Canada’s men’s biathlon relay team finished in the fastest third of the order Friday in Oberhof, Germany.
Christian and Scott Gow of Canmore, Trevor Kiers of Welland, Ont., and Adam Runnalls of Calgary went penalty-free and posted an eighth-place result in the 4 X 7.5-kilometre event.
They used just nine spare rounds in eight shooting bouts on the range in Oberhof and anchor skier Runnells crossed the finish 3:05.3 after the gold medalists from France (Simon Desthieux, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin) completed their race.
Norway was a close second, just 4.2 seconds behind France, and Italy claimed bronze 1:06.6 off the winning pace in the 24-team event.
It was Canada’s best BMW IBU World Cup tour relay finish since December 2019, when the Gow brothers, Aidan Millar of Canmore and Jules Brunotte of Sherbrooke, Que., finished fourth in Hochfilzen. Austria.
Racing resumes on Saturday with the women’s 4 X 6 km relay. Sarah Beaudry of Prince George is scheduled to race the anchor leg for Canada, teamed with Nadia Moser of Whitehorse, Yukon, Emma Lunder of Vernon and Megan Bankes of Calgary. The race will be webcast live on https://www.eurovisionsports.tv/ibu/ starting at 4 a.m. PT.
Moser was the top Canadian in Thursday’s sprint, finishing 53rd, followed by Lunder (63rd), Bankes (66th) and Beaudry (74th). Lunder is qualified in the top-30 for Sunday’s mass start race.
Meanwhile, at the season-opening IBU Cup races in Arber, Germany, Brunotte placed 16th as the top Canadian Thursday in the men’s sprint. Millar was 44th, Matthew Strum of Canmore was 40th, Alexandre Dupuis of Ottawa was 89th and Tobias Quinn of Thunder Bay was 130th.
In the women’s sprint, Shilo Luca Rousseau of Eliot Lake, Ont., was 75th, Darya Sepandj of Calgary was 85th and Zoe Pekos of Richmond Hill, Ont., was 96th. Men’s and women’s sprint are scheduled Saturday with team relays to follow on Sunday.
Emily Dickson of Burns Lake, who suffered a concussion in a fall while training on roller skis in September, has not yet resumed racing this season.
