February 04, 2016 (Canmore, AB) – The USA’s Tim Burke was 23rd while local fans cheered Canmore hometown boy, Macx Davies in 25th, as France’s Martin Fourcade delivered a world-class biathlon lesson hitting every target for a decisive victory in the men’s 10km Sprint at BMW IBU World Cup 7 in Canmore, Alta. The podium was rounded out by Anton Shipulin (Rus) in second and Simon Schempp (Ger) in third as both were also perfect and fast on the range despite some tricky wind.

The bluebird sky that this mountain town is known for, featured overcast cloud-cover today. A brisk left-to-right wind made the conditions not only cooler for spectators but challenging for competitors. Team North America had four in the top 30 today, with all four men within two seconds, led by Burke in 23rd who was followed by his teammates Lowell Bailey in 24th and Leif Nordgren in 26th.

Davies, son of race chair Ken Davies, gave the partisan Canmore crowd something to cheer for claiming 25th. “It’s exciting. These people actually know who I am,” commented Davies. The crowds were thrilled to cheer for their Canadian boys, and were wowed by the high level competition. Blazing fast and clean shooting began from the very first competitor, and immediately challenged the field.

“You have to be there in the shooting if you want to be close on a day like today,” said Davies who cleaned both sessions on the range today. “I’m very happy with my shooting today, obviously. With the skiing, I was hoping for a little bit better, but I was still able to keep pace with most of those guys, so I’m pretty happy with everything today.”

Burke who hadn’t raced in Canmore since he was a Junior athlete, had high praise for the venue and feeling of home. “It was so nice to be racing in North America, it’s so different to hear all the cheering for us out there,” Burke told Trax.

Davies also found motivation in the familiar faces at the venue to lead the Canadian men in 25th with perfect shooting. “It’s a big boost. I heard my name during warm up, and they were cheering me a little bit shooting. I was like okay, I really have to perform now, it’s my hometown crowd,” he concluded.

And the hometown crowd was a good size for a Thursday morning. Local school kids shared their energy en mass, and the stadium stands were packed with Canadian and international visitors alike.

For North Americans who spend their life dealing with jet lag and schnitzel in order to race the IBU World Cup, this weekend and the next round in Presque Isle, Maine, are rare opportunities to race at home. Seldom do they hear English crowds or commentary, let alone have family on course, or drink coffee from their favourite mug in the morning.

“It’s different here, it’s better. We get to sleep in our own bed, come up and train at our leisure, and my whole family’s here,” shared Brendan Green, who finished 40th with one miss, and drew the largest cheers of the day from his green-wig-sporting, Northwest Territories fan club. “It’s a smaller crowd than we’re used to, but they’re really enthusiastic, so it’s been fun.”

 

Despite leading the North American men Burke wanted more. “I am pretty disappointed with my feeling on the ski course today,” said Burke. “I had perfect preparation for the races here and the course is perfect for me, but I simply felt flat for most of the race. I am happy to be qualified for the mass start on Saturday and I am hopeful that I will bounce back and feel better by then.”

Still his result guaranteed him a start in Saturday’s 15km mass start race and he’ll be in good company with teammate Bailey, along with Canada’s Nathan Smith, who placed 24th and 31st respectively in today’s sprint.

“I was definitely hoping for a better performance today,” commented Bailey. “I felt like we prepared really well for this World Cup, coming directly here a week earlier than the rest of the athletes, and I hoped to capitalize on this preparation. I think it paid off on the skiing side of things, but I was just really disappointed in my standing shooting. I missed both of the first two shots by a few millimeters. It’s tough to swallow coming that close, but you just have to get back out there and try again. I am confident in our preparation looking forward and I know we can put together some quality performances over the next two weeks.”

“The race today for me was one of the better ones I’ve had this season,” Nordgren told Trax. “That being said, I know that I have more in me, so I’m slightly disappointed still. It seems to me that both my shooting and skiing have been coming around a little bit lately, so I hope the next few races here in North America can be good ones.

“I really like the course here,” added Burke who celebrated his 34th birthday only days ago. “It’s laid out really nice and it’s challenging for sure, with the long climb from the bottom to the top. But it suits me well, so I like racing here.”

North American’s aren’t the only ones who were enjoying the beauty and brawn of the Canadian Rockies. Athletes and coaches from other nations were awe-struck by the mountain amphitheatre at the stadium.

“It’s my first time in Canmore and it’s an amazing place, I really like the scenery around here,” says French athlete Simon Fourcade who was 7th today. It’s a crazy track too, because it doesn’t look hard, but when you’re at the bottom of the course, you have almost no rest getting back to the top. It’s really tough.”

The winning Fourcade said his day was not as easy as it looked. ‘I was a bit nervous; I was not satisfied with my shooting this week during training and today, I had some problems zeroing. But I was confident on my skis; I was clean and fast enough to win, so I am happy,” he told Biathlonworld.com.

Regarding Canmore, he added, “I really like this place; it is very friendly and I love the atmosphere with the teams and the local people…If we are truly an international sport, we need to come to places like this out of Europe.”

On Friday the women will take to the track in the 7.5km sprint.

Full results here.