Moira Green found her passing gear and kicked it into overdrive Friday in the women’s IBU Cup biathlon pursuit in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, Italy.
The 20-year-old Caledonia Nordic Ski Club member from Prince George started the 10-kilomtre race 50th and finished 40th out of 60 qualifiers.
Green shot 15-for-20 (1+1+2+1) and stopped the clock in 34:42.6, 4:55.1 off the gold-medal pace of Voldiaya Galmace Paulin of France, who finished in 29:47.5 (1+0+0+0) .
Benita Peiffer of Whistler, who ended up 26th in Wednesday’s sprint race, picked up one position in the pursuit to place 25th overall (+34.8, 0+1+1+0)
Janice Grundahl of Regina also made up ground in the pursuit, starting 52nd and ending up 42nd (+5:04.3, 0+0+1+0).
There were no Canadian men who qualified for the men’s 12.5 km pursuit, won by Johannes Dale-Skjevdal of Norway (31:13.5, 0+0+0+2).
Peiffer, Green, Grundahl are entered in Saturday’s 12 km mass start 60, limited to the top 60 qualifiers in the sprint. Emily Dickson of Burns Lake, who finished 72nd in the sprint, did not qualify.
Peiffer will start 30th, Green will be 45th out of the gate and Grundahl is 48th on the start list.
In a mass start event all 60 entrants ski the first lap together, but only the first 30 stop to shoot, and the second group of 30 keep skiing. After the second lap, the second 30 stop to shoot, and the first 30 continue skiing. Once the first two shooting bouts are complete with everyone has shot one prone bout, the race continues like a typical race, and all competitors shoot the remaining prone bout and two standing sessions.
