U.S.A. Biathlon

HOCHFILZEN, Austria (December 8, 2012) - Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, N.Y.) had an outstanding race today at the IBU World Cup 12.5k Pursuit in Hochfilzen, placing 10th with just one penalty in standing. Bailey, starting with bib 36, was tied for 5th fastest on the range and 1:11.9 back from today's winner Jakov Fak (SLO) with his first career World Cup win, posting 31:45.5 with two penalties. Dmitry Malyshko (RUS) took second (34:15.7/0+0+0+1), and World Cup leader Martin Fourcade (FRA) finished third with three penalties.  

“A much better day for me today,” said Bailey. “I went into the race with the plan to be aggressive on the shooting range and to try and ski within my level at the moment. I was able to work into the race and after two clean prone stages I found myself up in the top-25. The third stage was a bit windy and I think a lot of the guys I was around missed so that by the time I came in for the final standing stage, I was in 13th and within sight of the top-10.

“It's interesting because pretty much the exact same thing happened in the Pursuit here last year. Except last year, I missed two in my final stage and fell out of the top-15. Today the targets went down and I left the range in eighth but only a few meters ahead of Landertinger and Ustyugov (two of the fastest guys out there right now). I did my best to stay with them but Landi but in a brutal sprint at the bottom of the final climb and I couldn't quite match the pace today. But I'm happy with the race and happy glad to have bounced back from a disappointing Sprint. I'm really looking forward to the Relay tomorrow. We changed up the order and I think Leif could be a force in the first leg,” he added.

Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) finished 23rd with a time of 36:22.4 and four penalties. Russell Currier (Stockholm, ME) posted a time of 38:48.5 (2+0+1+1) for 52nd place. Extended results from today's 12.5k Pursuit can be found here.  

Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID) finished 47th (36:07.0/0+2+1+0) in today's 10k Pursuit, and Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT) placed 52nd (36:32.7) with seven penalties. "Today's race was fun," said Studebaker. "There were so many people out in such a short amount of time that I was skiing with a big group for most of the race. I felt pretty solid skiing and was happy to move up a little in the placing with decent shooting. We're all really looking forward to tomorrow's relay - we've had really good team spirit the last couple weeks, so it will be nice to use that towards a good result!"  

"The first half of the race felt great and I was right in the mix," said Dunklee. "I had 2/3 of the equation today (prone and skiing); it was a little heart breaking to miss so many standing targets."   

Norway took the top two spots on today's 10k Pursuit podium as Synnøve Solemdal claimed her first World Cup win with a time of 31:13.4 and one penalty. World Cup leader Tora Berger (NOR) was second (31:43.6/ 2 penalties). Kaisa Mäkäräinen (FIN) finished third with a time of 31:46.7 and four penalties. Extended results from the women's Pursuit are available here.  

World Cup 2 concludes tomorrow in Hochfilzen with the men's 4x7.5k Relay starting at 6:15am (EST) and women's 4x6k Relay at 9:30am (EST). Start lists and results will be available here, and races will be webcast live at www.biathlonworld.com.