Emily Dickson had a spectacular day Saturday on the biathlon slopes in Idre Fjall, Sweden.
The 27-year-old from Burns Lake posted her best international finish in more than two seasons when she placed 17th in the IBU Cup women’s 7.5 sprint.
Dickson had just one miss in 10 shots at the range and was the top North American in Saturday’s race, finishing five spots ahead of her Canadian teammate Benite Peiffer of Whistler, who was 22nd.
Both will qualify for Sunday’s pursuit.
Dickson will start that race one minute 56 seconds after sprint gold medallist Ida Lien of Norway leaves the gate. Peiffer ended up 2:20 behind Lien on Saturday.
Paula Boteti of France, Thursday’s sprint winner, was second (+12.0) and Camille Benet of France won bronze (+20.1).
Dickson’s 17th-place result matches her finish in an IBC Cup super sprint race in March 2022 in Lingered, Switzerland.
In the men’s 10 km sprint, neither Lucas Smith nor Jasper Fleming finished in the top-60, needed to qualify for the sprint.
Smith placed 89th, 5:40.6 off the winning pace set by Isak Fray of Norway, while Fleming was 5:49.6 behind. Norway completed a medal sweep with Johan Olav-Burn and Martin Uldal taking silver and bronze respectively.
After Sunday’s pursuits, the IBU Cup tour moves on to Geilo, Norway next week, starting with the women’s 15km individual race on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in the BMW World Cup biathlon season-opening race Saturday in Konti Lahti, Finland, Emma Lunder of Vernon and Logan Pletz of Regina combined for a 20th-place finish in the single mixed relay.
The Canadians had one penalty loop after nine reloads on the range and ended up 3:31.7 off the gold-medal pace set by Sweden’s Ella Halvorsson and Sebastien Samuelson, who stopped the clock in 36:17.6.
France and Germany took silver and bronze in a photo-finish, 10.2 second behind the Swedes. Twenty-four teams entered.
In the mixed relay, Canada (Pascale Paradis of Calgary, Nadia Moser of Whitehorse, Haldan Borglum of Calgary, Daniel Gilfillan of Comox Valley) placed 16th in the 24-team event, 8:44.3 behind the pace-setters.
Norway won gold, but just barely, finishing eight-tenths of a second ahead of France at the finish, with Sweden taking bronze.
Races resume Tuesday and Wednesday in Finland with the short individual races.
