SARAH BEAUDRY QUALIFIES FOR WORLD CUP TOUR

Sarah Beaudry can start packing.

In less than two weeks she’ll be traveling to Kontiolahti, Finland, for the start of the BMW IBU World Cup biathlon tour later this month.

The 26-year-old Caledonia Nordic Ski Club member from Prince George posted two second-place finishes this week at the senior national team trials in Canmore to lock up a spot on the World Cup team for the opening trimester.

“I’m definitely excited, obviously the big goal of the season wasn’t to qualify but it’s a step to get through and now I get to go over,” said Beaudry. “The season will be interesting based everything that’s going on in the world. I just hope to get to do some fun racing and take every race as a gift and hopefully do something good with them.”

In Thursday’s short individual race at Canmore Nordic Centre, Beaudry completed the course in 44 minutes 36.5 seconds, 1:54 off the winning pace of senior national team member Megan Bankes of Calgary (42:45.2). Beaudry shot 17-for-20, with one miss in her first standing bout and two misses in her second prone bout.

In Tuesday’s race, Beaudry was 10.7 seconds off Lunder’s winning pace (21:56.2). Moser (22:22) and Darya Sepandj of Calgary (22:35.2) rounded out the top four.

Emily Dickson of Burns Lake, who suffered a concussion in a roller ski crash a few weeks ago at Whistler, was unable to race at the trials.

Knowing the precautions that will be in place on the course and the fact Canadian team will remain sequestered in their hotel rooms before and after the races, Beaudry says she’s not overly concerned about the threat posed by the virus, with rates of infection continuing to rise in most countries.

“From Biathlon Canada and the International Biathlon Union there’s a lot of good protocols in place,” said Beaudry. “There’s a lot of people always reviewing the latest information on what’s going on and I think our team is really good at being cautious. It will be different this year there will be even more time spent with the team and less time spent outside the hotel rooms. But if I can race hopefully I can make everything else work too.”

To help cover tour costs, the national team is hosting an online fundraiser – Shoot For Gold – which will be live until Saturday at www.charityauctionstoday.com/ auctions/Shoot-for-Gold-2020-15802.

More than $20,000 worth of merchandise will be up available in the silent online auction.