On a day in which Emma Lunder of Vernon cracked the BMW IBU World Cup biathlon top-10 for the second time this season, Sarah Beaudry of Prince George continued to improve her world standing Saturday in Hochfilzen, Austria.
Lunder started Saturday’s pursuit 11th out of the starting gate and had one missed target in four shooting rounds on her way to a 10th-place finish. It was her third top-10 result in four weeks of completion in the 2020-21 season. Lunder has finished 15th or better five times this season.
She ended up 1:23.6 behind the gold-medal pace of Tiril Eckhoff of Norway, who won in 28:24.6. Silver medalist Hanna Oeberg of Sweden moved up from sixth in the start order and began her 10-kilometre pursuit 29.4 seconds behind Eckhoff, who earned the pole position with her win in Friday’s sprint. Oeberg ended up 22.5 seconds behind Eckhoff, while sister Elvira Oeberg was third, 27.6 off the winning pace.
Beaudry earned World Cup points for the second time this season with her 38th-place result. She started 42nd and moved up four positions in the finish order while shooting 18-for-20. Her other top-40 point result happened in the sprint last week at Hochfilzen.
“It's always nice to hit targets in the pursuit and move up into the points,” said Beaudry, on her Instagram post. “Now for a well-deserved rest before more racing in the new year.”
In the men’s 12.5 km pursuit Saturday, Christian Gow of Canmore was the top Canadian, finishing 31st, while Adam Runnalls of Calgary ended up 51st. Gow had two misses and timed in 2:43.6 behind gold-medalist Sturla Holm Laegreid of Norway. Laegreid, Saturday’s sprint winner, held off a close challenge in the dash for the finish and edged Emilien Jacquelin of France by 8.5 seconds and bronze-medalist Johanne Thingnes Boe of Norway by 8.9 seconds.
Runnalls, a World Cup rookie, had five misses on the range and was 4:33.6 behind.
Lunder is the only Canadian to qualify for Sunday's mass start races.
The World Cup tour will then shift to Oeberg, Germany, where the biathletes will be based for two weeks. Racing resumes Jan. 8 with the sprints.
Emily Dickson of Burns Lake and the rest of the Canadian IBU Cup team are awaiting the start of the season Jan. 11-23 in Arber, Germany. Dickson has been recovering from a concussion she sustained in September in a roller ski accident while training at Whistler.
