It was only a matter of time before biathlete Sarah Beaudry showed she’s one of the best youth athletes in the world.
After a few jet-lagged races and a helping of homemade apple strudel to get her back on track, Beaudry powered her way to a fifth place finish in the Individual race at the Biathlon Youth World Championships in Obertilliach, Austria on Tuesday (Jan. 29). Beaudry clocked a time of 34:37.4 in the 10 kilometre race. Russian Uliana Kaisheva won with a time of 32:41.1.
“I’m really happy with it. My plan was to start not too fast. I still died at the end, but I just wanted to focus on shooting.”
Beaudry’s previous best result at the youth championships was a 20th place finish, but now she’s comfortable racing with the best, as long as her nerves are under control.
“In the sprint (on Saturday), I was uncommonly very nervous. Today I was fine. I was definitely just more calm and relaxed. I could come in and shoot really well. After I got the shooting over with, I could ski well,” she said.
The 10 km individual race adds one-minute penalties for missed targets, so it favours good shooters. Beaudry missed only two shots in four bouts of shooting.
The 18-year-old who trains with the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre in Canmore said she’s settled into Austria and is prepared for Thursday’s (Jan. 31)relay race.
“I’m just enjoying not having to cook every night,” she joked.
Julia Ransom was Canada’s top junior racer. Ransom also trains with the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre in Canmore and finished 15th in the women’s pursuit.
“I was generally really happy with my pursuit. My focus was to ski long and strong and maximize my glide for the flat sections. For the most part, shooting was good, but I think I lost a bit of focus on the last standing. Something I need to work on is shooting speed,” Ransom said.
She was skiing well, but fell out of the top 10 when she missed three shots
Ransom was one of the top youth racers last year and earned confidence by placing in the top 20 as a junior biathlete.
“I have found Junior to be more competitive and less forgiving of mistakes. The top women are skiing and shooting incredibly fast and are accurate.”
Ransom hopes to stay in Europe and represent Canada on the IBU Cup tour for two weeks before returning home for cross-country ski and biathlon nationals. She hopes to build on the results, as well as her first World Cup appearance, where she raced in Canmore for Canada.
Ransom’s teammates also had strong results in the pursuit. Emma Lodge was 36th, Rose-Marie Cote was 38th and Erin Yungblut was 52nd.
Other Canadian youth individual finishers included Leilani Tam Von Burg (50th), Emily Dickson (54th), Charlotte Hamel (61st). Carsen Campbell was the top Canadian male, finishing 37th, followed by Matthew Strum (67th) and Arthur Root (86th).
The junior men’s contingent also cracked some top results in the pursuit. Christian Gow was 19th, Macx Davies was 33rd. Youth male Stuart Harden was 18th.
Canadian coach Richard Boruta said he was satified with Beaudry’s performance.
“The girls did better than the boys. There is definitely room for improvement,” Boruta said.
