January 07, 2011 (Oberhof, Germany) – Canada’s Brendan Green posted  a solid 14th place finish in Friday’s rainy 10km Men’s Sprint at the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof, Germany. Green, a resident of Alberta, missed just one shot en route to finishing with a time 27:31.4, less than two minutes back from the day’s winner Tarjei Boe of Norway.

“I was decent on the skis, but the shooting really came together today despite the conditions,” said Green in a Biathlon Canada release,”I have been pretty tired coming out of the last training block so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I shot well today and it was a good result.”

His performance matched a career best for Green, who also earned a 14th place finish at the pursuit competition in last year’s World Cup in Antholz, Italy.

Team mate Jean Phillipe Le Guellec of Quebec also turned in a strong race, missing two shots to finish 16th with a time of 27:39.5. The sprint competition marked a successful day for Team Canada, who produced three finishers in the top 40, including Scott Perras in 34th place with just one miss in each of the two shooting stages.

The US Biathlon team had a tougher and less productive day, as their top finisher, Tim Burke, struggled in the shooting range with four misses on his way to a 31st place finish. His time of 28:13.5 was nearly two minutes out of a podium spot.

Lowell Bailey put up the next best result for the Americans, finishing 52nd with a pair of misses in each stage. Leif Nordgren placed 66th with 5 misses and a time of 29:23.5. In the men’s relay on Wednesday which also featured tough conditions Nordgren was one of the two sole athletes that did not need any extra shots.

The rain and fog, which carried over from Wednesday and Thursday’s events, made conditions extremely uneven for the athletes. Sources reported that at times the shooting range would be clear and visible, but once the wind pushed in thick levels of fog the athletes abilities to see the targets diminished considerably.

“For our athletes that race was a nightmare,” said U.S. Biathlon High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler, according to USBA Press Officer Linda Jager, “The conditions were very uneven and the race should have been stopped right from the beginning.”

Friday’s sprint marks Boe’s third victory this year, adding on to his wins in the pursuit and sprint competitions in Hochfilzen, Austria. Arnd Peiffer of Germany finished 16.7 seconds behind Boe with just one miss, and Michal Slesingr of the Czech Republic rounded out the podium with clean shooting and a time of 26:10.4, just 4 seconds behind Peiffer.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1.     Tarjei Boe (0+1) 25:49.7
2.     Arnd Peiffer (0+1) 26:06.4
3.     Michal Slesingr (0+0) 26:10.4
4.     Ivan Tcherezov (0+0) 26:29.8
5.     Andrei Makoveev (1+0) 26:50.2

14. Brenden Green (1+0) 27:31.4
16. Jean Phillipe LeGullec (0+2) 27:39.5
31. Tim Burke (3+1) 28:13.5