January 16, 2016 (Ruhpolding, Germany) – Canada’s Nathan Smith crossed the line a solid 15th in the men’s 15km Mass Start with only one penalty in tough heavy snow conditions on the Ruhpolding track as Germany’s Erik Lesser gave the partisan crowd the victory they were after finishing as one of just two athletes to shoot clean.

Nathan Smith (CAN) on his way to 10th in the Oestersund Men's IBU WCup pursuit. © Nordic Focus

Martin Fourcade (France) missed one target in his final standing to claim second at 9.8s back holding off Russia’s Evgeniy Garanichev who also suffered a penalty in final standing finishing 13.1s behind.

“The ski course was extremely slow going with the fresh snow falling. The 15 kilometre time was close to what the winning time was for the 20 kilometre individual race,” said Smith at 1:20 behind Lesser. “I had been feeling kind of fatigued the last few races, but I am happy that I was able to overcome that by performing well on the shooting range and end up with a very respectful final result.”

Lowell Bailey (USA) © Nordic Focus

American Lowell Bailey cleaned the first two shooting stages to put himself in 13th place however one miss in standing at the third shooting stage, dropped him down to 19th and he ended the race in 21st at 2:08 behind the winner.

“My shooting was really solid today. I would’ve expected 19 out of 20 to get me a little higher up the results list, but surprisingly 12 people shot 19 or better,” added Smith. “Since my miss came in the first prone, I ended up a little back heading out onto the second loop. With the next three cleans, I moved up a little each time but the field as a whole was shooting so well today, it was tough to make any big moves.”

Women’s Race

Canada’s Rosanna Crawford secured the final spot in the women’s 12.5km mass start race and had a strong start taking the lead after the first prone shooting stage. The tough snowy conditions saw her drop to 8th and while she had a strong day on the range, a missed shot in her final trip to the range saw her finish 19th.

Rosanna Crawford (CAN) © Nordic Focus

Gabriela Soukalova (Czech Republic) shot clean for the win as Germany’s Franziska Hildebrand took second at 13.9s behind with one penalty while her teammate Laura Dahlmeier was just over 24 seconds off the pace in third with two missed targets.

American Susan Dunklee suffered on the range with six penalties to finish 22nd.

Gabriela Soukalova (CZE) wins © Nordic Focus

“That was tough, tough skiing for me today. I felt like I was skiing through sand,” said Crawford. “But I am happy with my shooting. I am always amazed at the atmosphere here in Ruhpolding. 30,000 fans can make quite a lot of noise.”

The World Cup wraps up on Sunday in Ruhpolding with the women’s 4×6 kilometre relay.

Men’s results here.
Women’s results here.