March 22, 2014 (Oslo, Norway) – Clean shooting delivered a long-awaited victory to Simon Elder (AUT) as he won the men’s 12.5km pursuit in Oslo with 12.7s margin over Alexander Loginov (RUS) in second with one penality, as Bjoern Ferry (SWE) finished third another 8s behind also with one penalty in the final standing session.

The USA’s Lowell Bailey suffered three penalties on his way to 14^th as he cleaned the final standing to finish 1:23 behind Elder. Canada’s Nathan Smith was 41st with four penalties while fellow Canuck, Brendan Green, finished 43rd also with four penatlies at 3:24.2 behind the winner.

Elder was in third following the third shooting leg but gained the upper hand when he cleaned the final standing targets while Ferry, Loginov and Carl Johan Bergman (SWE) each missed a target as they chased him down in vain. Bergman got dropped as Ferry battled with Loginov for the silver while Elder took his first win in five years.

“I hoped to make some Total Score Points today, but winning is totally crazy. My personal goal for the season was to get in the Top 10 in the Total Score,” Elder told biathlonworld.com

World Cup leader Martin Fourcade (FRA) has clinched the overall series globe and the battle is on for the final two podium spots with Norwegians Johannes Thingnes Boe (612 pts) and Emil Hegle Sevendsen (609) battling for silver and Austrians Dominik Landertinger (565) and Eder (564) for the bronze.

Results here.