February 14, 2009 (Pyeong Chang, S.Korea) – Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen claimed his 10th World Championship Biathlon title Saturday in the men’s 10km sprint event. It was a day for the Norwegians as they went 1st to 4th on the results sheet. Warm weather has wreaked havoc leaving everything bare of snow except for the race track. Racers had to deal with heavy, wet snow conditions and strong winds.

The USA’s Tim Burke had a stellar day finishing in 11th just 1:19.9 back from first and only 0.9 from a top 10. Lars Berger of Norway was second followed by Halvard Hanevold. Canada’s Jean Philippe Leguellec was 43rd at 2:26.1 behind Bjoerndalen’s winning time of 24:16.5. Both Burke and Leguellec had two misses on the day, as did Bjoerndalen and Berger.

In the women’s 7.5km sprint Kati Wilhelm of Germany won with a time of 21:11.1, just ten seconds ahead of teammate Simone Hauswald. Olga Zaitseva of Russia was third at 27.1 seconds. All of the top four women shot clean in their races. Zina Kocher of Canada was 30th about 2:15 back from Wilhelm’s time. She had three costly misses on the shooting range. The penalty lap was adding almost 30 seconds per loop. Lanny Barnes was the top American in 46th place, despite shooting perfect with no misses.

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

Results (brief)

Men

1. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Nor) 24:16.5
2. Lars Berger (Nor) + 1.2
3. Halvard Hanevold (Nor) + 12.5
4. Alexander Os (Nor) + 24.6
5. Maxim Tchoudov (Rus) + 29.1

11. Tim Burke (USA) + 1:19.9
43. Jean Philippe Leguellec (Can) + 2:26.1
49. Robin Clegg (Can) + 2:37.6
56. Lowell Bailey (USA) + 2:47.6
58. Russell Currier (USA) + 2:55.7
70. Jeremy Teela (USA) + 3:13.1
81. Brendan Green (Can) + 3:50.6
83. Scott Perras (Can) + 3:52.7

Women

1. Kati Wilhelm (Ger) 21:11.1
2. Simone Hauswald (Ger) + 9.9
3. Olga Zaitseva (Rus) + 27.1
4. Anna Boulygina (Rus) + 53.3
5. Helena Jonsson (Swe) + 54.7

30. Zina Kocher (Can) + 2:15.4
46. Lanny Barnes (USA) + 2:53.5
56. Tracy Barnes (USA) + 3:23.0
58. Laura Spector (USA) + 3:30.3
66. Megan Imrie (Can) + 3:47.6
71. Megan Tandy (Can) + 4:00.1
77. Sandra Keith (Can) + 4:21.6
92. Haley Johnson (USA) + 5:33.0