December 01, 2016 (Oestersund, Sweden) – The USA’s Lowell Bailey claimed 15th with four penalties while teammate Tim Burke was 16th with three misses for a pair of top-20 finishes in the men’s 20km individual race at the BMW IBU World Cup 1 in Oestersund, Sweden.

Lowell Bailey © Nordic Focus

France’s Martin Fourcade dominated despite two penalties with Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe matching Fourcade’s shooting to finish second at 29.5 seconds back. Third went to Belarus’ Vladimir Chepelin, with his first-ever World Cup podium at 1:24.3 behind with one penalty.

The 106 men faced the same challenge this evening as the women did yesterday; gusty, unpredictable winds at the shooting range.

“It was pretty gusty in the range and you really had to concentrate on making quality shots,” said Bailey who cleaned all 10 targets from the prone position. “I’m happy with the prone performance but definitely wish I could have a few of those standing shots back.”

“The conditions on the course were quite good today but it was pretty challenging on the range with the wind,” added Burke. “I decided to just take my time on the range and that worked out today.”

The top Canadian was Nathan Smith in 43rd with three missed targets. Russell Currier (USA) finished 54th, with six penalties while Scott Gow (Can) was 60th with five misses while Macx Davies (Can) was 62nd with four penalties. Fellow Canuck Brendan Green was 89th with eight missed targets followed by Christian Gow (Can) in 99th also with eight misses. Leif Nordgren (USA) did not start.

The BMW IBU World Cup 1 continues on Saturday with the sprint events. The women’s 7.5k event starts at 5:45 a.m. EST, with the men’s 10k sprint to follow at 8:45 a.m. Live streaming coverage of the race can be seen at www.eurovisionsports.tv/ibu.

Full results here.