February 21, 2009 (Pyeong Chang, Korea) – It was a busy day Saturday at the 2009 IBU Biathlon World Championship which saw the men’s 15km Mass Start and the women’s 4x6km relay contested. For the first time in four individual races at the championships there was a new champion. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway – the winner of the three previous race – was 4th today 21.1 seconds back from the winner from Austria Dominik Landertinger who won in a time of 38:32.5. In second was Christoph Sumann of Austria and in third Ivan Tcherezov of Russia. American Lowell Bailey had his best result of the championships in 18th, followed by Tim Burke in 28th.

In the women’s 4x6km relay Russia skated and shot their their way to victory by over one minute ahead of second place Germany who missed a total of 17 shots. France was third missing 14 shots in comparison to nine by Russia. Canada’s relay team of Megan Imrie, Zina Kocher, Sandra Keith, and Megan Tandy was ninth with 15 missed shots, + 5:20.8 back, followed closely by the American team of Lanny Barnes, Haley Johnson, Laura Spector, and Tracey Barnes in 10th, + 5:29.5 off the lead.

Biathlon Canada Release – Clutch Women’s Team 9th
Canada’s biathlon women joined forces to finish ninth in a 4 x 6-kilometre team relay at the Biathlon World Championships in Pyeong Chang, Korea on Saturday. Battling through one of the most challenging conditions World Championships in Korea with extremely mild temperatures, rain and slushy snow, a quartet of Canadian women including Megan Imrie, of Falcon Lake, Man., Zina Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta., Sandra Keith, of Calgary, and Megan Tandy, of Prince George, B.C., clocked a combined time of one hour 18 minutes 33.7 seconds.

“My ski speed has been very consistent this year as I have been continually having near top-10 times in skiing,” said Kocher, who set the pace for the Canadian women. “We are hungrier than ever for top-10 results and I have been so close every race. It has always come down to one or two missed shots.”

It was the Russian women who owned the top spot on the podium with a winning time of 1:13:12.9. Germany fired into the silver-medal spot at 1:14:28.0, while France locked up third spot with a time of 1:14:40.4. The Biathlon World Championships wrap up on Sunday with the men’s relay competition.

US Biathlon Release – Bailey Has Personal Best 18th Place in Mass Start
Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) turned in a personal best 18th place finish in the Men’s 15K Mass Start competition here on Saturday evening.Bailey finished 2:21.5 behind Dominik Landertinger of Austria, who won the first race and World Championship of his career in 38:32.58. The 20-year-old did not take the lead until approximately 1.5K before the finish when Ole Einar Bjorndalen, feeling fatigued waved the youngster to take the pace.

Landertinger said, “I was not sure of myself at that point. But I felt the power and gave it my best shot, hoping it would be enough.” Landertinger had three penalties as did second place Christoph Sumann, also of Austria. He finished 8.9 seconds behind his teammate, while Ivan Tcherezov of Russia finished third, 13.9 seconds back.

The 18th place for Bailey was a breakthrough. He commented, “This race is very good for my confidence. I was nervous, as this was my first Mass Start competition and I missed two shots in the first stage. As the race went on, I realized that I was skiing as well as anybody and could compete with anyone. This is great for the rest of the season and in the upcoming Olympic season. I used this year to test my training and peaking to see if it worked out for this time of year (about the same as the 2010 Olympics).”

He continued, discussing his season at this point, “This taught me that you need to have patience. You cannot be at the top in every race. I feel that my training is paying off.” Bailey’s teammate Tim Burke finished 28th. Unlike Bailey, who several times came to the shooting range under fairly calm conditions, Burke battled the wind in every stage.

Later in the evening, the US women’s Relay Team of Lanny and Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO), Laura Spector (Lenox, MA) and Haley Johnson (Lake Placid, NY) finished in 10th place, the best US women’s Relay result since 9th place in 1997 World Champs. See more on the women’s race story posted at www.USBiathlon.org.

Sunday is the last day of this year’s Biathlon World Championships and the men will have the opportunity to follow the women in a top-10 relay finish. You can watch full length replays of the races by clicking on the WATCH US LIVE ON THE WEB link at www.usbiathlon.org

Complete women’s results here.
Complete men’s results here.