March 7, 2004 – Only twenty minutes after the women finished their race, the men took to the icy course in Fort Kent for their 12.5-kilometer pursuit competition. While the women had a relatively flat and easy course, the men had a decent hill to climb, and then descend through three sharp turns made treacherous by the ice.

With Raphael Poiree of France starting with over a minute lead over his next competitor, most of the spectators agreed that he would have to have a nightmare of a race to lose. The remainder of the field was spread out in their start times, perhaps making the first loop less dangerous than it could have been.

Poiree set a competitive, yet relaxed time on the first 2.5-kilometer loop. He arrived into the range still with over a minute lead. Knowing that his competitors were far behind, perhaps Poiree thought that he would test himself by quickening the pace of his shooting. He failed to connect with his second target, forcing him to enter the 150-meter penalty loop one time.

Michael Greis of Germany entered the stadium just as Raphael was leaving the range. Ten meters behind him was five-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bj¯rndalen of Norway. Bj¯rndalen had a good first loop, moving up from the fourth start position. Greis and Ole Einar shot together. Both of their first shots missed. Their second targets stayed black as well. Ole Einar moved on to clean his final three targets, while Greis took some time before equaling the Norwegian.

Pavel Hurajt, who started third, moved into second place after missing only one target, while Ludwig Gredler of Austria emerged in third place after hitting all five of his targets.

At the time that Hurajt and Gredler moved onto the second loop, Poiree was already 1:19.4 minutes up on the Slovakian. The Frenchman continued a relaxed pace, but the other athletes could not even equal that.

His second stage mirrored his first stage. Poiree left with one missed target, but it was little consolation to his pursuers. He was just too good.

With the music of Mozart and ringing of cowbells urging them on, Gredler and Hurajt entered the stadium and took to shooting points two and three. Bj¯rndalen of Norway and Carl-Johan Bergman of Sweden followed them closely. Gredler went clean, but Hurajt missed two targets. Bergman also went clean, while Bj¯rndalen met the same fate as Hurajt, and had to complete 300 meters of extra track in the penalty loop.

Gredler moved into second place, ten seconds ahead of Bergman of Sweden. Before this week, the Swede's top result was sixth place in ÷stersund last season. In that individual race, he missed only one of his twenty targets, so he is certainly known as an accurate shooter.

Meanwhile, Poiree was continuing to extend his lead over the pursuers. When he entered the range for his first standing stage, he knew that bar any unfortunate accident, he would take the win. He decided to speed his shooting and challenge himself.

“Perhaps I wanted to test myself, or maybe I was playing with the public,” said Poiree after the competition. “When I do this, I have very good shooting.”

Though he set perhaps a new record for the fastest standing stage on the World Cup, one of Poiree's shots went wide. Yet, that miss was not enough to break his fantastic lead.

Ludwig Gredler entered the range long after Poiree had left, but only twenty meters ahead of a group of athletes that included Frode Andresen, Andreas Birnbacher, Stian Eckhoff, Sven Fischer, and Bergman. Gredler struggled with the pressure of being in a position he is not used to. The stress resulted in two missed targets.

Bergman and Fischer, on the other hand, shot clean and moved into second and third place. They trailed Poiree by 1:20.3 minutes, and were separated by only two seconds from each other, with Bergman leading the pair.

As Poiree arrived into the stadium, his spectacular form showed. Many athletes, Ole Einar Bj¯rndalen among them, declared the end of Poiree last season when he welcomed the birth of his daughter in January 2003. His performances this season represent an amazing recovery.

On point one stood Poiree, with the yellow bib of the World Cup leader flapping slightly in the light breeze. His shots were fast, but more controlled than his previous stage. All five were hits. Before returning his rifle to his back, a triumphant and gracious winner, Poiree turned to the crowd of more than 4,500 spectators and waved.

With first place decided, the attention focused on Bergman and Fischer, who arrived into the range together long after the departure of Poiree. The Swede took his time hitting his targets, pausing on his third shot, before eventually shooting clean. Fischer left the range with one miss.

As Bergman and Fischer were shooting, a large train of athletes entered the range. From the group only Nikolai Krouglov of Russia and Halvard Hanevold of Norway emerged clean. Krouglov, who moved up from fourteenth to second place in the pursuit on Sunday in Lake Placid, had a seven second lead over Fischer and Hanevold.

Meanwhile, Poiree skied the final 2.5-kilometer lap in a slower pace. “I was recuperating already for the mass start competition,” Poiree would say later. He crossed the finish line with three missed targets and a time of 33:48.6.

Carl-John Bergman hit all twenty of his targets to finish second, 1:22.8 minutes behind Poiree. “I have shot well, and am in good shape. Today was a good result for me,” said Bergman, who started biathlon when he was thirteen years old.

Representing Russia, Nikolai Krouglov managed to place third, 1:27.4 minutes back. He also hit all twenty of his targets. His final shots were perhaps the most important, as he was lined up with Fischer and Hanevold, who are both among the top shooters on the circuit.

“I tried to make sure that I was the first one to shoot. It is very important in shooting to be the first shooter, making extra stress for the other athletes,” said Krouglov after the competition. “After that, I just tried to hit the rest of the targets.

“In the beginning of the loop, after I hit all of my targets, I knew that Fischer was behind me. But later on the track, I realized that I was not so slow. Eventually I could see Carl-Johan and began to think that I could take him. So, I did everything I could to catch him, but I stopped thinking of Fischer and Hanevold.”

Krouglov will start in tomorrow's mass start competition wearing bib number fifteen. The mass start event includes the top thirty athletes on the overall World Cup points list. No U.S. athletes will start in the race, which is the final competition of this American phase of the World Cup.

Men's 12.5-kilometer Pursuit 1. Raphael Poiree FRA 1,1,1,0 33:46.6 2. Carl-Johan Bergman SWE 0,0,0,0 +1:22.8 3. Nikolai Krouglov RUS 0,0,0,0 +1:27.4 28. Jeremy Teela USA 1,0,2,0 +3:50.1 46. Jay Hakkinen USA 1,2,2,1 +6:03.8 49. Tim Burke USA 0,1,1,1 +6:38.3 LAP Robin Clegg CAN LAP Jacob Beste USA LAP David Leoni CAN