Ruhpolding (GER) – Jeremy Teela (USA) is rounding into form at just the right time. With the Olympics just around the corner, Teela posted his second consecutive top-20 World Cup biathlon finish, placing 17th in today’s 10km sprint competition.
Teela finiahed 1:25.8 behind winner Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) with a single penalty. Svendsen shot clean, as did the two other men on the podium. Ole Einar Bjorndalen (NOR) was 2nd, just 3,2 seconds back, with Michael Greiss (GER) in 3rd, +33.5.
Teela, just 21 seconds out of the top-10, was 18th just last week in Oberhof. He is now ranked 42nd in the overall World Cup standings.
His teammate, Tim Burke, slipped out of the overall World Cup lead with a 31st place finish. Burke had an off day, both on the range and on the trails. He cleaned the first shooting stage, but had two penalties next time through. His ski time was 26th best, and all told he was nearly two minutes off the pace.
Burke slipped to 3rd in the overall. He is now 19 points Evgeny Ustyugov (RUS).
Jay Hakkinen and Lowell Bailey finished 80th and 93rd respectively. Both shot poorly with Hakkinen missing three targets and Bailey four. The pair had all their misses in the prone shooting stage, cleaning standing.