March 1, 2007 – The Canadian men’s biathlon team did not fare well in their return to World Cup action, Thursday, in Finland. Returning to Europe for the final three World Cup races of the season, after a 10-day hiatus in Canada following the 2007 World Championships, lingering jetlag and steep terrain got the better of the Canuck squad.

Ottawa’s Robin Clegg was top Canadian on the day, in the men’s 20-kilometre individual, skiing to 59th-place. Clegg finished with four shooting errors and stopped the clock in one hour three minutes and 40.8 seconds, just under seven minutes behind the winner from France.

David Leoni, of Camrose, Alta., was next in line for Canada, finishing 74th, +9:21.4 off the leading pace. Despite being disappointed with his performance, Leoni cites today’s race as fuel to his ever-growing fire to put together a great performance before the end of the season.

“Obviously I am not satisfied with my performance today,” said Leoni. “This is a challenging course with steep hills, and I felt the lingering effects of jetlag in my legs, which made it tough to compete at a high level. With that said, I want to take the best things from this race and use that moving forward for the remainder of the season. Today only makes me hungrier for a great result.”

A third Canadian hit the start line Thursday. Edmonton’s Jaime Robb struggled to find the targets, posting seven shooting errors and finishing in 78th-place, +10:53.0 out of first-place.

France took the top two spots on the podium, with gold going to Raphael Poiree in a time of 56:41.8 and silver to his teammate Simon Fourcade, just 17.9 seconds behind. Alexander Wolf, of Germany took the bronze, +37.6 seconds out of the gold medal position.

Alberta’s own Zina Kocher and Sandra Keith will return to competition Friday with the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint.

For full results please visit www.biathlonworld.com.

Men’s top-five results:

1. Raphael Poiree, FRA, 56:41.8; 2. Simon Fourcade, FRA, +17.9; 3. Alexander Wolf, GER, +37.6; 4. Christoph Sumann, AUT, +51.9; 5. Rustam Valiullin, BLR, +53.9

Canadian results:

59. Robin Clegg, Ottawa, +6:59.0; 74. David Leoni, Camrose, Alta., +9:21.4; 78. Jaime Robb, Edmonton, +10:53.0