March 01, 2015 (Canmore, AB) – Germany’s Florian Graf was unstoppable while the Canadians showed modest improvements on Day 2 of IBU Cup 7 at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Graf held onto the overall IBU Cup lead with the victory, as he was perfect in the range to reach the top of the podium with a time of 24:36.1.

Florian Graff (GER) wins men's Sprint on Day 2 © Pam Doyle

Antonin Guigonnat of France shot 8/10, but was only 12 second back of Graf. Christoph Stephan, also of Germany, finished third. Graf took extra time in his last bout of shooting, and it paid off with the win.

“I was on the shooting range a little bit more focused and concentrated,” Graf said.

Marc Andre Bedard was the top Canadian, finishing 19th, with a time of 26:04.9. He was happy with his performance in the range, where he shot 9/10, and said he moved much faster on his skis

“I needed yesterday to get the toxins out,” Bedard said, who hasn’t raced internationally or picked up his rifle since January. “Physically it was way better today. I still felt not exactly like I want to be, but I shot nine which was good. On the skies, it really was different.”

Marc Andre Bedard (Can) 19th in men's Sprint on Day 2 © Pam Doyle

An outlier on the Canadian team, Bedard doesn’t have a coach and trains by himself under a modified plan adjusted to his needs. For example, most Canadian biathletes shoot 10,000 rounds of ammo a year, while Bedard shoots 1,000. After 15 years in the sport, he’s confident he knows what he needs to do to perform.

“I’m happy to be able to race at that level. I’ve been training full time, even more than I’ve ever trained, but in a totally different way. I couldn’t say the coaches in general are super excited about this. I haven’t trained with the National team in over a year now. I’m just coming in and getting my shape up,” Bedard said.

Scott Perras was the second fastest Canadian, finishing 23rd . Matt Neumann was 34th, Matthew Hudec 36th, Andrew Chisholm 40th and Macx Davies was 42nd after a rough day in the range.

The USA’s Wynn Roberts logged a solid 22nd place finish to grab the top American spot. Teammates Patrick Johnson and Eathan Dreissigacher finished 44th and 46th, respectively.

Results here.