Beaudry in, Tandy out for Olympic relay
After a memorable Olympic debut last week, Prince George biathlete Sarah Beaudry will be back in the spotlight at the five-ring circus today in Pyeongchang.
But it was more bad news Wednesday for Megan Tandy, the other Prince George connection on the Canadian biathlon team. She will not be competing in the women’s 4X6-kilometre relay, set for early this morning Pacific time.
Instead, Beaudry, Emma Lunder of Vernon, Julia Ransom of Kelowna and Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Alta., are racing for Canada.
Beaudry, coming off an impressive 29th-place result in the women’s 15 km individual race in which she hit 19 of 20 targets, will take the lead leg, starting in the fifth row, wearing bib No. 11. Each relay skier will complete two 3.2km loops and two rounds of shooting, the first while prone, the second while standing.
“I am so stoked to get another chance to show my stuff especially working with the other girls that I have trained so much with,” said the 23-year-old Beaudry, in an email to The Citizen.
“My race last week was definitely a very exciting day. After struggling with my prone shooting for a couple of weeks and having a not great shooting practice the day before I just went into the race trying to focus on my position in prone and just having solid hits.”
Beaudry was one of two Canadian women to crack the top-30 in the 87-athlete individual race. Crawford finished 26th.
“I was super happy I didn’t let the Olympic pressure get to me too
I am so stoked to get another chance to show my stuff especially working with the other girls that I have trained so much with.
— Sarah Beaudry
much,” said Beaudry. “I definitely held my standing miss one second too long but to hit the other 19 was awesome. My skiing didn’t feel 100 per cent but I felt like I skied the course well for how I was feeling on the day. I am so grateful Megan gave up her spot for me to race and I was super happy that I could take full advantage of it. She is back to good health.”
Tandy, 29, developed a cold and fever which kept her bedridden and forced her to miss last week’s pursuit, after she’d qualified 57th in the sprint race. She was prepared to compete in the individual race last Thursday but decided in her weakened condition Beaudry would have a better chance of success.
Tandy has been feeling raceready again and was thinking she would have a chance to compete in the relay and try to improve on Canada’s seventh-place finish from the Sochi Olympics in 2014. The relay is the final event for the Canadian women and Tandy is resigned to the fact she will be a spectator for the conclusion of her third-straight Olympics.
“Tomorrow is the women’s relay and I am feeling more than a little heartbroken that I won’t be starting,” said Tandy, in her Facebook post. “My illness last week cost me a lot: Two of my individual starts and now, without having had the chance to prove myself in the individual race, my opportunity to start the relay and post-Olympic World Cups as well. I am a positive person and like to focus on the things I CAN change (so not the coach’s decisions or having been sick) but since I am back to full health it is tough to swallow nonetheless.
“Regardless, I will be on course cheering my heart out for our girls with a smile on my face and the maple leaf on my back!”
Canada finished 11th on Tuesday in the double mixed relay (two females, two males). The team, which included Crawford and Ransom as well as Brendan Green of Hay River, N.W.T., and Christian Gow of Canmore, finished 2:36.7 behind the gold medalists from France. Norway and Italy were the respective silver and bronze medalists.
Beaudry is staying at the athletes village in Pyeongchang on the same floor as the snowboarders, a group which includes snowboard cross athlete Meryeta O’Dine, 20, who suffered a concussion last week in training and was forced to miss her event last Friday. Beaudry’s room is near Alpensia Biathlon Centre, which is close to the sites of most of the outdoor sports. She and the rest of the biathlon team took part in the opening ceremony but her busy schedule has left her little time for watching other sports at the Games. Beaudry plans to do more spectating after she cheers on the Canadian men as they compete in the 4X7.5km relay on Friday (3:15 a.m. PT) in Pyeongchang.
“I haven’t seen too many other events live as sometimes it’s long travel or conflicting with our training schedule but I have been watching a lot of the other events in the Team Canada athlete lounge, which has been super-fun getting to know the other athletes on the team,” said Beaudry.
“(The relay) will be the last event for me at the games then just event watching and closing ceremonies before I head to Finland for some more World Cups.”
• The Olympics ended in disap- pointment for short track speed skater Jamie Macdonald of Fort St. James. After she helped the Canadian team qualify for the 3,000m relay A-final, a coaching decision left Macdonald out of the mix as the fifth skater. Marianne St-Gelais, Valerie Maltais, Kim Boutin and Kasandra Bradette, all of Quebec, competed in the final and had an apparent third-place finish taken away when they were disqualified. Korea won gold, Italy took silver and the Netherlands, the B-final winners, was bumped to bronze.
Macdonald, 23, started her first Olympics Feb. 10 in the women’s 500m event. Ranked sixth in the world at that distance, she fell while attempting a pass and was eliminated. Boutin went on to win bronze in the 500m and 1,500m events.