Sunday was a tough day for Canadians on the BMW IBU World Cup biathlon tour.
Just one of the eight athletes who raced the sprints in Koniolahti, Finland made it into the top half of the results.
Adam Runnalls of Calgary posted a career-best 46th place result in the men’s 10-kilometre event. The 22-year-old shot clean in two trips to the range and finished 2:36.1 behind race-winner Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway. Boe hit all 10 targets and timed in at 23:53.0. Sebastian Samuelsson (1+0, +44.1) and fellow Swede Martin Ponsiluoma (1+0, +47.9) also made the medal podium.
In other Canadian results, Christian Gow of Canmore was 52nd (0+1, +2:46.1), Scott Gow of Canmore was 74th (2+1, 3:39.5) and Jules Burnotte of Sherbrooke, Que., was 92nd (0+4, +4:41.9) in a field of 101..
In the women’s 7.5 km sprint, Emma Lunder of Vernon was the top Canadian. Lunder, who placed 13th in Saturday’s individual race, shot 9-for-10 in the sprint and ended up 1:51.3 behind gold-medalist Hannah Oeberg of Sweden. Oeberg clocked 21:01.4 with no misses. Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway (0-0, +23.9) and Karoline Offigstad Knotten of Norway (0-0, +37.8) were second and third respectively.
In other results for Canadian women, Megan Bankes of Calgary was 80th (1+1, +2:43.1), Sarah Beaudry of Prince George was 80th (4-0, +3:08.1) and Nadia Moser of Whitehorse finished 83rd (0+2, +3:11.9). The race drew 104 entrants.
The biathletes will stay put in Kontiolahti for races this week, starting with the sprints on Thursday. The men’s pursuit and women’s team relay are scheduled for Friday, with the women’s pursuit and men’s team relay set for Saturday.
