Germany's Simon Schempp felt the power in his legs to get the job done on the final loop of the men's 12.5 k pursuit on Saturday, while Tim Burke of the U.S. reached the flower ceremony for the second-straight day in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. "These are my two best results of the season so I can't be too disappointed," Burke explained.
In the final sprint of the season, Julian Eberhard won his first race, earned his first podium and became the first Austrian to win an IBU World Cup sprint in 15 years. Meanwhile, Tim Burke placed sixth for his best result of the 2015/2016 season, and the U.S. men notched a team-best sixth overall in the Nation Cup.
Martin Fourcade surged to the biggest World Championships sprint victory margin in over a decade, besting a field including 42-year-old Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway. After taking silver, Bjørndalen - whose record 94 World Cup wins may never be matched - said he thought Fourcade was a better biathlete.
Martin Fourcade versus Simon Schempp: Two perennial rivals duking it out on the final loop of Thursday's mixed relay. It was a fitting end to the first race of the 2016 IBU World Championships in Oslo, Norway. While Fourcade anchored France to gold and Germany took second, the U.S. placed 10th and Canada 11th.
Considering anything better than sixth would have been a first-ever for either the U.S. or Canada in Sunday's IBU World Cup mixed relay, that put Lowell Bailey in a bit of a position heading into the final loop. He ended up catching Canada's anchor, Brendan Green for fourth and came within 1.7 seconds of third.
Martin Fourcade and the rest of the top three agree, something about racing in Canmore is hard. "None of us felt they were skiing really fast," Germany's third-place finisher Simon Schempp said. He finished more than 18 seconds behind Fourcade and 3 seconds out of second, which went to Russia's Anton Shipulin.
A day after besting Germany's Simon Schempp on the last loop, Anton Shipulin of Russia did so again -- this time beating the German by a second for the men's relay victory. Schempp partially blamed a lapped skier. The U.S. men ended up sixth, tying their season best from a week earlier, while Canada placed 11th with strong shooting.
Tim Burke couldn't quite excel on the shooting range enough to get that great race he was hoping for, but the American team has one more chance in Sunday's relay. Brendan Green led the Canadians in 31st.
For Germany's Simon Schempp, it's three years in Antholz and three sprint wins. Can he also triple up on the pursuit on Saturday? Meanwhile, Tim Burke led North American starters with a 17th place finish. "This was one of my best performances in a sprint race, although the result does not reflect that."
Imagine the most outrageous, over-the-top spectacle for a biathlon race -- complete with a world championships snowball fight -- and you'll have Biathlon auf Schalke, a.k.a. the annual World Team Challenge, which took place in a soccer stadium earlier this week in front of nearly 41,000 fans.
On Sunday, French biathlete Jean-Guillaume Béatrix knew he was the luckiest man in Pokljuka, achieving the first World Cup victory of his career in a men’s 15-kilometer mass start he hadn’t planned on racing.
Germany's Simon Schempp won the second race of the week at the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia, with a 16-second pursuit victory over France's Martin Fourcade, while American Tim Burke raced up to ninth (after starting 14th) for his first top 10 of the season.
Germany's Simon Schempp won his second-straight sprint at the third stop of the IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Meanwhile, Lowell Bailey was one of nine men in the top 15 to clean, and his U.S. teammate Tim Burke finished just ahead of him in 14th.
Martin Fourcade was behind some race drama on Saturday in the IBU World Cup men's pursuit, which the man who finished second behind him -- Simon Schempp -- called a "psycho race." American Lowell Bailey was in the hunt for a top 10 and placed 13th with a single penalty.
Those who lost the wind lottery last weekend in Sweden came to Hochfilzen, Austria, looking for redemption - and clean shooting. Some succeeded: Simon Schempp of Germany, who won on the day; Lowell Bailey of the United States, in 12th; and Scott Gow of Canada, in 33rd.
Ole Einar Bjørndalen swore that this would be his last season - and after missing six weeks of training due to illness, he had doubts whether he would make Norway's World Championships team. But the 41-year-old is back and won big on the World Cup, and now teammates and competitors are wondering if he has another Olympics in him.
Jessie Diggins collected back-to-back victories in the U.S. Ski Team's first races of the season in Gällivare, Sophie Caldwell, Andy Newell and Canadian Alex Harvey all placed second, and Caitlin Gregg reached the podium as well.
Alexander Os, a 35-year-old Norwegian ex-Olympian who founded "Team Feskslogs" after being left off the national team, almost won today's mass start - but Germany's Simon Schempp got him at the end. Juliya Dzhyma of Ukraine won the women's race. Leif Nordgren (USA) placed 19th and Megan Tandy (CAN) 40th in their respective races.
“Today was definitely a solid team performance,” Tim Burke said after the season-opening race in Norway. “Our entire men's team is at a very high level and we are all very excited to see what we can do in the relay.”
Simon Schempp and three teammates combined for Germany's second gold in the last two days of relays at 2015 IBU World Championships, topping Norway and France, respectively. The U.S. got off to a strong start with Lowell Bailey, but finished 14th with two penalties. The Canadians had two penalties as well and ended up 19th.