March 21, 2009 (Trondheim, Norway) – The USA’s Tim Burke had another strong showing Saturday at the Biathlon World Cup finals in Trondheim, Norway in the 12.5km pursuit. Burke finished 1:14 back from race winner Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway. Bjoerndalen sealed his victory shooting clean on the final round despite coming into the range in 3rd place. Germany’s Michael Greis had the lead but with two missed shots on the final shooting fell back 38 seconds to Bjoerndalen after skiing two penalty loops. He managed to make back up 13 seconds but had to settle for fourth behind Simon Eder (Aut) in second and Tomasz Sikora (Pol) in third. Burke’s three misses came in the 3rd round of shooting knocking him out of the top five where he was through the first 8.6km. He shot clean to move back up the standings to finish in 13th.

Burke’s teammate Lowell Bailey was also in the top 10 for much of the race until he missed 5 shots over the final two stages to fall back to 31st. Canada’s Jean Philippe Leguellec was 42nd.

In the women’s race Germany’s Andrea Henkel clinched the win over Russia’s Olga Zaitseva by shooting clean throughout. Zaitseva had one miss in the final round which cost her the possible victory. France’s Marie Laure Brunet was third 28.3 seconds back. Canada’s Zina Kocher was the only North American female competing and finished in 47th. Kocher struggled on the shooting range with seven misses.

The Biathlon World Cup season concludes on Sunday with the 12.5/15km mass start races.

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

Results (brief)

Men

1. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Nor) 33:36.3
2. Simon Eder (Aut) + 25.1
3. Tomasz Sikora (Pol) +25.3

13. Tim Burke (USA) + 1:14.8
31. Lowell Bailey (USA) + 2:02.7
42. Jean Philippe Leguellec (Can) + 3:10.4
49. Jeremy Teela (USA) + 4:37.2

Women

1. Andrea Henkel (Ger) 30:08.8
2. Olga Zaitseva (Rus) + 12.9
3. Marie Laure Brunet (Fra) + 28.3

47. Zina Kocher (Can) + 5:25.5