Tim Burke takes Third in Oestersund Biathlon 10km sprint

This morning in Oestersund, Sweden, Tim Burke proved that his podium performance on Thursday was no fluke by racing to another podium finish in the second of two individual World Cup Biathlon races.    For Burke, whose second place finish in Thursday’s 20km race was one of the top finishes in US biathlon history, this weekend will combine to be a historic set of races for both Burke and the team.

Ole Einer Bjoerndalen of Norway took first by 25 seconds, shooting cleanly, over teammate Emil Helge Svendsen who had one penalty.  Burke, in third, also shot perfectly and finished 12 seconds behind Svendsen.  German biathletes Christoph Stephan, Michael Greis, and Andreas Birnbacher rounded out the top six places.

The next American finisher was Jean Philippe Leguellec of Canada, with one penalty and 1:10.5 off the winning pace.  For the U.S., Jay Hakkinen was the next finisher in 43^rd with two penalties and Lowell Bailey finished 53^rd with one penalty.

 Mens10km Results

Despite windy conditions, the top five women in the 7.5 km sprint all shot perfectly.  Tora Berger from Norway topped Olga Medvedtseva from Russian by just 6.8 seconds, with Kaisa Makarainen from Finland capturing third, 10 seconds back.  The first American to finish was Zina Kocher from Canada, with two penalties, in 34^th place. Sara Studebaker was the top US biathlete, with two penalties in 59^th place and teammate Lanny Barnes finished 64^th with one penalty.

Women’s 7.5 km results