Canada’s men’s team went penalty-free and finished 12th overall in Friday’ BMW IBU World Cup 4 X 7.5-kilometre relay race in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
Adam Runnalls of Calgary, Trevor Kiers of Calgary and Canmore brothers Scott and Christian Gow used 11 spare rounds to knock down all their targets in eight shooting bouts and finished 4:36.4 behind the pace-setting German team.
Germany (Erik Lesser, Benedikt Doll, Arnd Peiffer and Philipp Newrath) needed just five spare rounds to complete the course in 1:12:28.1, followed by Russia (0+8, +1:21.7) and Norway (3+9, +1:33.2).
Twenty-three teams started the race.
The Canadian women (Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, Emma Lunder of Vernon, Megan Bankes of Calgary and Nadia Moser of Whitehorse, Yukon) placed 14th out of 21 in Thursday’s relay. They ended up 2:11.7 behind the gold medalists from Sweden.
Sprints are scheduled for Saturday in Nove Mesto. In the 106-skier women’s 7.5 km race, Lunder will start 36th, followed by Bankes (45th), Beaudry (77th) and Moser (92nd). Christian Gow is fourth in the start order for the men’s 10 km sprint, followed by Scott Gow (36th), Runnalls (85th) and Kiers (105th), who will be last out of the gate.
The pursuits are scheduled for Sunday. The World Cup tour will remain in Nove Mesto for sprints, pursuits and single-mixed relays next week. The season-ending races are in Oestersund, Sweden, March 16-21.
