Accurate shooting and four fast engines on the World Cup biathlon slopes of Ruhpolding, Germany, added up to a top-10 result for Canada in Thursday's women's relay.
The Canadian team - Megan Tandy of Prince George, Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Alta., Emma Lunder of Vernon and Julia Ransom of Kelowna - finished 10th out of 23 teams, three minutes off the winning pace set by Germany.
"Relay in Ruhpolding - a solid 10th place for us Canadian girls today and we set a new team record for relay shooting with only three spares," said Tandy in a Facebook post. "The potential for more is there!!"
In biathlon relays, each competitor has eight rifle rounds with which to knock down five targets for each of four shooting rounds, two while lying prone and two while standing. Five rounds are loaded into the clip which gets inserted into the rifle once the skier has arrived at the designated shooting lane. If any of the three spare rounds are needed they must be loaded individually. If there are any targets left standing after eight fired rounds, relay biathletes are required to ski one 150-metre penalty loop for each missed target.
None of the Canadians was forced to ski any penalty loops. Tandy had just one miss while standing, Crawford and Lunder missed only one prone target and Ransom shot clean.
France and Norway won silver and bronze respectively.
Tandy is entered in Saturday's 7.5km sprint race and a top-60 finish will qualify her for Sunday's pursuit. The top individual placing this season for the two-time Olympian came in December in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, where she finished 44th.
Four Canadian men - Scott and Christian Gow of Calgary, Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T., and Macx Davies of Canmore - are entered in today's 10km sprint. Canada's relay team was 11th on Wednesday.
Also today in Aber, Germany, on the IBU Cup circuit, Prince George athletes Matt Neumann and Sarah Beaudry are entered in the individual events. Neumann, 27, is among 104 biathletes on the start list for the men's 20km individual race along with Carsen Campbell of Bedeque, P.E.I., Aidan Millar of Canmore and Matthew Hudec of North Battleford, Sask. In the women's 15km race, the 21-year-old Beaudry will race with Erin Yungblut of Wroexeter, Ont., in a field of 103 competitors. Beaudry started the season racing World Cup events and her top finish was a 75th placing in a sprint event in Poljuka, Slovenia, in December.
Emily Dickson and Bobby Kreitz, both members of the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, have been selected to compete for Canada at the world youth/junior biathlon championships in Brezno-Osrblie, Slovenia, Feb. 14-March 2. Dickson, a 19-year-old native of Burns Lake, has been competing in Europe on the junior circuit and is now based in Canmore.
