Brittany Hudak, Emily Young and Collin Cameron Add Three Medals to Canadian Haul at Para Nordic World Cup in Canmore
CANMORE, Alta.—Brittany Hudak led Canada to a triple-medal day in biathlon racing at the Para Nordic World Cup, winning her third gold medal of the week on Sunday at the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park.
Hudak, of Prince Albert, Sask., snagged her fifth medal of the week after winning the women’s 10-kilometre standing category with a time of 32:49.4.
“It was race number six, so my body was feeling tired especially after a solid effort yesterday,” said Hudak. “My legs were feeling heavy, and I was a bit sluggish, but I knew if I could keep it together in the range I’d have a good day.”
The sharp-shooting 28-year-old definitely did, missing just one shot in her third of four rounds of shooting.
Hudak finished 32 seconds ahead of her teammate Emily Young, of Kelowna, B.C., in the silver-medal position. The 30-year-old Young locked up her second medal of the week, and sixth of her career in biathlon, with a time of 33:20.1 (0+1+0+0).
“It was a lot of fun today. Biathlon is such a challenge. It is so easy to lose with the shooting,” said Young, who won the bronze earlier in the week in the distance race. “It was really nice to have my teammates Britt and Nat so close to me. They are both skiing so well so they were a bit of a rabbit in front of me. We feed off that camaraderie on the course.
“It was a nice way to finish. It gives us a benchmark of where our training is and hopefully now we can move forward from this.”
Russia’s luliia Mikheeva shot clean to win the bronze medal with a time of 33:31.9.
Natalie Wilkie, of Salmon Arm, B.C., finished fifth at 34:05.9 (0+1+0+1).
Meanwhile, Collin Cameron, completed the medal hat trick for the Canucks in the final race of the 10-day World Cup. The three-time Paralympic medallist from Sudbury, Ont. rattled off all 20 targets on the range to chalk up his first biathlon medal of the week, stopping the clock at 34:13.3 in 10-kilometre sit-ski category.
“I just really wanted to focus on the range, slow it down a bit and work on my sight picture,” said Cameron. “This is my second clean (shooting) race ever. The result is what it is. I was just happy I was able to tidy things up today. It always makes a difference when you shoot clean.
“I’ll take confidence from this, knowing our training from the summer is paying off. I want to stay fit, stay healthy and carry this towards the Paralympics in March.”
Russia’s Danila Britik was also perfect in shooting, winning with a time of 33:54.2. Ivan Golubkov, also of Russia, skied to the bronze medal with a time of 35:06.3 (2+0+0+1).
Derek Zaplotinsky, of Smoky Lake, Alta., was eighth at 37:26.8 (0+1+0+0).
Canada’s Christina Picton, of Fonthill, Ont., was fifth in the women’s sit-ski race. Picton stopped the clock at 46:35.3 (1+0+0+0). Mark Arendz skied to sixth in the men’s standing classification with a time of 28:44.0 (1+0+0+1).
Jesse Ehman (Saskatoon) was 10th at 35:22.1 (1+1+0+1). Kyle Barber (Sudbury, Ont.) placed 11th at 38:33.9 (4+1+1+2).
The Canadians racked up 17 medals in six days of racing at the season-opening Para Nordic World Cup.
Complete Para Nordic Skiing World Cup Canmore Results:
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