Emily Dickson needed a top-60 finish to make the cut and that’s exactly what was awaiting her at the finish line Friday in Oberhof, Germany.
One of 104 racers entered in Friday’s IBU World Cup biathlon women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint, Dickson started the race 91st in the order and proceeded to nail all five targets in her prone shooting round. The 24-year-old from Burns Lake then had just one penalty in the standing stage and she completed the hilly course two minutes and 17 seconds behind gold medalist Marte Olsbu Roeisland of Norway.
Only the top 60 qualify for Sunday’s race and for the second time in her biathlon career, Dickson will be in the mix for a pursuit event at the World Cup/world championship level.
Dickson was a surprise starter for the events in Oberhof, having just been called up to the IBU Cup circuit in December. After missing the entire 2020-21 season with a concussion, she wasn’t among the eight Canadian women who began the first trimester on either the IBU Cup or World Cup teams.
But an injury to World Cup veteran Nadia Moser of Whitehorse in a tobogganing accident opened the door for Dickson, and she was given a chance to race a World Cup event for the first time since the winter of 2020 when Emma Lunder of Vernon and Megan Bankes of Calgary left the tour to attend a high-altitude training session in Italy.
Lunder, a fourth-place finisher in the season-opening individual race in Sweden, has already made the Olympic team, along with Scott and Christian Gow of Canmore, and this weekend’s results from Oberhof will help determine the other spots on Canada’s biathlon squad for Beijing, which will include four men and four women. The team will be named following next weekend’s World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany, which includes sprint, pursuit and team relay events.
Friday’s race, plagued by windy and snowy conditions, was a disaster for Sarah Beaudry of Prince George. The 27-year-old veteran, in her eighth season on the World Cup circuit, went seven-for-10 on the range and finished 103rd out of 104, 7:41.0 off the winning pace.
Beaudry’s problems began before the race started. Tenth in the start order, Beaudry was forced to ski the course on her training skis and knew she was in trouble right away when she was passed shortly into the race by Italian skier Lisa Vittozzi, who left the start gate 30 seconds after Beaudry, 11th in the order.
“There was just some confusion in the wax room and they didn’t bring my race skis down in time,” said Beaudry. “I debated not starting at all. I knew that without race skis there was no way I’d make the pursuit. The difference is huge. (Vittozzi) is one of the top skiers and she caught me within 800 metres.
“It’s a pretty disappointing way to start the new year. We just had two weeks off over Christmas and I had some good training and was excited to see how I was going to ski and obviously I couldn’t tell off of today. It’s hard to be focused when something like that happens and I think that affected my shooting, that and the wind.”
Benita Peiffer of Vancouver was 91st with two penalties and was 3:47.9 behind Roeisland, the current points leader.
Hana Sola of Belarus (2+0) and Julia Simon of France (0+1) finished tied for second, 7.1 seconds behind Roeisland, who clocked 23:30.1.
In the men’s 10-km sprint, Alexander Loginov of Russia won his first race of the season, with just one miss and a time of 27:00.8. Emilien Jacquelin of France (2+0, +6.5 seconds) and Sturla Holm Laegreid of Norway (0-1, +15.1 seconds) were second and third respectively.
None of the four Canadian men qualified for the pursuit. Adam Runnalls of Calgary was 63rd (0+4, 2:33.1), Jules Burnotte of Sherbrooke,Que., was 75th (3+2,+3:03.1), Trevor Kiers of Sprucedale, Ont., was 79th (3+2, 3:17.1) and Mathew Strum of Canmore was 105th (1+1, 6:56.7).
Dickson and Runnalls will team up to represent Canada in Saturday’s single mixed relay, while Burnotte, Kiers, Beaudry and Peiffer will compete together in the mixed team relay.
All races are webcast live on www.eurovisionsports.tv.
In other local biathlon news, Allie Dickson, Emily’s older sister, will make her debut as a coach for the Canadian team at the IBU Cup races in Brezno-Osrblie, Slovakia.
