OSTERSUND, Sweden -- Canada's Megan Imrie will be competing in the Winter Olympics in February after posting one of the best World Cup biathlon sprint results of her career on Saturday.
The 27-year-old from Falcon Lake, Man., missed just one shot in the range to clock a 22nd-place time of 22 minutes 8.4 second in the 7.5-kilometre event. Imrie's previous career-best sprint result was 17th. She also has a 20th-place finish in an individual competition.
"It was a fantastic day. I felt great in the warm up and I am very confident in my shooting now," said the 2010 Olympian. "I am very happy this caps off my Sochi qualification. Skiing was all flow and fight. It felt strong and smooth. I put it all out there today."
Norway's Ann Kristin Aafedt Flatland shot clean to win the women's sprint with a time of 20:41.2. Russia's Olga Zaitseva was also clean on the range to claim the silver at 20:57.1. Norway's Tora Berger grabbed the bronze at 21:03.2 (0+1).
Regina's Scott Perras was the top Canadian in the men's 10-kilometre sprint. Perras missed one shot in each of his two trips to the range to post a time of 27:38.8.
Martin Fourcade, of France, finished on top at 25:56.0 (0+1). Sweden's Fredrik Lindstroem was second at 26:02.5 (0+0), while American Tim Burke shot clean to win the bronze with a time of 26:27.3.
Other Canadian results included: Calgary's Nathan Smith in 45th with a time of 28:05.0 (1+0); and Jean-Philippe Le Guellec of Shannon, Que., in 69th at 28:54.7 (2+2) in men's racing. Rosanna Crawford, of Canmore, Alta., was 51st at 23:04.8 (0+3) and Zina Kocher finished 64th at 23:21.3 (2+2) in women's.
