January 11, 2014 (Ruhpolding, GER) – Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen remained focused on the prize despite an early penalty claiming his third victory this season in the men’s 20km individual race at Ruhpolding. Russia’s Alexey Volkov raced his way to second at 14.6 while teammate Evegeny Ustyugov took third just two seconds behind.

US Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey suffered two misses on his way to 25th at 2:23.8 behind. The Lake Placid, NY biathlete has been sick as is eager to get back into the mix.

“I went into today’s race with no expectations other than getting a race start after being sidelined with a cold for the past two weeks,” said Bailey. “ I felt better than I expected and was definitely happy with the result. The one downside was my last shot. I just took a bad shot. Every once in a while that happens, but it hurts a little bit more when it’s the last shot of the race. I’m looking forward to the pursuit tomorrow.”

The top Canadian was Scott Perras in 36th at 3:13.5 with two penalties while teammate Nathan Smith was 40th (4 penalties) at 3:24.6 and Jean-Philippe Le Guellec was 52nd also with four penalties at 4:25.0. American Leif Nordgren finished 53rd (4 penalties), and Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) placed 56th (5 penalties).

Svendsen, who won the sprint and pursuit in Oberhof last weekend, was playing catch up all race as Slovenia’s Jakov Fak took an early lead but faltered in standing as Ustyugov became the new leader. Svendsen became more confident with each lap cleaning the last five targets and chased down Ustyugov for the victory.

“I found a way to focus on the right things; I try to do this every time. Now I am not letting myself slack off after a good race. I think this is the recipe for success,” Svendsen told Biathlonworld.com. “I have been doing some good mental work so I hope I can keep it going…I did a lot of work on shooting this summer and fall. I am stronger this year on the shooting range; this is one of my advantages… It will be fun to see if I can keep it together.”

Full results here.