February 12, 2016 (Presque Isle, Me) – The USA’s Tim Burke claimed a strong seventh moving up from 20th in the men’s 12.5km pursuit as Martin Fourcade of France showed why he is the best in the world, coming from behind to clean the final standing stage and overtake Norway’s Johannes Boe for the win in Presque Isle at IBU World Cup 8. Third place went to Russia’s Anton Shipulin, with two penalties at 1:11.5 behind Fourcade who also had two penalties while Boe suffered three missed targets.

Burke had the fifth-fastest course time on the day and nearly caught Czech Michal Slesingr on the final lap, missing out on sixth by a scant 2.7 seconds. His skiing was outstanding with his times on the last four laps all being in the top ten. His three misses included two on the final standing which cost him 49.9 seconds in the penalty loop and a podium position.

“I am really happy with my performance today in some very challenging conditions,” said Burke. This was the coldest temps that we have raced in all season and the gusty wind made it feel even colder. Three penalties in a pursuit is normally not great shooting, but I was very happy with this today considering the conditions.”

His teammate Lowell Bailey, who had the sixth-best course time, started the day in fifteenth and improved to a 14th-place finish with five misses including three on the first standing. Sean Doherty followed up yesterday’s thirteenth place result with a very respectable 20th despite six misses on the range which was a little cruel today.

Canada’s Scott Perras improved his forty-eighth place start to finish in forty-seventh. He shot clean in the first prone, but had seven misses over his last three shooting stages.

Fourcade used perfect shooting in the two standing rounds to catch, and then overtake Norway’s Johannes Boe on his way to another World Cup victory. His race victory marked one hundred days in the leader’s gold jersey for Fourcade and invoked images of the great French biathlete Raphael Poiree.

“I grew up watching Poiree. He is a legend.” When asked if he was a legend, Fourcade replied, “No, not yet.” With one miss in each of his prone shootings he described it as a hard day. “The cold and the wind made shooting hard but I got better.”

Boe, yesterday’s winner, had only one miss through the first three shootings and had built a 44.1-second lead going into the final standing where two key misses cost him the win. “”Second is nice but I always want to win. I was racing in the (penalty) loops and I saw Martin not miss and it was bad.”

Anton Shipulin of Russia started the day in second position but dropped to third after the second lap and never challenged for the top podium step. “My results and success in Presque Isle were average,” stated Shipulin. “I’m not 100% but this was more like training than racing.” When asked about the weather conditions, Shipulin was dismissive. “Where I train in Russia, this is a warm day. I actually had too much clothes on.”

Burke was aiming for the flower ceremony and just fell short but having three in the top 20 was a “win” for the Americans on home snow. “I fought really hard on the last loop and tried everything to make it to the flower ceremony but I simply ran out of real estate by the end. I feel like I have built some good momentum in the past two weeks and I am looking forward to starting my preparation for world championships. It was also great to see three U.S. guys in the top-20 again today. I think this is a great indicator of the depth on this team.”

Rounding out the top six were Austria’s Simon Eder in fourth with three misses, Norways Erlend Bjoentegaard in fifth with two misses, and Slesingr in sixth with three misses.

The relays take place on Saturday, with the American men seen as a legitimate threat to get into the medals.

Results here.