January 20, 2011 (Antholz, Italy) – American Lowell Bailey continued to stay hot on the IBU World Cup circuit grabbing 12th place at the men’s 10km Sprint opening race in Antholz on Thursday. The Lake Placid native missed two shots to finish just 18 seconds off podium spot, and less than a minute behind first time winner Anton Shipulin of Russia.

“My skiing has improved a lot over the last weeks but I feel I need the break after Antholz to gain more confidence in my shooting,” Bailey said in a US Biathlon report, “Of course I am not too upset about those two misses as this is a quite difficult range but on the other hand it’s still not perfect.”

Bailey’s performance, which marks the second best result of his career, qualifies him for the 15km mass start event on Saturday.

Finishing just 10 seconds behind Shipulin was Germany’s Michael Greis, who shot clean for a time of 23:46.2. The 2nd place finish marks Greis’ best result of the season. Lars Berger (NOR), fresh of a solid showing in Ruhpolding, rounded out the podium with a one-miss performance that put him 20.7 seconds out of first.

Tim Burke posted the next best result for the Americans, missing three targets in his final stage to finish 34th with a time of 24:59.8. “I don’t know what happened,” said Burke, “When I came to the shooting range I was feeling okay but as soon as I stood there my legs were shaking so badly that I actually thought the targets are moving.”

Leif Nordgren of the United States also missed three shots to finish 72nd with a time of 25:51.9. Jeremy Teela finished just behind Nordgren for 73rd, hitting seven of 10 shots for a time of 25:52.8. Jay Hakkinen, who recently made the jump from the IBU Cup circuit to compete in Antholz, missed two shots to finish 81st. No Canadian biathletes competed.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Anton Shipulin, RUS (0+0) 23:36.2
2. Michael Greis, GER (0+0) 23:46.2
3. Lars Berger, NOR (0+1) 23:56.7

12. Lowell Bailey, USA (1+1) 24:24.9
34. Tim Burke, USA (0+3) 24:59.8
72. Leif Nordgren, USA (2+1) 25:51.9
73. Jeremy Teela, USA (0+3) 25:52.8
81. Jay Hakkinen, USA (0+2) 26:26.1