January 10, 2015 (Oberhof, GER) – In tough windy conditions World Cup leader Martin Fourcade (FRA) edged out Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen by a 4.4-second margin to win the IBU men’s 10km Sprint in Oberhof, Germany. Russia’s Timofey Lapshin grabbed third at 17.5s back as all podium finishers had a single penalty.

Men's IBU Sprint Podium Oberhof (l-r) Bjoerndalen 2nd, Fourcade 1st, Lapshin 3rd ©

Lowell Bailey led Team USA with a 34th-place finish and three penalties followed by Canada’s Nathan Smith in 35th with four penalties. Tim Burke (USA), who finished 42nd, also had four penalties and was followed by Canadians Christian Gow in 48th and Marc Andre Bedard in 49th both with two penalties each. Macx Davies was the final Canuck in 54th with three penalties.

The race was delayed for 2.5 hours as organizers moved artificial snow onto the tracks to form a 2.6km loop to salvage the day but windy conditions and generally tough conditions at Oberhof resulted in calls for change from top skiers including Belarus star Darya Domracheva and even winner Fourcade waded in.

“I think it was the best conditions during my career in Oberhof. There was some blue sky. It was better than I expected as conditions are really bad in Europe, and I think the Oberhof OC is used to managing these kind of conditions and did a really good job,” he told biathlonworld.com. “I think we have to imagine another solution with Oberhof. I don’t mean to cancel it because Oberhof is a wonderful world cup stage but perhaps to move in another period of the year. We have to do something, in my seven times in Oberhof and like I say today it was perhaps the best conditions I had and this is not a joke.”

The US and Canadians were among those affected by conditions.

“Today’s race was definitely challenging,” Bailey said. “There was a lot of wind, the course was altered due to lack of snow, and the start was delayed. That being said, I did feel like I had a good chance at a top result today. I had a great training block over Christmas and I felt confident that my ski speed would be O.K. It was just a matter of putting together a solid race on the range. Prone went well but I struggled in standing. I did get a few big gusts of wind, but I think I should have hit at least one more target. Sometimes it takes a race to get back into the swing of things after a longer break.”

“Today’s race was definitely one of the craziest races I have taken part in. We had wind gusts of up to 40 miles an hour, which makes for an interesting biathlon race,” said Burke. “You just have to go into a race like today hoping that you get lucky. I am not reading too much into this race and am just looking forward to more fair conditions soon.”

Full results here.