March 07, 2013 (Sochi, RUS) – Matching his same result as one season ago in Sochi, Russia, American Tim Burke finished 5th at 51 seconds behind Martin Fourcade of France, today’s winner in the Men’s 20 km Individual. Burke, who has recorded 5 top-five finishes this season, suffered only one penalty and clocked a time of 50:31.6 at 51s behind the winner.

“This is clearly the toughest course that I have ever raced,” said Burke in a team release. “I was very happy to see today that I can be among the best on this course when I am in good shape. Not only are the uphills brutal here but the downhills feel like they belong on a GS course. It was great to have a chance to feel out the course today, now I know what I need to focus on for training. I feel like I am in my best shape of the year now, so I am really looking forward to the remaining races.”

Fourcade, who has won 21 world cup races in his career, finished in a time of 49:40.6 with one penalty to claim his 3rd victory of the season.  In second was the clean-shooting German, Andreas Birnbacher, at 6.9s while third place went to Serhiy Semenov of the Ukraine at 31.9s back with no penalties.  Fourcade told biathlonworld.com he questioned if he could chase down Birnbacher after the German shot clean while Fourcade suffered one penalty in the opening round of shooting.

“I had the one penalty and saw that Andi had shot clean, so I knew it would be hard to win. Even on the last lap, I was not so sure, [and] then my coach said that I could win … and my mind turned, I was able to handle that positive pain,” added Fourcade.

Other North American results include USA’s Lowell Bailey in a tie for 47th, Canadian Scott Perras in 61st followed by American Leif Nordgren in 62nd & Canadians Scott Gow and Jean Philippe Leguellec  in 63rd and 80th place respectively.

Domracheva Claims Come from Behind Win in Sochi Women’s Individual
Sunny skies, hard-packed snow, and a light breeze out of the NW made for ideal conditions for the Women’s 15km Individual in Sochi, Russia.  American Susan Dunklee, started with bib #8, and finished with a season’s best result of 7th with a time of 47:47.2 and one penalty at 2:02 behind.

“The Olympic course is a tough one with lots of climbing,” said Dunklee in a team release. “Luckily it plays to our team’s strengths, and Annelies and myself had our best results of the year. We are psyched! My strategy going into today was to hold back a little bit on the first loops to give myself a chance to shoot well in the early stages and to save my legs for the second half of the race.”

American Annelies Cook had a career-best finish in 14th position with a time of 49:23.3 (back 3:38.1) with three penalties, besting her 18th place finish earlier this season in the Antholz-Anterselva Sprint.

“I’m really excited about the result and the skiing today,” Cook said in a team release. “I was uncertain about how this day would go but I was very pleased to shoot clean for three stages and that meant a lot to me. The course here is really hard with big steep uphills, twisty downhills, and altitude. I tried to stay really relaxed the first loop and even then, I wasn’t totally sure I could keep going that way. My skis were super awesome and they have been for the past ten races and that helped me a lot, especially mentally.

“Our coaches were all over the course with positive messages. In the last standing, I hit the first shot and thought, ‘Oh good- at least I won’t dirty this last stage. Maybe I can clean,’ and then I missed. Not the right way to think, but that’s what makes biathlon such a challenge.”

Thursday’s winner, Darya Domracheva of Belarus claimed the victory in a time of 45:45.2 despite suffering two penalties, both coming in the final round of shooting.  Thirty four seconds back was the clean shooting Olga Zaitseva of Russia with a time of 46:19.8 with 3rd going to Norway’s Tora Berger at 46.8s back with one penalty.

“It was good for me to have the three clean shooting stages today…It has not been an easy season for me, I have had an up and down season,” Domracheva told biathlonworld.com.  “It was an important race for me today, because I realized that it is possible to shoot clean… it was not so windy which is the best shooting conditions for me.”

Fellow American Sara Studebaker finished in 42nd place, while Canadian’s Megan Imrie and Zina Kocher placed 57th and 73rd respectively, a Rosanna Crawford did not finish.

“This course is a spicy one,” Imrie said in a team release. “There were many crashes, but I actually found it quite fun. I’m glad we practiced slalom races at Norquay [Banff] this fall because those downhills are alpine style. It is grueling and lactate is a constant companion, but I love the stadium, the setting and the rolling parts of the course.”

Women’s results here.
Men’s results here.