Dickson picks up pace in world junior pursuit
Emily Dickson of Burns Lake improved 10 positions during the junior women’s 10-kilometre pursuit to finish 26th Sunday at the world junior biathlon championships in Otepaa, Estonia.
Dickson, 20, missed four of 20 targets and completed the course in five minutes 31.6 seconds behind the gold-medal pace of Marketa Davidova of the Czech Republic, who clocked 32:52.6. Davidova also had four misses and finished 28.1 seconds ahead of silver medalist Kamila Zuk of Poland. Myrtille Begue of France won bronze.
Megan Bankes of Calgary finished eighth, 2:42.6 behind Zuk, and Nadia Moser of Edmonton was 11th, 3:45.4 off the winning pace.
Dickson, a two-time gold medalist at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, finished 36th in the world junior sprint on Saturday and was also 36th in the individual race on Thursday. Zuk, who won both races, competed in the Olympic relay for Poland in Pyeongchang,
Dickson began the week of competition in Estonia teaming up with Bankes and Moser to finish ninth in the women’s 3x6km relay.
Dickson will now prepare for the Canadian biathlon championships in Charlo, N.B., March 20-25.
Dickson was named last week as one of 55 Canadian athletes selected by Petro Canada and the Canadian Olympic Association to receive a Fuelling Athletes and Coaching Excellence grant. Dickson will receive a $5,000 award, as will Kathy Davies, her coach in Canmore, Alta. The World Cup tour resumes this week in Kontiolahti, Finland, for Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, who will be entered in the women’s 7.5km sprint on Thursday. A single mixed relay, mixed relay and mass start races are also on the schedule in Finland this week.