March 16, 2013 (Khanty-Mansiysk, RUS) – With packed powder ski conditions, relatively mild temperatures around -5.6 °C and bountiful snow falling, American Lowell Bailey captured his third top-ten finish of the 2012/13 season with a 10th place finish on Saturday in the men’s 12.5km pursuit. Bailey, who only missed one shot in four rounds, finished at 1:34.0 behind eventual winner Christoph Sumann of Austria.

Lowell Bailey scores another strong top-ten result © Nordic Focus

“Today was brutal from the start,” said Bailey. “It started dumping snow about an hour before the race and it just got stronger as the race progressed.I had a lot of problems with my rifle – loading rounds, getting snow stuck in the sites, etc. – but from talking to the other competitors, I think a lot of guys had the same type of problems.

“Given the conditions, I just tried to take each shot on its own, without trying to shoot with my normal rhythm. Today it worked and I’m really happy with the top-10, and looking forward to one more race tomorrow.”

Sumann, a veteran of the World Cup circuit, claimed his first victory of the season and the 6th of his career by finishing in a time of 34:47.9 shooting clean with no penalties. France’s Simon Fourcade took home the silver finishing at 35.7 behind of Sumann after shooting clean. His brother Martin, the World Cup leader, ended up in a tie for 3rd at 40.4 seconds back with five penalties.

Michal Slesingr of the Czech Republic with three penalties shared the third step on the podium with Fourcade as the jury ruled that Slesingr lost 25 seconds due to Andi Birnbacher (GER), who cross-fired on Slesingr’s target in the first standing stage, resulting in the lost time.

Christoph Sumann

“This is a big surprise because I had a lot of troubles in the last weeks,” Sumann told biathlonworld.com. “I started on the podium in Östersund and everything in between was not so good. I was thinking about quitting. It is a big surprise! It is big motivation to train hard one more year and then finish after Sochi.”

The USA’s Tim Burke finished 15th with a time of 36:29.7 and four penalties. “We had some really tough conditions today with heavy snow falling for the entire race,” said Burke. “I think everyone had a hard time keeping the rifles working. I struggled a bit with this and had a hard time finding my rhythm on the range today. I will try to make those adjustments for tomorrow because it looks like we will be racing in the same conditions.”

Other North American results include Leif Nordgren (USA) in 35th, lone Canadian Scott Gow was 54th while American Russell Currier finished in 55th place.

Full results here http://services.biathlonresults.com/Results.aspx?RaceId=BT1213SWRLCP09SMPU