March 12, 2008 (Cesana, Ita.) – Canada’s Marc-Andre Bedard will put his name in the history books as the third Canadian in the last two decades to capture a gold medal at an international biathlon competition after he won the Biathlon European Cup sprint competition on the Olympic venue in Cesana, Italy on Wednesday.

Bedard, who hails from Valcartier, Que., had a perfect competition. The 22-year-old shot clean in his two trips to the range, and also skied strong in his 10-kilometre journey to the top step of the podium after posting a winning time of 27 minutes 39.3 seconds.

“This is absolutely amazing and it is so crazy,” said Bedard, who will now take a 26-second lead into Thursday’s pursuit event where athletes start time-behind-the leader based on the results of the sprint competition. “The last couple of weeks I have been skiing really good. The conditions were perfect today and I love this course so I am more than thrilled that I won.”

A rookie on Canada’s senior biathlon squad, Bedard began his pursuit of excellence in the sport biathlon in 2000 after years of competing as a high-performance cross-country skier.

“I remember watching Myriam Bedard win the Olympics in 1994 and thought biathlon was pretty cool,” said Bedard. “I remember how she inspired me and thinking when she was on the podium that I would like to do that too one day.”

Marc-Andre’s name will now be forever etched in the Canadian history books alongside his Olympic hero. Myriam Bedard won double gold at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games and a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics. Calgary’s Sandra Keith, who is now one of the veterans competing on the World Cup biathlon circuit for Canada, is the one other Canadian in at least the last 20 years to win a Biathlon European Cup competition when she claimed the gold in 2003.

“It is crazy for me to think about the history and having my name now mentioned as a gold medal winner,” said Marc-Andre Bedard. “Everyone is so excited in our program. It shows my teammates it is possible and they can do it too because they know they can beat me. I don’t want to get too excited because tomorrow is another race and I know I can do well again.”

Joining Bedard on the men’s podium was Russia’s Sergei Rozhkov, who claimed the silver after stopping the clock 24.6 seconds behind the Canadian. Vincent Porret, of France, settled for third (+1:06.3).

Bedard was not the only Canadian with a hot hand in men’s and women’s biathlon action in Italy. Four other Canadian men hit the start line with Patrick Cote, of Grand-Sault, N.B., cracking the top-20 after finishing 18th (+2:38.5). Other Canadian results included: Yannick Letailleur, of Edmonton, in 28th (+3:34.0); Jaime Robb, of Edmonton, in 29th (+3:49.1); and Calgary’s Nathan Smith in 33rd (+4:22.2).

Three Canadians skied with the top of the pack in the senior and junior women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint competition. Megan Imrie, of Falcon, Lake, Man., led the senior women with a 17th-place finish. Imrie, who missed three shots on the range, crossed the line 2:32.5 behind the gold-medal winner, Germany’s Tina Bachmann who set the time to beat at 23:54.3.

Canada’s junior women also continued to shine on the European Cup circuit. Rosanna Crawford, of Canmore, Alta., who is the younger sister to Olympic gold medallist in cross-country skiing, Chandra, posted her best ever European Cup result, finishing in 11th spot after crossing the line 2:08.9 behind the leaders. Crawford’s teammate, Megan Tandy, of Prince George, B.C., finished on her heels in 12th (+2:12.9).

Olga Alifiravets, of Belarus, took home the gold in the junior women’s category after posting a time of 25:21.5.

Other Canadian women’s results included: Quebec’s Claude Godbout finishing 19th (+2:49.5); and Jodi Etcheverry, of Canmore, Alta., was 30th (+5:26.5) in senior women’s action. Jessica Sedlock, of North Saanich, B.C., was the only other junior Canuck to hit the start line and finished 24th (+5:04.0).

For complete European Cup results.