December 07, 2012 (Hochfilzen, Austria) – Competing in his first sprint competition since making history as the first Canadian male to win a World Cup biathlon event last week, Jean Philippe LeGuellec (CAN) was the top North American, finishing 10th in the Men’s 10k Sprint at Hochfilzen. The two-time Olympian battled through fresh snow conditions to post a time of 26:05.1 after missing one shot in his final round of shooting.

Andreas Birnbacher (GER) and Darya Domracheva (BLR) took top honours today in the Men’s 10k and Women’s 7.5k Sprint, respectively, at the second round of the IBU World Cup in Hochfilzen.

“It was another great day, but goes to show how much a miss can be costly. I just overcompensated for the wind a bit,” said Le Guellec, who added shooting was a little windy for standing. “I was a little more nervous than usual heading into the race, but was able to focus without a problem once I passed the start gate. I’m totally happy to follow up last week’s race with a top-10.”

Tim Burke (USA) logged the top U.S. men’s result in 22nd while Canada’s Scott Perras fought his way into the elite group of 30, finishing 25th. US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey, Russell Currier, Jay Hakkinen, and Leif Nordgren finished 36th, 56th, 67th, and 81st, respectively. Canuck Nathan Smith was tied for 73rd.

Birnbacher shot clean to finish in a time of 25:31.1, while round one winner Martin Fourcade (FRA) faced one penalty to miss the race win by 0.4s. Jakov Fak (SLO) completed the men’s podium in third spot.

In the women’s competition, Domracheva faced one time penalty in the first round of shooting, but was clean in the second to finish in 22:24.7. Second place, Kaisa Mäkäräinen (FIN) was clean in the first round of shooting, but missed one in the second, trailing the winner by 4.7s in the end. Tora Berger (NOR) also missed one shot in the latter round and wound up third.

Canadian Rosanna Crawford (CAN) logged one of her best-ever results with a 24th place finish, while Susan Dunklee (USA) was the top American woman in 31st.

Other North American results included Megan Imrie (CAN) in 56th, Megan Heinicke (CAN) in 57th, Sara Studebaker (USA) in 58th, Annelies Cook (USA) in 63rd, Lanny Barnes (USA) in 71st, and Zina Kocher in 73rd.

Men’s results HERE.
Women’s results HERE.