(Zhangjiakou) Christian Gow achieved the third best Canadian performance in history in the 15 km mass start biathlon on Friday at the Beijing Olympics.
Posted at 6:20 a.m.
The 28-year-old Albertan took 13and rank of the competition, especially because of three missed targets at the last firing point, he who had been perfect until then. Gow finished the race in 41 minutes, two seconds and five tenths (41:02.5), 2:48.1 behind winner Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway.
Sherbrooke resident Jules Burnotte broke into the top-20 of an individual event for the first time in his career by taking 18and rank in 41: 35.0 (+3: 20.6).
Third Canadian in contention, Scott Gow took the 25and rank, at 4:03.2 from Boe’s reference time.
Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma finished in second place, 40.3 seconds behind the gold medalist. He is also the only biathlete to have finished the event less than a minute behind Boe.
The bronze medal went to Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (39:26.9), who finished the race 1:12.5 behind his compatriot.
Boe ends the Beijing Games with five medals: four gold – he was also crowned in the sprint, relay and mixed relay – and a bronze in the individual event. These medals bring his career total to eight (5-2-1) in three Olympic Games, in addition to 24 (12 gold) won in six World Championships.