Squamish resident Megan Tandy shot 10 for 10 during the 2010 Olympic 7.5 km biathlon sprint event at today's Whistler Olympic Park a feat she said is sure to improve her standing in her next Olympic final on Tuesday.
"Shooting-wise, it gives me a lot of confidence because I've proven to myself that I can mentally manage the pressure of the shooting range and that's definitely going to be a benefit come pursuit time when I'm going to be able to put more of my focus on the skiing and the tactics and that sort of thing," said Tandy as she left the competition venue after placing 46th out of 88 athletes.
The event took place on a course that had to be sprinkled with fertilizer to harden up the snow, after days of rain and sleet.
Slovakia's Anastazia Kuzmina upset the odds-on favourites, including German athlete Magdalen Neuner and Swedish favourite Helena Jonsson, taking her first Olympic gold with a time of 19 minutes, 55 seconds and missing only one shot.
Tandy said she was happy with her standing, especially since she's new to the senior level of competition.
"Obviously these 90 athletes are the cream of the crop, they're the best in the world so really, whoever places 89th or 87th it's still an awesome athlete. To placed in the top half currently the sky's the limit. I keep getting faster every year so I'm just really excited to seed how far I can take it," she said.
Neuner took the silver, 1.5 seconds behind Kuzmina, and Marie Dorin of France won the bronze with a clean shoot that put her 10.9 seconds off the lead.
Last year's 7.5 km sprint world titleholder, Jonsson, finished in 12th despite shooting 10 for 10. Jonsson has four World Cup victories this season and leads the overall standings.
Tandy said it was thrilling to race "in my own backyard." She's been training in Squamish for two years with BC High Performance coach iLmar Heinicke.
"It's been awesome. I've loved living in Squamish and training in Squamish a super welcoming community. So I would say thanks to CORSA Bike shop -- they have a sweet, sweet road bike, we've had so much support everywhere from Galileo Coffee and obviously the BC High Performance program. I mean I'm racing in my own backyard. It doesn't get much more fun than that."
Tandy returns to the biathlon track Tuesday for the women's 10 km pursuit.
Of the three other Canadian women who competed in the 7.5 km sprint biathlon, Zina Kocher took 65th, Rosanna Crawford 72nd, Megan Imrie was 76th.
