World Cup biathlete Sarah Beaudry is heading home to Canada.
The 26-year-old Caledonia Nordic Ski Club alumni competed Sunday in her last race of the season, combining with Nadia Moser of Whitehorse, Adam Runnalls of Calgary and Scott Gow of Canmore to finish 12th out of 25 teams in the mixed relay in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
Beaudry skied second in the order and needed just two reloads to knock down her prone targets, then cleaned all five in rapid succession while standing. Gow left one standing target and had to ski a penalty lap but it was the only penalty for the Canadians, who went through 12 spare rounds and finished 4:45.9 behind the gold medalists from Norway.
“I had my best skiing of the season yesterday,” posted Beaudry on Instagram, referring to her 66th-place finish in Friday’s sprint. “Unfortunately it wasn't good enough to get selected for the last weekend of World Cup.”
Norway, which brought a star-studded lineup to the mixed relay that included World Cup season champion Tiril Eckhoff, Marte Olsbu Roeisland, Tarjei Boe and Johannes Thingnes Boe, won the mixed relay by 1:08.7 over second-place Italy. Sweden was 1:22.7 off the pace while claiming bronze.
In final race of the day Sunday in Nove Mesto, the single mixed relay, Sweden (Linn Persson and Sebastien Samuelsson) won gold in 37:41.4, finishing just 1.5 seconds in front of Norway (Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold/Sturla Holm Laegreid) and 26.1 seconds ahead of the United States. The U.S. team included 35-year-old Susan Dunklee and Sean Doherty. All the medalists went penalty-free on the range.
Canada (Emma Lunder of Vernon and Christian Gow of Canmore) ended up 14th, 1:52.3 behind the winners of the 26-team event. The Canadians had two penalties and needed 13 reloads.
Only part of the senior Canadian team will remain in Europe and compete this week in the season-ending events in Oestersund, Sweden. Beaudry is due to fly back to Montreal on Monday and will serve out a 14-day quarantine in her home in Canmore, Alta., and as a full-time athlete she is allowed to serve out her 14-day quarantine in her home in Canmore, Alta., rather than going to a government-designated hotel.
