January 16, 2011 (Ruhpolding, Germany) – Sweden’s Bjorn Ferry took advantage of clean shooting in Sunday’s 12.5km Pursuit in Ruhpolding to jump seven spots and claim the gold in a time of 31:56.6. Ferry, who was the winner of the same event at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, pulled away from the pack in the final stretch of the race to claim his fifth career World Cup victory.

“I have trained here three times every year for the past ten years, so I have spent more than a year here,” Ferry told IBU, “It is my second home in biathlon. After the Olympics and World Championships, this is the biggest win in biathlon – the pursuit in Ruhpolding.”

Martin Fourcade of France made 18 of his 20 shots to retain the silver that he earned in Friday’s sprint race. Fourcade finished just 4.9 seconds behind Ferry for his third consecutive second place finish in Ruhpolding.

Just two seconds behind Fourcade was Michael Greis, who jumped from 7th to 3rd after a clean day on the shooting range. The German finished with a time of 32:03.5 to grab his 33rd career World Cup medal.

American Lowell Bailey posted a solid race, hitting 17 shots to jump from 50th to 29th with a finishing time of 34:16.5. Tim Burke matched his teammate in the shooting range to jump 20 spots for a 36th place finish, and Jeremy Teela missed two shots to grab 41st place.

Brenden Green was the top Canadian finisher of the day, missing just one shot on his way to a 40th place effort. Scott Perras hit 16 of 20 to finish 48th with a time of 35:54.8, and Marc-Andre Bedard finished 52nd after a 4-miss day in the range.

The weather conditions held up for the second straight day, as the 26,000 spectators ramped up the electricity to a frenzy on the final day of races in Ruhpolding.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Bjorn Ferry, SWE (0+0+0+0) 31:56.6
2. Martin Fourcade, FRA (0+1+1+0) 32:01.5
3. Michael Greis, GER (0+0+0+0) 32:03.5

29. Lowell Bailey, USA (0+1+0+2) 34:16.5
36. Tim Burke, USA (0+0+1+2) 34:43.9
40. Brenden Green, CAN (0+0+1+0) 34:58.5
41. Jeremy Teela, USA (0+0+1+1) 35:06.4
48. Scott Perras, CAN (0+0+2+2) 35:54.8
52. Marc-Andre Bedard, CAN (1+2+0+1) 36:12.7