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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: Johannes Thinges Boe

  • Men’s 20 k Individual Boe-dium, Wright and Doherty Top 25

    Men’s 20 k Individual Boe-dium, Wright and Doherty Top 25

    FasterSkier’s Coverage of the Biathlon World Championships is made possible through the generous support of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center: New England’s finest snowmaking, world class race venues and touring trails, healthy food in abundance, comfortable accommodations at Craftsbury:  Sports, Sustainability, Stewardship.

     

    Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) defended his 2023 World Championships title in the 20 k Individual at 2024 World Championships. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The 20 k Individual is the longest race in biathlon, and with a one-minute time penalty per miss, so much can happen over the course of one competition. When defending champion Johannes Thinges Boe (NOR) missed one shot on the first stage, it looked like someone else might have a chance at the gold. But he swiftly dispelled any doubt, hitting the 15/15 remaining targets and out-skiing the field by a ridiculous 50-second margin to claim his 9th individual World Championships medal—just two medals shy of the record shared by greats Ole Einar Bjorndalen (NOR) and Martin Fourcade (FRA). Boe’s older brother, 35-year-old Tarjei, who won this event at the 2011 World Championships, skied the second-fastest time of the day and hit 19/20 to claim silver and give biathlon fans another “Boedium” to celebrate. In third, the German men’s team finally made an appearance on the podium thanks to Benedikt Doll’s 19/20 performance.

    Quentin Fillon Maillet (FRA) overcame three prone misses to finish sixth.

    The Individual stretches out over a couple of hours and each loop can seem like its own race. On Wednesday afternoon in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, bib number 1 of 100 starters, France’s Quentin Fillon-Maillet, missed two targets right away on the first stage, incurring two minutes of time penalty and leaving the range in 73rd place with 16 kilometers still left to be skied. But he kept fighting for every second on course, hit 14/15 of the remaining targets, an moved all the way up to sixth place, earning himself a bouquet in the flower ceremony (and 7,000 Euros). Fillon-Maillet’s teammate Emilien Jacquelin finished fifth with one miss, and Andrejs Rastorgujevs of Latvia was fourth, also with two misses.

    Campbell Wright (USA) skied the 14th fastest course time to take 20th despite three misses. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    From the US, 21-year-old Campbell Wright matched his career-best 14th-ranked ski time from the Sprint to finish 20th despite three misses. The 2023 Junior World Champion was was pleasantly surprised by his own ski speed. “When you’re fit and have 40th ski time or fit and have 14th ski time, it feels the same,” said Wright, referring to past seasons when he also felt fit, but couldn’t yet keep up with the top senior-level athletes. Now, even though Wright is still one of the youngest athletes in the field, he is skiing with the best. With his finishes of 11th, 12th, and 20th so far at the World Championships, he has qualified for Sunday’s Mass Start featuring the top 30 athletes. Wright has done one other Mass Start, back in 2022 when he was just 19 years old. “I feel like I won’t just get blown out the back on the first loop,” said Wright. “I’m a lot more in the fight.” Wright is humble and just starting to come to terms with his own capabilities, but for everyone watching it is clear that he is very solidly “in the fight.”

    Sean Doherty (USA) skiing his way to 23rd in the 20 k Individual. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Sean Doherty (USA) finished just behind Wright in 23rd, with two misses. “I’m happy with it,” he said. “I was in the right state of mind for an Individual, to really be in it and give myself a chance.” Since starting the Championships with a 44th in the Sprint, Doherty has been exceptional, moving up 18 places in the Pursuit to 26th, and then posting his season-best result in the Individual. Thanks to these two top-25 results, Doherty will join Wright in the Mass Start.

    Also for the US, Jake Brown was 50th and Vincent Bonacci was 75th, both with four misses.

    Full Results 

    Up Next:

    Thursday 15 Feb 12:00pm (noon, Eastern Time) Single-Mixed Relay

    Watch Live

    Tarjei Boe (NOR) and younger brother Johannes Boe (l-r) giving biathlon fans what they want: a Boedium! Benedikt Doll came through for Team Germany to take the bronze. (Photo: NordicFocus)
  • Julia Simon and J.T. Boe Defend Pursuit Titles; Wright 12th for USA

    Julia Simon and J.T. Boe Defend Pursuit Titles; Wright 12th for USA

    FasterSkier’s Coverage of the Biathlon World Championships is made possible through the generous support of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center: New England’s finest snowmaking, world class race venues and touring trails, healthy food in abundance, comfortable accommodations at Craftsbury:  Sports, Sustainability, Stewardship.

     

    After finishing second in Saturday’s Sprint, Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) moved up into first in Sunday’s Pursuit, defending his 2023 title .

    On a rainy Sunday afternoon in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, 30,000 fans packed the Vysocina Arena for the women’s and men’s Pursuit competitions of the 2024 Biathlon World Championships. The weather has been dismal for the first five days of the event, meaning a lot of soggy boots, sink laundry, and rifle cleaning for the athletes, and long, cold, days for team staff and event organizers. But it has not dampened the spirits of the biathlon fans who continue to make the atmosphere bright.

    French teammates Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (foreground) and Julia Simon shoot head-to-head in the Pursuit. (Photo: NordicFocus)
    Women’s 10 k Pursuit

    Simon defends world title, Vittozzi moves up from seventh to silver, and Braisaz-Bouchet keeps her podium streak alive.

    In the women’s Pursuit, Julia Simon of France defended her 2023 World Championship Pursuit title as well as her Sprint victory from Friday. Last year, Simon started the Pursuit wearing bib 10 and overcame a deficit of more than one minute to take the gold, but today’s defense of Friday’s Sprint gold was also impressive. Only four women in the past ten years have won both the Sprint and Pursuit at the World Championships or Olympics: Marie Dorin-Habert (FRA) in 2015, Laura Dahlmeier (GER) in 2018, Tiril Eckhoff (NOR) in 2021, and Marte Olsbu-Roeiseland (NOR) in 2022.

    Lisa Vittozzi (ITA) fights to the finish line, moving up from seventh to silver ahead of bib 2 Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (FRA). (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Simon started with a negligible five second advantage over teammate Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, who is the fastest skier in the field but a slower and less-accurate shooter than Simon. A gap of nearly 40 seconds separated those two leaders from the third starter, Lou Jeanmonnot (FRA), but then six women all started within about 30 seconds. Simon and Braisaz-Bouchet matched one another’s shooting (0,1) on the first two stages to hold their lead over the chasers. But then on the third stage, Simon cleaned while Braisaz Bouchet missed two, opening the door for bib 7, Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi, to move into second with her 15/15 shooting through stage three of the race.

    Sophie Chauveau (FRA) finished fourth in the Sprint and Pursuit. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    In the final stage, Simon closed with the same perfect shooting we’ve now seen in three of three races at World Championships, nailing all five targets in 21.5 seconds—somewhat tame for Simon but still the fastest in the 60-person field. Behind her, Vittozzi missed her only shot of the day, creating an opening for Braisaz-Bouchet and bib 4, Sophie Chauveau. But luckily for Vittozzi, both of them missed one as well. Chauveau left the range a few seconds ahead of Braisaz-Bouchet, and for a moment it looked like the 24-year old might take her first World Championship medal after finishing a bittersweet fourth in the Sprint. But Braisaz-Bouchet out-skied Chauveau on the final lap to take the bronze, leaving Chauveau in fourth again. To put things in perspective, Chauveau won her first medal (a bronze) in January of this year, and her two fourth places so far at World’s are her next-best results.

    Deedra Irwin was the top American in the Pursuit, finishing 46th with four misses. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    From the US, Deedra Irwin started in bib 39 and fell back to place 46 with four misses. Tara Geraghty-Moats started in bib 58 but was lapped after the second shooting in her first-ever Pursuit.

    Women’s 10 k Pursuit FULL RESULTS

     

    Sturla Holm Laegreid’s (NOR) clean standing shooting earned him the silver medal in the Pursuit. (Photo: NordicFocus)
    Men’s 12.5 k Pursuit

    J.T. Boe shuffles the sprint podium to defend World title while the USA’s Wright and Doherty finish 12th and 26th.

    In the men’s 12.5 k Pursuit, the Norwegian podium sweep from Saturday’s Sprint grew to a monstrous top-five sweep. Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) overcame three prone misses with flawless standing shooting to win his eighth individual World title—his 34th World Championship medal. (If you include Olympic results, Sunday’s victory was Boe’s 11th title and 42nd medal.) After winning Saturday’s Sprint with his signature perfect shooting, Sturla Holm Laegreid (NOR) uncharacteristically missed two in the first stage of the Pursuit but then hit the rest of his targets to fight back for the silver medal. Vetle Christiansen (NOR) led the race early on when he cleared all his prone targets and J.T. Boe and Laegreid both missed. But then two misses on his final stage set him back. He left the range a few seconds ahead of Laegreid but was caught in the final lap.

    Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR) finished third in both the Sprint and Pursuit. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The fight for the top-six flowers was marked by some surprising shooting melt-downs. Having hit all his targets through the third stage, Tarjei Boe came into the final shoot tied for second with his younger brother Johannes, just nine seconds behind race leader Christiansen and a full 30 seconds ahead of the chasing group. But he missed a heart-wrenching four out of five targets and fell to fifth. Meanwhile, his teammate Johannes Dale moved up into fourth by clearing his final five, recovering from a messy three misses on the third stage. Behind Dale and T. Boe, Sebastian Samuelsson (SWE) kept his wits about him and shot 17/20 to complete the flower ceremony in sixth.

    Campbell Wright (USA) was the top American in the Pursuit finishing 12th with two misses. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    For the US, Campbell Wright in bib 11 missed one shot each in the prone stages but then cleared all 10/10 standing targets, finishing 12th. His 11th-place finish in the Sprint was a personal-best and this 12th place ties his previous personal-best. With these two results, Wright is almost guaranteed a start spot in next weekend’s 30-person Mass Start featuring the top 30 athletes of the Championships.

    Sean Doherty (USA) happy in the finish area after moving up 18 places from 44th to 26th. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Sean Doherty was one of the biggest climbers of the day, moving from 44th to 26th with just a single miss in the first standing stage. Jake Brown started 38th and finished 37th with four misses, skiing the fastest of the three Americans in the race, 1:11 off the pace set by J.T. Boe.

    Men’s 12.5 k Pursuit FULL RESULTS

    Up Next

    Tuesday 13 Feb 11:10 Women’s 15 k Individual
    Wednesday 14 Feb 11:20 Men’s 20 k Individual

    Watch Live

    Sturla Holm Laegreid, Johannes Thingnes Boe, and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, (l-r) shuffled their podium sweep from Saturday’s Sprint in Sunday’s Pursuit. (Photo: NordicFocus)
  • Laegreid Vanquishes Rivals, USA’s Wright 11th in World Championships Sprint

    Laegreid Vanquishes Rivals, USA’s Wright 11th in World Championships Sprint

    FasterSkier’s Coverage of the Biathlon World Championships is made possible through the generous support of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center: New England’s finest snowmaking, world class race venues and touring trails, healthy food in abundance, comfortable accommodations at Craftsbury:  Sports, Sustainability, Stewardship.

     

    Sturla Holm Laegreid (NOR) celebrates after crossing the line in first in the Sprint at the 2024 World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Shut out at last year’s World Championships, Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid claimed his place in the spotlight on Saturday, edging out defending champion Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) in dramatic fashion for gold in the 10 k Sprint. Vetle Christiansen completed the podium sweep for Norway, taking his first individual World Championship medal.

    Defending champion and World Cup Overall leader Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) races in front of a packed stadium on his way to a silver medal, 3.5 seconds behind Laegreid. (Photo: NordicFocus).

    Laegried’s results in the four non-team competitions at last year’s World Championships were two silvers, a bronze, and a fourth place. Thingnes Boe won all but one of those races; he took the bronze in the Mass Start, pushing Laegreid off the podium. Laegreid has ranked second in the World Cup overall score the last three years in a row—twice behind Thingnes Boe—and is currently the sixth of six Norwegians who fill the top of the rankings. It’s hard to think of Laegreid as an underdog, and yet somehow he is. But second fiddler no more, Laegreid boldly claimed first chair in the Sprint at the 2024 World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic.

    Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR) completed the podium sweep for Norway. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Laegreid’s super power has always been his shooting, and on Saturday it earned him the gold. Wearing bib 50, he was latest of the medal favorites to start, and one by one the others in front of him missed targets. Only Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden managed to hit 10/10, but he couldn’t quite match the speed of the Norwegians and had to settle for fifth.

    When Laegreid left the range after hitting 10/10, he had an eight second lead over J. Boe. But he couldn’t match Boe’s speed on the uphills of the final lap and with just one kilometer to go, Laegreid trailed Boe by two tenths of a second. In the final meters, with the advantage of knowing Boe’s splits, Laegreid put in a decisive finishing sprint to win by a margin of 3.5 seconds. It’s been a long time since an athlete looked so thrilled to cross the finish line in first.

    Eric Perrot (FRA) finished fourth, the closest any French man has come to the podium this winter. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Only Samuelsson and fourth-place Eric Perrot (FRA) infiltrated the otherwise Norwegian top seven. Perrot’s fourth place ties his second-best finish and is the closest any French man has come to the podium this winter. His teammates Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin finished eighth and ninth, and Samuelsson’s teammate Martin Ponsiluoma was tenth.

    Campbell Wright (USA) waves to the crowd after shooting clean and finishing with a new personal-best of 11th in the Sprint. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Just outside the top ten, American Campbell Wright set a new personal-best of 11th with clean shooting. This is Wright’s first season competing for the US, after training with the team last season while still competing for his other nation of citizenship, New Zealand.  Wright will start Sunday’s Pursuit in bib 11 just 1:08 behind Laegreid. Teammates Jake Brown and and Sean Doherty also qualified for the Pursuit in 38th and 44th, both with three misses. Maxime Germain just missed qualification, finishing 63rd with four misses.

    Doherty expressed mixed emotions about qualifying but not with a standout result: “It was tough and although I am very much looking forward to the Pursuit,” he said. “I feel like I left a bit on the table with three misses.” He also pointed to the exciting atmosphere and success of his teammate: “The crowds were awesome and I am really proud of Campbell.”

    Sean Doherty (USA)  (background) and Campbell Wright (USA) preparing to zero their rifles before the Sprint. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Jake Brown also expressed mixed emotions, describing how good execution doesn’t always align with a good result in biathlon. “I think I pushed pretty deep today and I’m satisfied with that. As for shooting, I was satisfied with my shooting speed; I really committed to sticking to my process, and I did that, and it was just frustrating to miss two in standing.” He went on, “I really came in with confidence. I’ll probably take the same approach in tomorrow’s race.”

    Benedikt Doll (GER) speaking with one of his staff members after a disappointing team performance in the Sprint (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The gap in ski times in the men’s Sprint was enormous, resulting in an unusually large 3:37-spread separating the top-60 Pursuit qualifiers. A typical spread is 2-2:30. When asked why he thought the spread was so large, Brown pointed to a combination of skis, conditions, and the ban of fluorinated wax products enacted this season. “There are pine needles everywhere, it’s very dirty, and there is a lot of loose, wet snow. It seems like the ski times on the first lap are somewhat normal but then they open up on the second and third laps.” In these conditions, technicians face an extra challenge of preparing skis in such a way that they repel dirt. Brown said that the US team had good skis, while many other nations struggled. The Germans, for example, who have been highly competitive all winter with three different gold medalists, did not place a single athlete in the top ten of the ski time rankings, and their best finisher in the race, Benedikt Doll, was 13th. Technicians from every team will have their work cut out for them again Sunday for both the men’s and women’s Pursuits.

    Up Next:

    Sunday 11 Feb Women’s 10 k Pursuit 08:30 (Eastern Time)
    Sunday 11 Feb Men’s 12.5 k Pursuit 11:05 (Eastern Time)

    Watch Live

    Johannes Thingnes Boe, Sturla Holm Laegreid, and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, (l-r), celebrate their podium sweep for Norway in the Sprint at 2024 World Championships. (Photo: NordicFocus)
  • France Snags Mixed Relay Gold Ahead of Norway at Biathlon World Championships

    France Snags Mixed Relay Gold Ahead of Norway at Biathlon World Championships

    FasterSkier’s Coverage of the Biathlon World Championships is made possible through the generous support of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center: New England’s finest snowmaking, world class race venues and touring trails, healthy food in abundance, comfortable accommodations at Craftsbury:  Sports, Sustainability, Stewardship.

     

    The start of the Mixed Relay at the 2024 Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    In the opening race of the 2024 Biathlon World Championships, France overcame heavy favorite Norway to take gold in the 4×6 k Mixed Relay. It was a tightly contested race with 25 nations on the start line and only 40 seconds separating the top five teams at the third exchange. On the final leg, Norway and Sweden overtook Switzerland to capture silver and bronze. The Swiss ended up a mere 1.2 seconds off the podium in fourth—their best finish ever in a World Championships Mixed Relay. Steady freezing rain did not stop 30,000 biathlon-crazed fans from packing the Vysocina Arena in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, making for an electric atmosphere on opening night.

    Germany led early in the Mixed Relay thanks to exceptional shooting by Justus Strelow and Phillip Nawrath. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The unofficial “ice breaker” of World Championships, the Mixed Relay tends to be chaotic and full of surprises, and today’s race was no exception. Ranked sixth going into the race, the home Czech team met disaster on the very first visit to the shooting range when Michal Krcmar incurred a penalty loop and found himself in second to last, a full minute behind the leaders. Krcmar exchanged in 21st, two minutes back. Third-ranked Italy fared even worse: Didier Bionaz incurred two penalty loops in his standing shoot and tagged off in 23rd. Meanwhile, 19th-ranked Kazakhstan and 17th-ranked United States tagged in fifth and sixth, thanks to world-class performances from Alexandr Mukhin (KAZ) and Vincent Bonacci (USA).

    Tarjei Boe (NOR) is followed by Vincent Bonacci (USA) in the first leg of the Mixed Relay. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The big surprise on the second leg was that Norway did not come through on top. Norwegian brothers Tarjei and Johannes Boe—ranked third and first in the men’s World Cup overall standings—are such a powerhouse combination that they were all but guaranteed to deliver a Norwegian lead at the half-way point; however, they both lost time on the range that they were unable to recover on skis. Germans Justus Strelow and Phillip Nawrath combined to put 48 seconds into the Norwegians just in shooting time. At the halfway point, Germany led, with France eight seconds back and Norway another twenty behind. The US and Canada tagged in ninth and tenth, just 15 seconds outside the top six.

    Franziska Preuss (GER) fell from first to fifth after incurring a penalty loop in her standing shoot in the Mixed Relay. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Anyone who bet on the Norwegians for gold would have felt uneasy going into the third leg, with the German and especially the French women’s teams both very strong on paper. But it was a rollercoaster for all. France’s Justine Braisaz-Bouchet went into the penalty loop in prone and dropped to fifth place, giving Franziska Preuss of Germany a 39-second advantage. Then their fortunes switched in standing when Preuss went into the penalty loop! Braisaz used a single spare and out-skied the field in leg three by a whopping 33 seconds, making an enormous comeback for France and tagging in first. At the third exchange, only eight seconds separated the top three teams, with Switzerland moving up into second and Norway hanging in third. After a quiet first half, Sweden’s Hanna Oeberg brought her team within striking distance on the third leg, tagging her younger sister Elvira in fourth, just 14 seconds off the podium. Germany fell to fifth. Both the USA and Canada held in the top ten.

    Sweden’s Elvira Oeberg out-skied Switzerland’s Amy Baserga to take bronze in the Mixed Relay. (Photo NordicFocus)

    In the final leg, Julia Simon left no room for any contest, blazing down all her targets, taking a bow, and then skiing to the finish with a comfortable 45-second lead for France. Switzerland’s Amy Baserga performed flawlessly under pressure, shooting ten out of ten, but was overtaken on her first loop by the World Cup overall leader Ingrid Tandrevold of Norway and then on the last loop by Elvira Oeberg, who captured the bronze for Sweden by just one second.

    Julia Simon (FRA) takes a bow on the shooting range after clinching gold for France with her flawless final shoot. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    The US stayed in the top ten until the very last loop when the Italians came clawing their way back from the dead and pushed the US down into 11th. Canada finished 13th, just in front of the Czech Republic.

    Next up is the women’s 7.5 k Sprint on Friday, February 9th.

    Full Results

    The winning team from France from left to right: Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Justine Braisaz, and Julia Simon. (Photo: NordicFocus)
  • Norway Takes Men’s Team Relay In Antholz; U.S. Eighth and Canada Ninth

    Norway Takes Men’s Team Relay In Antholz; U.S. Eighth and Canada Ninth

    The Norwegian men celebrate after winning the 7.5 k team relay in Antholz Sunday. (Photo: IBU/ChristianManzoni)
    The Norwegian men celebrate after winning the 7.5 k team relay in Antholz Sunday. (Photo: IBU/ChristianManzoni)

    A spell of nice weather in Antholz, Italy broke Sunday with a cold wind blowing across the team relay competition to conclude an extremely busy month of IBU World Cup action.

    As competitors overcame the packed schedule, the thin air of the South Tyrol mountains wasn’t done with them yet, as a steady breeze made shooting a toss-up. The 7.5-kilometer course was composed of three laps of skiing and two rounds of shooting for each of the four competitors.

    Norway took the men’s relay victory, with only five spare rounds used by the four men in 16 rounds of shooting. Germany was close behind, in second (+16.4), with seven spares used. France, who was missing their ringer, Martin Fourcade, took third (+42.0) also with five spares used.

    Both the United States and Canada made the top-10, with the U.S. in eighth (+3:28.9) after three misses in prone and 17 in standing. Canada finished in ninth (+3:36.1) with one miss in prone and 15 in standing.

    Germany took the lead early on, with Erik Lesser shooting clean and taking first, barely holding France’s Simon Fourcade to second place after also shooting clean. Norway’s Ole Einar Björndalen missed one shot in standing to bring Norway in in third.

    Germany Arnd Peiffer. (Photo: IBU/ChristianManzoni)
    Germany Arnd Peiffer. (Photo: IBU/ChristianManzoni)

    On the second leg France briefly pulled into the lead as Quentin Fillon Maillet out-skied and out-shot Germany’s Daniel Boehm. The lead did not last, as Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø had a remarkable third leg, cleaning and bringing Norway from third to first place. Germany’s Arnd Peiffer was hot on his heels, only a half-second behind after only missing one in standing. France’s Simon Destheiux struggled on the range and course during his second and third laps, and moved France back to third place.

    Meanwhile, Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen took the tag just moments ahead of Germany’s Simon Schempp, and opened his lead with perfect shooting, allowing Norway to take the win. France finished nearly half-a-minute back, battling with Austria’s Simon Eder, who took fourth (+49.8) with seven spare rounds used by the team. Russia took fifth (+58.5), with six spare rounds used.

    For the Americans, Lowell Bailey started and stayed ahead of Canada’s Christian Gow. However, Gow used only one spare in each shooting stage compared to Bailey’s three, putting Canada in ninth and the US in tenth. On the second leg, American Sean Doherty moved the U.S. into eighth, while a long time spent shooting by Brendan Green moved Canada to tenth. Tim Burke kept the U.S. in eighth in spite of struggling with shooting in the second round, using all of his spares in standing and prone. Canada’s Scott Gow moved Canada back to ninth on the third leg. Leif Nordgren skied the final leg for the U.S., with Nathan Smith finishing for Canada. On the first lap Smith pulled ahead of Nordgren, but Nordgren was able to pass Smith back to take eight place, eight seconds ahead of Canada.

    The teams will get a break until World Cup resumes in Nove Mesto on February 6th.

    Results