March 15, 2014 (Kontiolahti, Finland) – The USA’s Lowell Bailey posted the first IBU World Cup podium of his career with superb clean shooting to take home the bronze in the men’s 10km sprint at Kontiolahti, Finland at 19.4 seconds behind winner Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR). In second was Alexander Loginov (RUS) also shooting clean at 18.5s back.

“It’s been a long time coming. I’m obviously really happy,” said Bailey of his first World Cup podium. “I’ve been working toward this for over ten, twenty years. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, and I’ve been knocking at the door for the last three years. This year I’ve come so close a lot of different times, it’s nice to finally do it. I had a pretty specific game plan going into today and I was able to execute it.”

Canada’s Nathan Smith, also had a great race with one penalty finishing 8th at 33.6s behind the winner for his top sprint result while matching his best-ever result overall.

“Excellent skiing was definitely the difference maker for me today,” said Smith, who missed one shot in two rounds of shooting. “I’ve had a handful of comparable ski speeds and missing one is not too out of the ordinary for me.  I’ve only been able to combine my best shooting and skiing a few times this year so this was a great day.”

The 28 year old has been battling illness since making his Olympic debut in Sochi two weeks ago. “I was happy to be feeling good finally after the Olympics,” added Smith. “I came down with a bad cold the last few days, and was still suffering from it until a few days ago. My race earlier this week was good so I knew I was starting to come out of the sickness slump.”

US Biathlon’s Tim Burke finished 19th at 1:10.0 behind with two penalties followed by Leif Nordgren in 27th with one penalty at 1:23.0 behind. Canada’s Brendan Green was very close in 28th at 1:23.3 back with Scott Gow in 42nd at 1:48.8 behind.

Good conditions meant the top four  finishers all shot clean as Boe took his second victory in a row setting the best time early on as all challengers took aim but none could unseat him. Bailey was in second after cleaning all targets in standing but was overtaken by Loginov in the final loop holding on to third with a slim advantage over Ondrej Moravec of Czech Republic in 4th at 0.3s back.

“I did not have such a great race on Thursday so I had a game plan today and executed it today. I think that hitting all of targets in standing is key for me. I definitely had a few opportunities where I was close and I struggled in standing… definitely standing shooting is where it’s at,” said Bailey in an interview with Biathlonworld.com.

“Everybody on the team is so happy for Lowell’s podium today,” said US Biathlon Head Coach Per Nilsson. “Many years of training and professional attitude to the sport finally paid off. The way he carried through the race was fantastic! Being determined and disciplined in a couple of key things works for Lowell as an athlete. The good attack mode he hade made his day. We all know the good skills he has as an athlete, and it was great to see him show that today.”

“It is so wonderful to see Lowell standing on the podium today,” said Max Cobb, US Biathlon CEO. It’s so exciting to see his years of hard work shine through in his great performance today. Today Lowell joins the very exclusive Podium Club – a lifetime goal achieved! History made! Hats off to the high performance staff, working tirelessly to help the athletes achieve their personal bests every day. Susan had another strong performance too and Tim and Leif are well positioned for the pursuit on Sunday,” he added

Results here.