Roughly 65 of Canada鈥檚 top biathletes have descended on the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre for the 2022 Biathlon World Youth Junior Championship Trials, for a chance to represent Canada in the sport.
Women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 junior distance pursuit events took place at the Vernon area centre Thursday, Feb. 10. The youth distance sprints were held Wednesday, and the events will wrap up Saturday with the junior distance sprints.
Three Sovereign Lake athletes competed at home in the junior distance pursuit Wednesday.
Sixteen-year-old Molly Caldwell of Sovereign Lake placed 10th out of 25 in her 10-kilometre event. She said having trained on the uphill portions of the track helped her feel confident while competing.
鈥淭he skiing was a little slow but I felt pretty strong in the uphills,鈥� she said.
鈥淢y shooting wasn鈥檛 great but it was okay,鈥� she added, having hit seven out of 10 targets in the prone position and four of 10 while standing.
Competing in the 12.5 km youth men鈥檚 junior distance pursuit, Sebastian Solomonson and Parker Munro began one after the other on the staggered start. The two Sovereign Lake biathletes finished 15th and 19th respectively.
Jenna Sherrington of the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre had the fastest time in the women鈥檚 pursuit and was more than a full minute ahead of second place.
Xavier Gilbert of Club de biathlon La Poursuite in Quebec finished first in the youth men鈥檚 pursuit, just one tenth of a second ahead of Jean-Nicolas De Broeck, also from Quebec.
There were no local competitors in the junior men鈥檚 pursuit, which was won by Logan Pletz of the Whistler Nordic Development Centre (WNDC). Pletz finished more than two minutes faster than the second-place finisher, Zachary Connelly, also from WNDC.
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