She was born and raised in Burns Lake, but on Wednesday Emily Dickson became Prince George's golden girl.
She's a Canada Winter Games champion, the first northern B.C. athlete to win gold on home soil.
After 10 kilometres of racing, Dickson broke the barrier just eight-tenths of a second ahead of Leilani Tam Von Burg of Ottawa in a thrilling finale on the biathlon course in Wednesday's pursuit at Otway Nordic Centre.
Dickson, 17, appeared to have dropped out of the running for gold when she missed four of five targets in her first standing shooting bout. But she shot clean in the final round while Tam Von Burg was forced to ski two penalty laps and Dickson made up that five-second gap as the two leaders crested the highest part of the course heading for home.
Dickson held her slim lead the rest of the way, finishing in 34:14.0. Tam Von Burg clocked 34:14.8 and bronze-medalist Nadia Moser of Whitehorse finished in 35:34.6.
"It's such a great accomplishment, I'm so excited right now," said Dickson, once she learned the results were official. "Canada Games, hometown, having the entire crowd just roaring for me, it's so exciting."
Once Dickson nailed her final target, the roar from spectator row as she strapped her rifle to her back put a surge of electricity into her feet and she had Tam Von Burg in sight as she began her climb out of the range.
"That kind of sucked, missing four, but I knew coming into the last one I had the skill to pull off five-for-five – I've done it before and there was no reason I couldn't do it again so I just took my time and made every shot count and it paid off," said Dickson. "You could hear the entire crowd holding their breath on my last few shots, there was no noise in the stadium whatsoever. I knew I had to get her before we started the downhills because you don't want to be in the back on those winding corners."
Dickson, who now lives in Prince George and races for the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, won bronze in the individual race and was the silver medalist in Tuesday's sprint.
"The last two races were pretty solid but I knew I could do better and in the pursuit you never know, it's always an exciting race and it came down to the final lap," said Dickson. "That was a fun one, probably the most exciting race I've ever done."
Dickson and Tam Von Burg are good friends and represented Canada a couple weekends ago at the European Open championships in Estonia. They joked before Wednesday's race about the possible scenario of being tied with each other on the last lap after all the shooting was done and having to settle it with a sprint finish.
"All the top three had a lead at one point and I had the lead for two loops and missed my last two shots and me and Emily went out there together and it was just a crazy last loop," said Tam Von Burg. "I wasn't feeling so good as I went up the hill so I thought, maybe I'll let her pass and draft off her all the way back and try to pass her in the end. We both ski almost exactly the same speed and she had the inside for the finish, so it was difficult to gain."
Tam Von Burg, who trains in Canmore, won the individual race Monday and the sprint event on Tuesday. Now she has silver to add to the collection.
"I had two really good races to start with and I think Emily really deserved her gold today," said Tam Von Burg. "The medals are beautiful, definitely one of the nicest medals I've ever had."
Claire Lapointe of Prince George, 16, was the only one of 84 racers to be perfect on the range, hitting 20 of 20 targets to finish fifth, just ahead of her B.C. teammate Tekerra Banser of Kelowna, 16, while Jennah Smailes of Kelowna, 17, placed 13th.
Lapointe has a piece of masking tape stuck to her ski that reads, 'This is your day,' written by Munny Munroe, her wax technician at nationals last year. That prophesy finally came true for Lapointe on Wednesday.
"I had a good feeling about this race – I hadn't had the best results the last two days and I was really pumped up today knowing this might be my day," said Lapointe. "I think it helped just coming with a positive mindset, knowing my friends and family are here supporting me."
The top three for each province will race Friday in the team relays.
"We worked really hard this winter to make sure the girls were ready and it all came together today, I'm really proud of them," said B.C. coach Glenn Rupertus.
