon finished 4 minutes 10 seconds behind the gold medalists from Norway (Karoline Offigstad Knotten, Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, Tiril Eckhoff, Marte Olsbu Roeisland).

Norway finished in 1:08:04 with one penalty loop and six spares. France +24.5, 0-16) and Sweden (+32.5, 1-9) were second and third respectively.

Three Canadian women are qualified for the pursuit on Sunday, based on their top-60 results in the sprint on Friday. Lunder will start 33rd(1:24.9 after sprint winner Dzinara Alimbekeva of Belarus leaves the gate), Beaudry starts 39th (+1:28.5) and Bankes will be 44th of the course (+1:34.7).

Meanwhile, in the men’s pursuit, Christian Gow of Canmore gained 18 positions during the 12.5 km race Saturday and finished 35th. Gow, who started 53rd out of 60, shot 18-for-20. He finished 3:41.3 behind race winner Quentin Fillon Maillet of France, who shot clean while posing a time of 32:38.7.

Emilien Jacquelin of France also went 20-for-20 and won silver (+25.5) and Johannes Dale of Norway (18-for-20, +49.5) claimed bronze. Adam Runnalls of Calgary finished 55th after starting 58th. He had six missed targets and was 5:48.2 off the winning pace.

The men’s 4 X7.5 km relay will follow the women’s pursuit on Sunday. It’s almost exactly a year ago that the Canadian men finished a season-best fourth in the relay at Hochfilzen. This year’s team includes lead skier Jules Burnotte of Sherbrooke, Que., Scott Gow of Canmore, Adam Runnalls and anchor Christian Gow. Runnalls replaces Aidan Millar of Canmore who raced the third leg of the relay at Hochfilzen last year.