March 10, 2016 (Oslo, Norway) – The USA’s Lowell Bailey was the top North American finisher in the Men’s 20km Individual start event at the IBU Biathlon World Championships in Oslo today as he placed a career-best 15th with one shooting penalty at 2:43.7 behind winner Martin Fourcade (FRA), who claimed his fourth straight gold also with one penalty.

Lowell Bailey © Angus Cockney

Scott Gow (CAN) led the Canadian squad with a best-ever 18th with two shooting errors as he trailed Fourcade by 3:04.9. Austrians Dominik Landertinger (AUT) and Simon Eder (AUT) both shot clean and powered in for the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

“After a disappointing pursuit race, I spent the last three days working on my game plan for today’s race,” said Bailey. “I really wanted to stay focused to my shooting fundamentals and not the actual competition result. It always helps me to focus on the process and not the result. I was really happy with the last stage, especially today because I knew what was on the line coming into the shooting range but I was able to block out that distraction and focus on each shot. Satisfied with the result and looking for to the upcoming relay.”

Scott Gow © Pam Doyle

Canada’s Gow has struggled all year with having a solid biathlon distance race… until today as the 25-year-old Calgarian put his struggles behind him.

“I’m super happy with my race today. It is by far my best result of my career,” said Gow, who finished with a time of 52:18.8 “I didn’t have any expectations results-wise going into the race. My focus today was to try and get back to the basics, and reconnect with my shooting. Thankfully I was able to execute my shooting plan, which put me in a solid position for a good result.”

(l-r) , Dominik Landertinger (AUT), Martin Fourcade (FRA) and Simon Eder (AUT) © Nordic Focus

American Leif Nordgren placed 27th, Sean Doherty was 34th, Canada’s Nathan Smith finished 42nd, Tim Burke (USA) was 44th, Canada’s younger Gow, Christian, was 46th and Brendan Green was 47th. Bailey, Nordgren and Burke qualified for the Mass Start at the IBU Worlds.

Fourcade was all smiles at the finish, “I love the individual the competition so much that I have won 9 of the last 11 of them. What a day! This is an amazing feeling; the same as last year. The difference is that I only won the individual last year!”

Results

1. Martin Fourcade (FRA) 49:13.9
2. Dominik Landertinger (AUT) +5.1
3. Simon Eder (AUT) +14.4
4. Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) +57.2
5. Michal Krcmar (CZE) +1:16.4

15. Lowell Bailey (USA) +2:43.7
18. Scott Gow (CAN) +3:04.9
27. Leif Nordgren (USA) +3:40.6
34. Sean Doherty (USA) +4:13.6
42. Nathan Smith (CAN) +5:08.3
44. Tim Burke (USA) +5:142
46. Christian Gow (CAN) +5:25.1
47. Brendan Green (CAN) +5:26.1

Full results here.