Whitehorse’s Nadia Moser made her World Cup debut at the IBU World Cup event at the Pokljuka Biathlon Center, located just outside Bled, Slovenia, from Dec. 2 to 9.
The competition started with both the single mixed relay and mixed relay events on Dec. 2, with Canada finishing off the podium in both events.
In the single mixed relay, Norway finished first while Austria finished second and Ukraine finished third. The Canadian team of Megan Bankes and Christian Gow were sixth.
Later that day, France won the mixed relay with second place going to Switzerland and third place to Italy. Rosanna Crawford, Megan Tandy, Nathan Smith and Scott Gow made up the Canadian team that finished 10th.
On Dec. 6, Moser skied in the women’s 15-kilometre individual competition.
It was a European sweep of the podium as Ukrainian Yuliia Dzhima won with a time of 43 minutes and 6.6 seconds. Second place went to Poland’s Monika Hojnisz who finished 5.9 seconds behind the winner. Third place went to Czech athlete Marketa Davidova who was 16.5 seconds off the pace.
Moser finished 98th in the race, 10 minutes and 20.4 seconds behind Dzhima.
The top Canadian in the field was Tandy in 62nd, four minutes and 34.7 seconds behind the winner. Crawford was 64th and Bankes was 71st.
The women’s 7.5-km sprint race was Dec. 8, again with an all-European podium.
First place went to Kaisa Makarainen of Finland with a time of 20 minutes and 8.1 seconds. Italian Dorothea Wierer was second, 14.8 seconds behind Makarainen, and France’s Justine Braisaz was third, finishing 42.1 seconds behind the winner.
Moser raced to an 88th-place finish, three minutes and 42.1 seconds off the winning pace.
The top Canadian in the race was Tandy in 73rd, followed by Crawford in 77th and Bankes in 99th.
None of the Canadian women raced in the 10-km pursuit competition on Dec. 9.
The next stop on the IBU World Cup is Hochfilzen, Austria, from Dec. 13 to 16th.
Contact John Hopkins-Hill at john.hopkinshill@yukon-news.com