February 06, 2011 (Presque Isle, Maine) – Alexis Boeuf of France moved from ninth position at the start of today’s men’s 12.5km pursuit competition to first place at the finish for the first World Cup victory of his career. His two-penalty shooting was enough to carry him to the top spot in a time of 36:02.4. Second went to Russia’s Ivan Tcherezov, with four penalties, 10.3 seconds back, while Carl Johan Bergman, with three penalties finished third, 14.3 seconds back.

Boeuf Moves Up as Peiffer Struggles
The sprint winner Arnd Peiffer of Germany controlled the competition from the start and never was seriously threatened until the final standing stage, when he slipped out of the lead for the first time with three penalties. He shot clean in both prone stages as several rivals battled for the number two and three spots.

Alexis Beouf shot clean in the first prone and missed one shot in the second prone yet was in fifth position going into the standing stages as Carl Johan Bergman of Sweden moved into second with one penalty in the prone stages. Bergman and Beouf shot clean in the first standing stage, setting up a battle in the final standing stage. Peiffer had a good lead, but struggled with the wind and picked up three penalties. Bergman looked confident, but missed two.

Then the unheralded Beouf calmly missed a single shot, when Tcherezov who had four penalties before that shot clean, but was well behind him. The young French athlete left the stadium penalty loop with an 11-second lead over Peiffer, with Tcherezov 24-plus seconds back in fourth. Boeuf cruised to victory for the first win of his career, as Tcherezov put on a spectacular push over the final loop and passed both Bergman, who ended up third and the fading Peiffer, which put the tough Russian star in second place.

Boeuf’s first World Cup win came in the same place that he was on the podium as a junior athlete, when he was part of the winning relay team at the IBU Youth and Junior World Championships in 2006. His initial comment was, “Maybe this is my place, but I like it! . . . of course, I am really happy to win here again.”

He admitted that there was little pressure before the start. “I was very calm today. I like this kind of snow and I know that anything is possible in biathlon, especially in a pursuit. This was perfect snow for me today because I am really light and can glide over soft snow. I was really strong on the skis today. For me, when I am strong on skis, everything is well and I can shoot good.”

He plans to go to the athlete’s Super Bowl Party with his teammates for a celebration. “After this win, our team may have an expensive night; we might have to buy a drink for everyone.”

Bergman had his best result of the season commenting, “I never saw Peiffer during the competition. But when I came to the final standing, I saw he had three penalties and knew there was a chance. I had three good shots and two that were not so good . . . the soft snow conditions were hard for me. I am small but heavy. I like hard fast conditions, so I was not surprised when Tcherezov passed me with 300 meters to go. I had nothing left.”

Lowell Bailey of Lake Placid, NY continued to lead the US Team. Today, he started 25th and by the finish had moved up to 16th place, with four penalties, 2:24.1 back. He has now passed teammate Tim Burke in the overall World Cup standings; Bailey is 38th, while Burke who is sick and did not compete here fell back to 42nd position.

“The conditions were quite challenging today so you just have to throw everything out of the window when it comes to technique and just try to glide somehow. The organizers did a good job but with that much snow overnight it is impossible to get a hard surface on the course,” said Bailey in a US Biathlon release.

“I made a big mistake thinking too much about the wind instead of focusing on hitting the targets,” explained Bailey regarding his three misses in his first standing shooting. “I know myself well enough to know that I get into trouble if I spend too much time on the shooting range, but that’s exactly what I did in that first standing. I hesitated and gave it too much time. Sometimes you just have to go for it and that’s what I did in the last shooting stage. I was quite happy that it worked out perfectly there.”

Bailey’s 131 World Cup points are a career high. Burke was sidelined with a cold here, but plans to be on the starting line later this week in Fort Kent. Just as Bailey is moving up, so is Jay Hakkinen. The Kasilof Alaska native had only two penalties on an extremely windy day to finish 27th, 3:10.1 back.

Leif Nordgren finished 41st, moving up six places from his sprint result. “Six penalties aren’t exactly perfect, but I think I was a little too eager at shooting. I should have taken some more time given the wind,” said Nordgren. Three-time Olympian Jeremy Teela (Heber City, UT) finished 56th with seven penalties.

Canadian JP Leguellec also moved up in the standings today going from 40th position at the start to finish 35th, with five penalties, 4:12.5 back. His teammate Brendan Green was one place and 2.7 seconds behind him with four penalties. Calgary’s Nathan Smith finished 49th at 41:57.8.

“It was a tough day. The wind on the range was very unpredictable and made shooting a challenge,” said Le Guellec. “I’m still in search of a decent ski shape. My skis didn’t feel like rockets so it was very hard getting around the course today.”

Fourth went to Peiffer, with four penalties, 24.4 seconds back, while Russia’s Maxim Tchoudov was fifth, with one penalty, 26.6 seconds back. Yellow-Bib wearing Tarjei Boe of Norway, with four penalties, 37.8 seconds back was sixth.

Full results HERE.