December 06, 2013 (Hochfilzen, Austria) – Canada’s Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, 28, finished a strong 13th with one penalty in the men’s 10km sprint on Friday amidst strong winds and moderate snow, at 55s behind winner Lars Berger (NOR) who took the win at round #2 of the IBU World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria with a time of 25:02.0 (0+2). Last year in Hochfilzen Le Guellec was 10th after his historic first World Cup win in Oestersund the previous weekend.

Jean Philippe Leguellec (CAN) © Nordic Focus

The USA’s Lowell Bailey was just behind Le Guellec shooting clean in 16th while teammate Tim Burke placed 24th also suffering two misses like Berger who lead from the start and could not be reeled in by World Cup leader Martin Fourcade (FRA) in second at 13.6s with clean shooting. Legendary Norwegian, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, landed third on the podium just behind Fourcade at 15.3s.

Canada’s Brendan Green also made his return to the World Cup after a year off with injury where he placed 31st at 26:41.9 (1+1) while Calgary’s Nathan Smith was 48th with a time of 27:13.4 (0+1). The USA’s Jeremy Teela finished 65th (27:39.8/+2), and Sean Doherty finished 99th (29:51.3/+5). Leif Nordgren did not start due to illness.

In the women’s 7.5km Sprint Switzerland’s Selina Gasparin (SUI) braved tough conditions including strong winds and light snow to claim her career-first World Cup victory with one penalty in 23:16.9. Canada’s Rosanna Crawford led the North American charge celebrating one of her best ever World Cup results, finishing in 24:04.0 after missing two shots – her best World Cup result is 12th.

Veronika Vitkova (CZE), who shot clean, took second finishing at 1.2 seconds back, while Irina Starykh (RUS) also cleaned all targets earning her first World Cup podium taking third at 2.1 seconds back.

“In biathlon there is always that “what if” scenario that you try not to think about, but today my what if I had shot clean – it would have meant a great day,” said Crawford, who was also 17th at last year’s World Championships. “Our skis were amazing today. The wax techs really nailed it today, and it was a good day for our women’s team as a whole.”

Canada’s Zina Kocher also missed a shot in each of her two stops at the range to finish 25th with a time of 24:19.7 while Megan Imrie was 35th at 24:40.9 (0+2). The USA’s Lanny Barnes finished 65th (25:33.2/+1), Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT) was 66th (25:34.7/+4) and Megan Heinicke rounded out the Canadian contingent in 70th at 25:40.4 (1+3). Following her was American Hannah Dreissigacker in 71st (25:41.4/+4) with Annelies Cook finishing 79th (25:55.4/+4).

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

and Rosanna Crawford led the charge on a successful day for the Canadians at the Biathlon World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria on Friday.

The 28-year-old Le Guellec sprinted to 13th place in the men’s 10-kilometre sprint event,