Canada Games: Yukon biathlete Nadia Moser scores 1st medal for territories

The North didn't have to wait long for its first medal at the Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B. C., as Team Yukon biathlete Nadia Moser picked up a silver yesterday on the second day of competition. 

"I was pretty excited," said Moser. "I was really surprised too, actually." 

Moser's medal came in the in the junior women's 12.5 kilometre individual event. The Whitehorse resident finished the race in a time of 42 minutes and 55 seconds, and hit 16 of 20 targets in the shooting portion of the event.

One minute is added to a racer's time for each missed shot, resulting in a final time of 46 minutes and 55 seconds—just under two minutes off the gold medal winning time from Ontario's Leilani Tam von Burg, and 47 seconds ahead of third place Emily Dickson, from B.C.

Moser is a 17-year-old competing in an event where athletes can be as old as 21.

"I wasn't expecting it," she said of her finish. "I've raced against a lot of these girls before and I don't usually place."

Medals are usually in short supply for the three territories at the Canada Games, but individual breakthroughs have typically come on the ski trails. In 2011, the Yukon's Emily Nishikawa won a gold, silver, and bronze medal in cross-country skiing, while the Northwest Territories' Brendan Green won a gold medal in biathlon in 2007. Both Nishikawa and Green went on to represent Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The Canada Winter Games continue in Prince George until March 1.