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WORLD RACER – Nadia Moser, seen here in a January 2015 file photo, placed eighth and was the top Canadian in the 15-kilometre individual biathlon race in her final junior world championships in Otepää, Estonia.

Moser competes in final world junior races

Competing on the IBU Cup circuit for her second straight year,

By Dustin Cook on March 5, 2018

Competing on the IBU Cup circuit for her second straight year, 20-year-old Whitehorse biathlete Nadia Moser went back to her age level to race in the biathlon junior world championships.

In her final year of junior eligibility, Moser competed in four races at the junior level in Otepää, Estonia which ran last week ending Sunday.

The first race of the competition for the junior athletes was a three-member relay race. Moser raced the middle leg for Canada who finished in ninth place out of 17 teams.

It was the first individual race where Moser shined, placing eighth overall in the 71 competitor field. She finished just one place and 41 seconds ahead of her Canadian teammate Megan Bankes in the 12.5-kilometre individual competition.

Moser finished four minutes and 19 seconds back of the race winner Kamila Zuk from Poland who won the race handily by over three minutes.

With four rounds of shooting in the race, Moser had a shooting error total of three with a one minute penalty for each miss added to her overall time.

The junior athletes had a day off until their second individual race Saturday in the form of the 7.5-kilometre sprint event. Moser finished the short-distance race in 21st place. Her Canadian teammate Bankes again came in the top 10 with a ninth place finish.

With only two rounds of shooting five targets in this race, Moser had two shooting errors both in the second round and had to ski two penalty loops.

Just a day later, the final race of Moser’s junior world career was the 10-kilometre pursuit. The start of the pursuit is individual and based on time differences from the previous sprint race.

Moser came just short of another top 10 finish placing 11th with Bankes finishing in eighth for Canada.

With four shooting bouts, Moser made two errors on her 20 shots forcing two penalty loops of 150 metres.

Prior to the junior championships, Moser had been competing up a level in the IBU Cup – the second highest level on the world biathlon circuit.

Her last IBU Cup competition was in Germany near the beginning of January.

She placed 53rd of 73 finishers in the 15-km individual race. In the second race of the event, Moser placed 45th in the sprint.

There are still two IBU Cup races to come in the racing season that Moser is eligible to compete in.

The seventh cup event will be held in Uvat, Russia March 9-11 consisting of a 15-km race and 7.5-km sprint. The final event will be March 13-17 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

But ahead of returning to the junior circuit, Moser had a chance of competing in the top World Cup circuit where she hopes to be competing regularly in future seasons.

She was brought up to the top Canadian team for the event in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy and competed in the 7.5-km sprint race on Jan. 18.

In her first World Cup race, Moser was the top Canadian finisher in 85th place out of 102 finishers. Moser finished just ahead of her Canadian teammates Sarah Beaudry and Bankes who placed in 87th and 90th respectively.

There are still three World Cup events remaining on the season circuit. The next event starts Tuesday in Finland running until March 11. The series will then move to Norway before wrapping up in Russia at the end of March.

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