March 15, 2015 (Kontiolahti, Finland) – Slovenia’s Jakov Fak emerged as the front runner in a lead pack of four to win the Men’s 15km Mass Start as the 2015 IBU World Championships came to a close. It was the second world championship title of Fak’s career as Ondrej Moravec of the Czech Republic, with one penalty like Fak, settled for the silver at one second back.

Fak wins ©

Norway’s Tarjei Boe took home the bronze at 3.7 seconds behind, also suffering one penalty. Norwegian legend, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, shot clean but ended up fourth.

The USA’s Lowell Bailey was the top North American in 13th with only one penalty followed by his teammate Tim Burke who fought back to 14th despite three missed targets. Canada’s Brendan Green shot clean until the final standing and was as high as 5th but ended up 21st with teammate Nathan Smith in 23rd with three penalties.

“I’m happy with today’s race,” Bailey said. “I had one penalty in the initial prone stage but I was able to come back and clean the next three to work my way back into the race. I haven’t been at my best form on skis this week so I knew I had to shoot well in order to have a chance. Overall, I’m satisfied with the world championships. Even though they weren’t my best results, I was able to keep my shooting together throughout. Now, it’s on to the finals in Khanty…just a few days off and then three more races.”

Bailey at the finish ©

Despite three misses on the range, Burke turned in the fifth-fastest course time and won a photo finish sprint for 14th place, edging out Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen with an identical time of 37:10.5 at 45.6 seconds off the pace.

“I was happy to end world champs today on a solid note,” said Burke. “I felt really good on the ski course today and just tried to match that with safe shooting. I have definitely never been in a mass start race where 20 guys come to the last shooting stage together. It seemed like the athletes at the front of the race were hesitant to push the pace, and that benefited guys like me who had a few penalties. I am happy to head into the last week of the season with good ski form and I am looking forward to the World Cup final in Russia, which has always been one of my favorite courses.”

“The world championships in Kontiolahti, Finland, showed we have all the building blocks for medal-winning performances on this team,” said U.S. Biathlon Association President & CEO Max Cobb. “Both Susan Dunklee and Tim Burke showed consistently fast and world-class ski times — fast enough to win with good shooting. Lowell Bailey showed he has what it takes to shoot fast and well in the relay and the mass start, as well as the strength to lead the pack in the relay.”

Green, 28, who continues to battle through back injuries suffered during a crash weeks ago, was near perfect on the range but he did not have the ski speed to battle back. The Hay River, N.W.T. athlete set a new shooting record earlier this year knocking off 50 straight targets.

Green 21st... ©

Canada’s surging biathlon squad takes home a silver medal from these historic championships as Calgary’s Nathan Smith became the first Canadian male to win a medal at the Biathlon Worlds placing 2nd in the 10km Sprint – read more here.

“This was great work today by our men,” said Chris Lindsay, high-performance director. “Brendan was up in fifth place for part of the race before dropping back with his single miss. His shooting per centage for non-relay races for the year is more than 88 per cent. this is one of the very best in the world. Nathan was able to stay in the race with great ski speed despite his rough start.”

Medals.. ©

Today’s men’s mass start was perhaps the closest mass start world championships in the history of biathlon as 18 athletes finished within a minute of Fak.

Full results here.