January 23, 2011 (Antholz, Italy) – Martin Fourcade of France missed just one shot to win Saturday’s 15km Mass Start at the IBU World Cup in Antholz, Italy. The win, which was accomplished in a time of 35:33.4, marks his first of the season and fourth of his young career.

Sweden’s Bjorn Ferry, who won last week’s pursuit competition in Ruhpolding, took 2nd place after hitting 18 of 20 in the range. Ferry’s time of 35:50.6 put him 17.2 seconds behind Fourcade.

Finishing a mere .4 seconds behind Ferry was Thursday’s Sprint champion, Anton Shipulin of Russia. Shipulin missed a target in each of the first two stages to finish in a time of 35:51.0.

Lowell Bailey of the United States, fresh of his second career-best result at Thursday’s Sprint, was the lone North American representative, hitting 15 of his 20 targets to finish 22nd. Bailey’s time of 37:32.8 put him 1:41.8 out of a podium spot.

“My goal was to just go for it right from the start and be aggressive,” Bailey commented in a US Biathlon report, “For the first prone shooting that worked out great and I was up there with some of the best athletes. But for the second shooting I am not sure where the misses were. It was really windy on the range and I suffered a bit from that”

Results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Martin Fourcade, FRA (0+0+1+0) 35:33.4
2. Bjorn Ferry, SWE (0+0+1+1) 35:50.6
3. Anton Shipulin (1+1+0+0) 35:51.0

22. Lowell Bailey, USA (0+2+1+2) 37:32.8