Oslo, Norway – Martin Fourcade (FRA) and Simone Hauswald (GER) won the World Cup Biathlon Sprint in Oslo, Norway. Fourcade finished 7.1 seconds ahead of Maxim Tchoudov (RUS).
Christoph Sumann (AUT) was 3rd, 9.4 seconds back. The top seven men all shot clean. Fourcade had the fastest ski time of that group, and the 6th best on the day. Dominik Landertinger (AUT) posted the best ski time, but three misses and slow range times left him in 17th.
Tim Burke (USA) continued to struggle, missing three shots on his way to 44th place. Burke missed one shot in prone and two in standing while turing in the 34th best ski time.
Leif Nordgren (USA) shot well – just one miss – and finished 62nd, his best-ever World Cup result, besting his 65th last week in Finland.
Lowell Bailey, the final US starter was 90th in the large 111-man field. He missed four shots, three in prone. Brendan Green (CAN) continued his strong season with a 32nd. Green had just a single miss. His top-5 career World Cup results have all come this year.
Jean Phillipe LeGuellec and Scott Perras both matched Green’s shooting performance, but the two Canadians were not as fast on the skis. They finished 69th and 80th respectively.
Nathan Smith rounded out the Canadian squad in 87th with two misses.
Hauswald rode extremely fast shooting to her 5th career World Cup victory. The top-5 women all cleaned shooting, and 2nd place finisher Darya Domracheva (BLR) posted the best ski time. Hauswald was just 3rd on the skis, her range time was the best, good enough to give her 4.9 seconds on Domracheva.
Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek (SWE) was 3rd, 14.1 seconds back.
Overall World Cup leader Magdalena Neuner finished 6th with two misses. She was the only skier in the top-27 with more than a single miss.
Sarah Studebaker led the US in 46th place with one penalty.
Teammate Lanny Barnes was 72nd with an uncharacteristic two misses.
Megan Imrie (CAN) skied to 35th place, continuing an excellent week. Imrie skied very well in the mixed relay a week ago, and set a personal-best with a 32nd in the sprint in Finland. Nine of her top-12 career-best World Cup finishes have come this season, including the top-5.
Her teammates Megan Tandy, Zina Kocher and Rosanna Crawford were 50th, 58th, and 68 respectively.
Tandy and Crawford both missed just one shot, while Kocher struggled on the range with three penalties.
Racing continues on Saturday with a 10/12.5km pursuit.
