March 05, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Germany’s Arnd Peiffer battled harsh wind conditions to capture gold in Saturday’s 10km Sprint at the IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk. The victory, which he accomplished after missing just one target, marks Peiffer’s fourth top podium finish of his World Cup career.

“It is very difficult to win,” the German said according to an IBU report, “I did have self-confidence after the mixed relay. I knew my shape was good. I told someone that it would be nice if I could be in the top eight today that would be a nice race for me. But I had a good ski today and a good feeling and now I am World Champion. It’s still hard to believe.”

France’s Martin Fourcade took 2nd place, finishing 13 seconds behind Peiffer. The result marked Fourcade’s 7th of his career after hitting 8 of his 10 targets from the range.

“The range is very windy, but this is an outdoor sport and we have to fight with the conditions,” Fourcade commented after the race, “The wind is a problem here and we have to stay focused on it as it will be a part of every race here.”

Claiming the bronze medal was current yellow bib leader Tarjei Boe as the young Norwegian finished in a time of 24:59.2 after missing just one shot in his first shooting stage.

“This is a dream for me. The bronze medal for me is bigger than people think,” said Boe, “because I have the yellow jersey and stuff; people expect big things. I knew this sprint would be very hard, so I am very happy with this medal.”

Leif Nordgren of the United States pulled off his best World Cup finish ever with 26th. The American, who is coming off a collective 13th place finish in Thursday’s mixed relay, missed just one shot and finished just over a minute out of the podium.

Tim Burke finished 31st with a 3-miss performance that left him with a finishing time of 26:15.2. Fellow American Lowell Bailey finished just behind Burke with a 32nd place result after hitting 9 of his 10 targets, and Jay Hakkinen placed 42nd after a 1-miss performance.

Canada was led by Scott Perras, who finished 34th after missing a single shot in his final shooting stage. Jean-Philippe Leguellec turned in the 46th best finishing time of the day with a 3-miss effort, and Nathan Smith finished 67th with four misses. Brendan Green missed five targets on the day to finish 91st.

Full results HERE.

Results (Brief)

1. Arnd Peiffer, GER (0+1) 24:34.0
2. Martin Fourcade, FRA (2+0) 24:47.0
3. Tarjei Boe, NOR (1+0) 24:59.2

26. Leif Nordgren, USA (0+1) 26:03.0
31. Tim Burke, USA (2+1) 26:15.2
32. Lowell Bailey, USA (0+1) 26:16.0
34. Scott Perras, CAN (0+1) 26:29.9
42. Jay Hakkinen, USA (0+1) 26:49.8
46. Jean-Philippe Leguellec, CAN (2+1) 26:53.4
67. Nathan Smith, CAN (1+3) 27:41.1
91. Brendan Green (3+2) 28:30.1