Le Guellec makes history at biathlon World Cup
Becomes first Canadian male to top podium
Jean-Philippe Le Guellec became the first Canadian to reach the podium at a men’s biathlon World Cup and he did it in style.
He won gold in Oestersund, Sweden on Saturday with a stunning effort in a sport that is traditionally dominated by European athletes.
“It is a huge, huge day,” said Le Guellec. “I’m still surprised this actually happened. I’m definitely happy. It’s just crazy. Everyone on the team is just ecstatic. That goes without saying. We were all in the wax room and just totally, totally happy.”
Le Guellec, a native of Shannon, Que., finished the 10-kilometre sprint in 25 minutes 10.4 seconds after shooting clean. The previous best men’s World Cup result by a Canadian was a sixth-place finish by Glen Rupertus in 1993.
France’s Alexis Boeuf was second in 25:28.5 with one penalty and Austria’s Christoph Sumann placed third in 25:35.2 with one penalty.
Le Guellec wasn’t affected by the challenging shooting conditions that left most of the international field struggling. “I was just trying to stay focused on skiing and stay relaxed,” said Le Guellec. “Until the last split, the coaches just kept saying that I was doing good. So I was a bit surprised when they told me on the last lap that I was first.” Zina Kocher of Red Deer, Alta., — the only other Canadian to medal in a biathlon World Cup in the past two decades — placed 10th in the women’s 7.5-km sprint. She finished in 22:20.2 with one missed shot, well back of Norway’s Tora Berger. Ukraine’s Olena Pidhrushna won silver and Russia’s Olga Vilukhina earned bronze.
Canadian shorttrack speed skater Charles Hamelin reached the podium for the fifth consecutive race Saturday by winning bronze at the Samsung ISU
SPEED SKATING:
World Cup in Nagoya, Japan. He was third in the 1,500-metre final in two minutes 27.506 seconds. Byeong-Jun Kim won gold in 2:27.237 and South Korean teammate Da Woon Sin took silver in 2:27.340. Hamelin, from Sainte-Julie, Que., now has three silver and two bronze medals this season. Guillaume Bastille of Rivière-duLoup, Que. was eighth and François Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que., was 10th.
WOMEN’S DOWNHILL:
Lindsey Vonn overcame a major slip on the course to win the second women’s World Cup downhill at Lake Louise, Alta. It was another 1-2 finish for the U.S. as Stacey Cook was second for the second straight day.
Vonn’s time was one minute 52.9 seconds. Despite her slip, she was still 0.52 seconds ahead of Cook in 1:53.42. Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden of Switzerland was third.
Larisa Yurkiw of Owen Sound, Ont., was the lone Canadian in the race. She finished 47th.
Matteo Marsaglia of Italy took big risks on a challenging course for his first World Cup victory in Beaver Creek, Colo.
Finding speed on parts of the hill where others were slowing, Marsaglia finished in one minute, 14.68 seconds to edge Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal by 0.27 seconds. Austria’s Hannes Reichelt was third.
Calgary’s Jan Hudec was 10th and Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., 11th. John Kucera, also from Calgary, was 41st.
MEN’S SUPER-G: