February 9, 2008 (Oestersund, Sweden) – Maxim Tchoudov of Russia didn’t disappoint those spectators who hung around for the end of the men’s sprint Saturday as the 2008 biathlon World Championships got underway. He started at the back of the pack (96th in 113 skiers) and finished first, upending Norway’s longtime podium performers Halvard Hanevold and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

Tim Burke gave the U.S. Biathlon Team a lift, missing only his first shot in standing as he finished ninth, 65 seconds back. But the rest of the Canadian and U.S. men and women generally had a tough day at the office. Canada’s Zina Kocher, in 38th place, was the top woman.

Light freezing rain and then light snow just before dawn shuffled the deck for waxing technicians. The dry, soft snow went from slow to icy and fast.

Noting Tchoudov means “miracle” in Russian, he told reporters, “Today, my name has become sort of a reality. A little miracle has happened.”

He shot clean and was timed in 22:25.4 for the men’s 10km sprint with Hanevold, also shooting clean, taking the silver medal in 22:45.2. Bjoerndalen, the slam-dunk fastest skier in his sport, un-did himself with two missed shots in the standing stage and finished in 22:55.4.

Both Norwegians, pointing to Sunday’s 12.5km pursuit race, predicted they could overtake Tchoudov and move up a notch apiece.

Burke, who represents the Olympic Regional Development Authority in Lake Placid, had one miss in his standing stage. He went on to finish in 23:30.4. Lowell Bailey was 61st with Canadian Jean Philippe Leguellec 66th and teammate Robin Clegg 67th.

“I was very focused on this race today,” Burke said. “I have gone through every step of it at least 100 times in the past three weeks. When the weather changed the conditions today, I completely changed my tactics.

“I knew that the race would now be really fast, so you would have to go all out from the start,” he said. “This is a great start and I’m in a good position for the pursuit.”

Earlier on the opening day of competition, the entire women’s podium shot clean in the 7.5km sprint. Andrea Henkel of Germany took the gold medal in 19:43.1 with Russian Albina Akhatova second (19:55.8) and Ukraine’s Oksana Khvostenko the bronze medalist (20:06.3).

After Zocher in 38th place, other North American results included Worlds rookie Haley Johnson of the USA 53rd, Canadian Sandra Keith 56th, and U.S. athlete Lanny Barnes in 63rd. Caitlin Compton, the USSA SuperTour overall cross-country champion a year ago, 70th in the field of 94 in her first Worlds race.

The pursuit races Sunday – women’s 10km, men’s 12.5km – are limited to the top 60 from the sprint.

Full results here.