Canada’s biathlon team was on target Thursday in the IBU World Cup men’s 10-kilometre sprint.
Three of the four Canadians made the top-60 cut and qualified for Sunday’s pursuit.
Jules Burnotte of Sherbrooke, Que., had just one miss in two shooting bouts and finished the course 45th in the order, 1:27.9 behind gold medalist Quentin Fillon Maillet of France. The Gow brothers of Canmore, Scott and Christian, just returned from a high-altitude training camp in Italy and Scott was right behind Burnotte in 46th place with just one penalty, finishing 1:28.1 off the winning pace. Christian shot clean and ended up 51st (+1:35.5). Adam Runnalls of Calgary was 85th (+2:23.5, 1+2) and missed the cut.
Maillet cleaned his targets and clocked 23:23.7, 7.2 seconds ahead of silver medalist Benedikt Doll of Germany (0+0). Anton Smolski of Belarus took bronze (+32.1, 0+1). The event drew 114 starters.
In Wednesday’s women’s 7.5-km sprint, Emma Lunder of Vernon was the only Canadian woman in to the top 60, finishing 55th (+2:14.1, 0+1).
Sarah Beaudry of Prince George was 74th (+2:48.9, 1+0), Emily Dickson of Burns Lake was 91st (+3:12.9, 1+0), and Megan Bankes of Calgary was 95th (+3:19.5, 2+1), out of a field of 111 skiers.
Elvira Oeberg of Sweden set the pace in 19:45.2, followed by World Cup leader Marte Olsbu Roeisland of Norway (+21.6) and bronze medalist Dorothea Wierer of Italy (+29.7) All three medalists shot clean.
The 24-team women’s 4 X 6 km relay is set for Friday in Ruhpolding. Canada will stat with Lunder taking the lead leg, followed by Bankes, Dickson and anchor skier Beaudry. The race will be webcast live on www.eurovisionsports.tv starting at 4 a.m. PT.
The men’s relay is on Saturday, followed by Sunday’s pursuits.
The World Cup tour visits in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy next weekend, the final stop before the Olympics in Beijing, Feb. 5-20.
