Beaudry posts top-10 relay finish
RUHPOLDING, Germany — Laura Dahlmeier took Germany to victory in the women’s 4x6-kilometre relay at a biathlon World Cup on Saturday.
The Canadian team, which included Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, finished 10th, 1;56.7 off the winning pace.
Germany was fourth and 24.4 seconds behind Switzerland when Dahlmeier started but she made her move with around 600 metres to go and overtook Italy’s Federica Sanfilippo to seal the win.
The German team of Franziska Preuss, Denise Herrmann, Franziska Hildebrand and Dahlmeier completed the Ruhpolding course in one hour, eight minutes, 47.0 seconds with nine spare rounds altogether.
Germany beat Italy’s team of Lisa Vittozzi, Dorothea Wierer, Nicole Gontier and Sanfilippo by 2.9 seconds. Gontier missed three targets but her teammates all shot cleanly.
Hanna Oeberg held on for Sweden to finish third, 17.2 behind Germany with five missed targets, ahead of Norway and Poland.
Beaudry needed just one spare round in four shooting bouts. Emma Lunder of Vernon started for Canada, followed by Julia Ransom of Kelowna, Beaudry, and Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, who skied the anchor leg.
On Sunday, Kaisa Makarainen of Finland edged home favourite Laura Dahlmeier by 0.8 seconds to win the women’s 12.5-kilometre race in 34:05.6, with Czech Veronika Vitkova 4.6 behind in third. Crawford, who claimed her first podium place on Thursday, was leading going into the final shoot but was unable to hold off her rivals’ late surge. Crawford finished 5.2 seconds behind Makarainen in fourth. She was the only competitor to shoot cleanly as the top three each missed two targets.
In the men’s 15km mass start race, Johannes Thingnes Boe ended Martin Fourcade’s biathlon World Cup-winning streak. Fourcade, who won the men’s previous four events, was leading going into the third shoot but missed two targets while Boe quickly hit all five. The Norwegian seized the lead as Fourcade completed two penalty loops and he kept it to complete the 15km course in 37 minutes, 11.2 seconds. Boe only missed one target in the final shoot.
Fourcade recovered to finish just 4.5 sec- onds behind Boe, while French teammates Antonin Guigonnat and Quentin Fillon Maillet were 8.4 and 12.6 back in third and fourth, respectively.
Meanwhile, in Arber, Germany, at the IBU Cup women’s 7.5km sprint on Saturday, Megan Tandy was the top Canadian, finishing 28th. The 29-year-old from Prince George had two misses in her standing bout on the range and ended up 1:14.1 behind gold medalist Hilde Fenne of Norway.
Russians Valeriia Vasnetcova and Kristina Reztscova claimed silver and bronze respectively.
Nadia Moser of Whitehorse and Megan Bankes of Calgary were 45th and 46th, while Erin Yungblut of Wroexeter, Ont., placed 75th.