March 06, 2012 (Ruhpolding, GER) – Jakov Fak made history for his home country of Slovenia on Tuesday in winning the gold medal in the Men’s Individual 20km competition at the IBU World Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany.

The win marked the first World Championship gold medal for Slovenia, as Fak raced to a 7-second victory over silver medalist Simon Fourcade of France. Rounding out the podium was the Czech Republic’s Jaroslav Soukup in the bronze medal position.

All three of the top finishers suffered only one penalty as soft conditions on course forced a modification of the track eliminating the big hill reported biathlonworld.com. The competition reached it’s climax, as the racers left the shooting range for the final loop, with Fourcade boasting a 15-second lead over Fak. But the Slovenian was on fire and skied his heart out for his nation, overpowering Fourcade in the final kilometre to claim his first ever World Championship title.

“I really hoped to get a medal in the sprint or pursuit, but that did not work out. Today was much better,” said Fak in a post-race biathlonworld.com interview. “The victory came from good pacing during the whole race. The coaches told me that pacing was very important in these conditions so I paced myself very well from beginning to end…I was very calm at the shooting range.”

The North American men had a challenging day as the top finisher was the USA’s Jay Kakkinen in 31st, followed by Lowell Bailey not  far behind in 38th position. American Tim Burke finished in 56th, while Canadian’s Nathan Smith, Marc-Andre Bedard, and Jean Philippe Leguellec placed 61st, 69th, and 71st respectively.

Racing resumes for the men on Friday with the 4×7.5km Relay race while the women continue the competition tomorrow with the 15km Individual.

Full men’s results HERE.