January 07, 2017 (Oberhof, GER) – The USA’s Tim Burke was the top North American in 26th with four penalties as strong winds and cool temperatures presented challenging conditions for the men’s IBU World Cup 12.5km Pursuit in Oberhof, Germany.

No athlete shot clean as World Cup points leader Martin Fourcade of France claimed his eighth win of the season with one penalty. Germany’s Arnd Peiffer finished a distant second at 1:09.9 back with three penalties while Italy’s Dominik Windisch suffered five penalties to claim third at 1:32.4 behind Fourcade.

The USA’s Russell Currier climbed 12 places to finish 34th with five missed targets. Calgary’s Scott Gow was the lone Canadian starting in 43rd place as he dropped two spots to 45th with seven penalties.

“Today was another challenging race with extremely windy and cold conditions,” said Burke. “Considering the conditions, I am happy with my performance today. It’s always good to move up in the pursuit and I feel like my ski shape is getting better with each race. Hopefully I can continue this trend next week in Ruhpolding.”

“It’s been four years since I last finished in the points,” Currier pointed out. “It was frustrating knowing I could do it, but never being able to execute on the few chances there were. Today was the sign of progress I’ve been training for all year.”

Results here.