December 20, 2014 (Pokljuka, Slovenia) – Clean shooting took Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen to the top step on the podium in the men’s 12.5km Pursuit in Pokljuka as Russia’s Anton Shipulin was second with two penalties at 17.8 seconds back. France’s Martin Fourcade suffered one missed target to claim third at 59.5 seconds behind.

Final podium (l-r) Shipulin 2nd, Svendsen 1st, Fourcade 3rd © Nordic Focus

American Tim Burke was the top North American winning a three-way sprint to the line to place 21st at 1:56 behind the winner with three penalties as he edged out Canada’s Nathan Smith by 0.8s who also suffered three missed targets –  Germany’s Erik Lesser was 23rd.

Tim Burke (USA) © Nordic Focus

Burke’s teammate Lowell Bailey was 29th with 4 penalties at 2:07.3 followed by Canada’s Brendan Green in 33rd with three penalties. The USA’s Leif Nordgren moved up two spots from the start to finish 51st with three penalties as well.

“After a rough start with two penalties in the first stage, I was happy to bounce back to a decent result,” said Burke in a team release. “The competition was so tight today that those first two penalties dropped me back almost 20 places. I just tried to stay positive and take it one shot at a time from that point on and it worked out pretty well in the end.

“I felt good on the skis again today and I am really looking forward to the mass start tomorrow. I hope to finally put together good prone and standing shooting in the same race,” he concluded.

Full results here.

Nathan Smith (CAN) © Nordic Focus