March 9, 2008 (Cesana, Ita.) – Canada’s Megan Tandy held on with the top junior biathletes in the world after posting a fifth-place finish in the women’s junior 10km European Cup pursuit competition on Sunday.

Starting 36.2 seconds behind the front runner after Saturday’s sprint race where Tandy finished fourth, the Prince George, B.C. native continued her strong string of results after finishing three minutes 12.4 seconds behind the eventual winner. Tandy continued to struggle shooting from the standing position with three of her five misses coming in the standing form on the range. Austria’s Iris Wauldhuber won the gold with a time of 45:23.9.

At just 19 years old, Tandy has skied into a wealth of international experience in the last two months while competing at the World Championships, Junior World Championships and European Cup.

“Overall I am really excited about my season and was pleased with my performance at the World Juniors,” said Tandy, where she rattled off three top-15 performances. “The World Championships was such a great experience for me to see how fast the top biathletes are in the world. It was so motivating seeing the races first hand and knowing that is where I need to get too. But for me right now, being at the end of the season and knowing I’m still performing well is a very good feeling.”

Two other young Canucks joined Tandy in the junior women’s race. Rosanna Crawford, of Canmore, Alta., fired her way up the standings into 12th spot after crossing the line 6:39.3 behind. Jessica Sedlock, of North Saanich, B.C., finished 29th (+16:06.9).

Canada’s senior men were stacked four high in the middle of the pack of the men’s 12.5-kilometre pursuit competition. Edmonton’s Jaime Robb overcame a difficult time on the range where he missed seven shots to finish 18th after stopping the clock 2:35.6 behind Russia’s Serguei Bachkirov who set the time to beat at 34:24.2. Calgary’s Nathan Smith was 19h (+2:36.3), while Marc-Andre Bedard, of Valcartier, Que., was 20th (+2:49.1); and Edmonton’s Yannick Letailleur was 21st (+2:49.1). Patrick Cote, of Grand-Sault, N.B., also climbed seven spots over Saturday’s sprint, finishing 34h (+5:57.4).

Canada’s Megan Imrie, of Falcon Lake, Man., led the Canadian senior women after finishing +8:21.1 back of the gold-medal winner, Anais Bescond, of France, who stopped the clock at 44:05.7.

Two other Canadian women joined Imrie on Sunday. Quebec’s Claude Godbout held on to 27th (+11:33.0), while Jodi Etcheverry, of Canmore, Alta., climbed five sports into 28th (+13:05.2).

For complete results.