March 17, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Germany’s Andreas Birnbacher built off a strong showing at last week’s IBU World Championships to win the first World Cup race of his career. Birnbacher shot clean to take the men’s 10km Sprint in a time of 26:14.6.

The German’s precision in the shooting range, coupled with his early start, kept him near the lead throughout much of the race. Bjorn Ferry and Carl Johan Bergman of Sweden, as well as Austria’s Christoph Sumann passed Birnbacher for a spell as they entered the shooting range for the standing stage.

With the exception of a clean shooting by Ferry, however, imperfection in the range knocked the other contenders out of the podium race. Ferry left the stadium down just 2.8 seconds, but was no match for the overpowering German, eventually taking 2nd place on the podium.

After the race Ferry expressed his surprise that he could not make up the time for a victory. “I have to shoot clean to win a sprint and I did that. I left the standing stage, just 2.8 seconds behind Birnbacher. On a normal day, I should be able to make that up,” said Ferry, “But Birnbacher was stronger today and he won. I still think I had a good last loop, but it was not good enough.”

Germany’s Alexander Wolf, who did not make the World Championship team, displayed a strong second half performance, cleaning the standing stage to take the final podium spot in a time of 26:58.6. Wolf’s performance marks his best finish since the 2006/2007 season.

“It has not been my best year. I did not make the team for the World Championships, so I stayed at home and trained,” Wolf said. “It’s great to be on the podium. The last loop was very hard, but third place is very good for me.”

Tim Burke of the United States had one of his best races of the season finishing 21st with a time of 27:51.4 after two misses in his second round of shooting. Leif Nordgren finished 61st with a pair of misses for a time of 28:59.7. Fellow American Lowell Bailey was 74th after hitting 8 of 10 from the range, and Jay Hakkinen missed three targets to take 84th.

Canada was led by Brendan Green, who finished in 62nd place after missing a shot in both shooting stages for a time of 29:00.7. Scott Perras was close behind, missing three shots to finish 64th.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Andreas Birnbacher, GER (0+0) 26:14.6
2. Bjorn Ferry, SWE (0+0) 26:24.8
3. Alexander Wolf, GER (0+0) 26:58.6

21. Tim Burk, USA (0+2) 27:51.4
61. Leif Nordgren, USA (1+1) 28:59.7
62. Brendan Green, CAN (1+1) 29:00.7
64. Scott Perras, CAN (1+2) 29:05.9
74. Lowell Bailey, USA (2+0) 29:27. 7
84. Jay Hakkinen, USA (1+2) 29:49.7