January 04, 2014 (Oberhof, GER) – Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen’s confidence is building to Sochi as he made it 2-for-2 in Oberhof winning the Men’s 12.5km Pursuit suffering only one penalty in prone, as the fog and rain disappeared yielding great conditions on day two.

Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) © Nordic Focus

It was a repeat of yesterday’s Sprint podium as fellow Norge, Ole Einar Björndalen, claimed second (2 penalties) with French ace, Martin Fourcade, in third again also with two missed targets.

The two North Americans racing in the pursuit were the USA’s Leif Nordgren who finished 45th with three penalties while Canada’s Macx Davies was 54th with four penalties.

Like yesterday Björndalen shot clean and opened up an early lead over Fourcade as Svendsen trailed. When Fourcade faltered on the standing range Svendsen took over second. Then it was Björndalen, who gave in to the pressure, while his teammate Svendsen took charge again this time with a more comfortable 35.6s margin for his second victory.

“Shooting clean on that last standing was a great feeling,” Svendsen told Biathlonword.com. “The snow is getting very dirty and slow so I had to work hard today. I was really tired on that last loop, so I am glad I did not have to battle with Ole or Martin.”

Women’s Race
Darya Domracheva (Blr) also took her second victory of the weekend in the women’s 10km Pursuit (3 penalties) finishing in 33:35. Sweden’s Kaisa Makarainen (Fin) was on the podium as well repeating her silver performance from yesterday also with three penalties as Norway’s Synnoeve Solemdal grabbed third (2 penalties) at 1:11.7 behind.

Susan Dunklee (USA) © Nordic Focus

The USA’s Susan Dunklee from Barton, VT, had a strong performance placing 25th with four penalties while Annelies Cook finished 54th (9 penalties) with Canada’s Claude Godbout in 55th with eight penalties.

Domracheva shot clean and took an early lead but handed it over to Makarainen when she missed two targets. When her Swedish rival faltered on the standing range Domracheva took back the lead and held on for her second victory.

In the battle for third it was the Ukraine’s Valj Semerenko in the bronze position but two misses in standing gave Solemdal the opportunity and she landed third on the podium.

Men’s results here
Women’s results here.