Canada came well-prepared for Saturday’s men’s biathlon 10-kilometre sprint race at the Beijing Olympics.
All four Canadians entered in the sprint qualified for the pursuit.
Christian Gow of Canmore, Alta., led the way with a 12th-place finish. He shot clean and finished 1:15.1 off the winning pace. Jules Brunotte of Sherbrooke, Que., was 29th, with two misses. He ended up 1:49.9 behind.
Scott Gow, Christian’s older brother, followed up on Tuesday’s scintillating fifth-place finish in the individual event on with a 34th-placing in the sprint. He missed two targets and was 1:56.3 off the pace. Adam Runnalls of Calgary placed 35th with two misses, and was 2:00.1 behind.
The Boe brothers of Norway packed a 1-3 punch on the Olympic biathlon course in Zhangjiakou, China.
Johannes Thingnes Boe, the younger of the Norwegian siblings, won gold Saturday in the sprint race. Older brother Tarjei Boe took bronze.
“We are very proud being here, in first place and third place, as brothers,” said Johanes Thingnes Boe, who won his third medal of the Beijing Games. “We are both biathletes but we are also family. We have something between us that is really great. He’s the reason I started in this sport.”
Johannes Thingnes skied fast enough over the 10-kilometre course to overcome a missed target and win in 24 minutes, 0.4 seconds. He also won gold in the mixed team relay and bronze in the individual race.
At the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, Johannes Thingnes also won gold in the individual race.
Quentin Fillon Maillet of France took the silver medal, splitting the brothers on the podium. He finished 25.5 seconds behind Johannes Thingnes Boe.
Tarjei Boe, who also won gold in the mixed relay alongside his younger brother, ended up 38.9 seconds behind with one miss. It was his first individual Olympic medal.
“I’m five years older than him, but we have fought together now for the last 10 years in the World Cup,” Tarjei said. “We have done it in the world champs, now we are here winning the mixed relay and also here taking individual medals together. It’s an incredible story.”
The next biathlon race at the Olympics is the women’s 10-km pursuit, which starts Sunday at 1 a.m. PT. The men’s 12.5-km pursuit follows at 2:35 a.m. PT.
Emma Lunder of Vernon, who was 32nd in Friday’s women’s 7.5-km sprint, is the only Canadian women to qualify for the pursuit.
Megan Bankes of Calgary was 77th, Sarah Beaudry of Prince George was 80th and Emily Dickson of Burns Lake was 81st and missed the top-60 cut.
All eight Canadians are entered in the team relays next week. The men’s 4 X 7.5-km relay starts at 1 a.m. PT on Tuesday. The women’s 4 X 6-km relay is on Wednesday in Beijing, with broadcast coverage starting at 11:45 p.m PT on Tuesday.
- with files from The Associated Press
