PRINCE GEORGE 鈥� It's been a cold and windy for the start of the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea and the conditions there took a toll on Prince George biathlete Megan Tandy.
She woke up with chest cold Monday morning and was forced to miss her start in the women's 10-km pursuit. Tandy, 29, was among the top-60 qualifiers in the sprint race on Friday, placing 57th out of 87.
"Disappointing news, but it is for the best," said Tandy, in her Facebook post. "I have decided not to start the 10km pursuit tonight in order to get healthy for our upcoming individual race. I will be cheering on my girls from bed, I know they can rock this stadium tonight."
Turns out, Tandy was right.
Rosanna Crawford of Canmore qualified 53rd and made up 34 positions in the pursuit to finish 19th. Julia Ransom on Kelowna also made up for her 40th-place sprint result to finish 29th in the pursuit. The other Canadian in the race, Emma Lunder of Vernon, was 54th.
Sprint winner Laura Dahlmeier of Germany had a 24-second lead to start the pursuit and ended up winning gold in 30:35.3 with just one miss in 20 shots at the range. Anatstasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia and Anais Bescond of France won silver and gold respectively.
In the men's 12.5 km pursuit, Nathan Smith of Calgary, who qualified 44th as the lone Canadian, finished 53rd. Martin Fourcade of France won gold, Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden took silver and Benedikt Doll of Germany claimed bronze.
The women are back in action Wednesday night in Pyeongchang (3:05 a.m. PT) for the 15 km individual race. The men's 20 km individual event is scheduled for Thursday at 3:05 a.m. PT.
In other Prince George Olympic news, Meryeta O'Dine will begin her medal quest in the women's snowboardcross competition on Thursday. O'Dine, 20, will begin with the qualification round Thursday night at 5 p.m. PT. The big final is schedule for 8:56 p.m. PT on Thursday.