December 15, 2012 (Pokljuka, SLO) – Pouring rain presented an added challenge today at the men’s 12.5km World Cup Pursuit races in Pokljuka. But Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen was ready for the challenge missing just one shot to clock a winning time of 32:49.2.  The Czech Republic’s Ondrej Moravec finished second at 32:53.0 also suffering only one penalty  (0+0+0+1), while Frenchman Martin Fourcade clocked a time of 33:06.6 (0+0+0+2) for the final step on the podium.

Tim Burke (USA) © Nordic Focus

American Tim Burke continued his strong showing in Pokljuka with a 7th place finish in a time of 33:34.3 with three penalties.   Burke, starting fourth today at +45.1 seconds back. “Today was a challenging day with heavy rain throughout the race.  Although this made the skiing a little challenging the shooting conditions were actually quite good with almost no wind,” Burke told SkiTrax.

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

The American is satisfied with his shooting and felt that he was skiing his best this point in the season.  “I was finally able to pick it up a little on the last loop so I am really happy that my shape seems to be headed in the right direction.”

Burke’s teammate Lowell Bailey finished 28th today with a time of 35:39.2 and three penalties. “Today was messy but I’m happy with my result,” Bailey said in a team release. “I had to spend too much time in the range today and this cost me a bit.”  Bailey, for unknown reasons, didn’t feel totally comfortable in his shooting position, and because of this, he had to take a few extra breaths in between shots, which ate up valuable time.

Two Canadian men also raced the Pursuit with Scott Perras finishing in 31st spot with a time of 35:55.6 (1+1+2+1).  “The course was decent as long as you stayed on the center of the track. I think the most difficult thing was holding the focus for the last race of the tri,” Perras told SkiTrax.

“Shooting should have been easy but I made errors simply by forgetting the process and getting caught up in the race.”  Fellow Canadian Scott Gow placed 50th with a time of 37:24.8 (1+2+1+2). The Pokljuka World Cup wraps up on Sunday with the mass start races.

Full results here.