December 09, 2016 (Pokljuka, Slovenia) – American Lowell Bailey shot clean to finish 18th in the men’s 10km Sprint in Pokljuka while Canada’s Scott Gow was also perfect on the range placing 23rd for his career-best World Cup Sprint result improving on his 27th-place finish at Ruhpolding, Germany in 2015.

“I was happy with the shooting today, but I didn’t feel great on the tracks,” said Bailey. “I hope I can bounce back tomorrow and work into the top ten.”

“I’m happy to have raced back into the top-30. It was especially gratifying after a sub-par effort last weekend,” said Gow. “My goals are to have multiple top-30 results this year and hit some in the top-16 so today was a good start towards accomplishing those goals.

“I’ve been focused on maintaining a high shooting average for the duration of the season so I attribute my clean shooting to having good fundamentals, and being somewhat in the ‘shooting zone’ with no crazy environmental conditions to worry about,” added Gow. “After our poor start, our team and staff have been working hard to make sure everything is perfect. I think today was the culmination of everyone giving a little extra attention to all the important details.”

Martin Fourcade (Fra) claimed his first-ever win at the Slovenian venue with perfect shooting as well and a time of 23:11.7 following a final charge on the last loop. Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe settled for second at 13.7s back as he also shot clean but faded following a strong start. Anton Shipulin of Russia cleaned as well like his other two podium counter-parts, and ended up at 15.1 seconds behind in 3rd.

Gow’s brother Christian also recorded his best result on the World Cup finishing 33rd at 1:30.9 back. The USA’s Tim Burke was 52nd with three misses with Canadian Brendan Green in 53rd. Russell Currier (USA) was 65th with Macx Davies (Can) finished in 80th.

Bailey had a slow start completing the first loop in 35th place with a 27.5-second deficit, but rallied during the second loop to jump up the standings and finished 1:18.1 behind Fourcade.

“I’m completely stunned by today’s McLaren Report and its evidence of the nature and scope of Russian doping leading up to the Sochi Olympics and the surrounding competitions,” added Bailey in a team release. “As a clean athlete who has competed for more than a decade on the World Cup and in the past three Winter Olympics, I expect that the rest of the field abides by the same standards of Clean Competition set forth in the WADA Code. It is now clear that Russia actively sought to undermine this standard, conducting the most expansive systemic cheating program the world has ever seen. I am appalled, disheartened, and disgusted. It is time for our sport leaders within the IBU to do what is right, enact meaningful consequences, and react accordingly.”

104 skiers took the start in Pokljuka, located in Slovenia’s Julian Alps. Situated at 1,340 meters, altitude was a factor, however the weather was not. Warm sunny skies and a windless morning greeted racers. The lack of wind contributed to more than 20 men shooting clean, including the top-9 finishers this morning.

Racing continues tomorrow with the 12.5km men’s and 10km women’s Pursuit and concludes on December 11th with the first Relays of the IBU World Cup.

Full results here.