Friday was a great day for Canada’s senior national biathlon team at the BMW IBU World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria.
Three of the four finishers in the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint and two Canadian men in the 10 km sprint were fast enough to make the cut for the pursuits in Hochfilzen, Austria.
Emma Lunder of Vernon led the way for the Canadians, posting a 36th-place result (1+0, +1:24.9), followed by Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, who placed 39th (0+1, +1:28.5) and Megan Bankes of Calgary (0+1, +1:34.7).
As top-60 finishers in the sprint, which drew 109 starters, Lunder, Beaudry and Bankes qualified for Sunday’s 10 km pursuit. For Beaudry, 26, a product of the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, it was her best solo World Cup result since Feb. 7, 2019, when she placed 33rd in the short individual event in Canmore.
Dzinara Alimbekeva of Belarus captured her first World Cup medal, shooting 10-for-10 while winning the sprint in 20:12.3, just ahead of Tiril Eckhoff of Norway (1+0, +8.5) and bronze medalist Franziska Preuss of Germany (0+1. +9.9).
Meanwhile, in the men’s 10 km sprint on Friday, Christian Gow of Canmore and Adam Runnalls of Calgary placed 53rd and 58th respectively to lock up their positions in the 12.5 men’s pursuit on Saturday. Gow had two misses in the prone shooting round and was 2:18.1 behind gold medalist Johannes Dale of Norway, who clocked 23:32.5. Runnalls had one miss in each round and was 2:25.2 behind Dale.
Quintin Fillon Maillet of France (0+0, +17.1) and Fabien Claude of France (0+1, +29.0) also made the medal podium.
In other Canadian results, Scott Gow of Canmore (1+1, 2:50.6) was 75th and Aidan Millar of Canmore (3+0, 3”21.4) was 89th.
The women’s 4X6 km relay will follow the men’s pursuit on Saturday. In the relay, Canada will start in Row 6 with Moser taking the lead leg, followed by Beaudry, Bankes and Lunder.
On Sunday, the women’s pursuit is first on the schedule, ahead of the men’s 4X7.5 km relay.
