February 04, 2012 (Oslo, Norway) – American Tim Burke led Team USA with clean shooting and a stellar 6th place finish in the men’s 12.5km Pursuit. Burke moved up from 15th to finish at 1:08.8 behind today’s victor, Arnd Peiffer (GER), with a winning time of 31.44. Clean shooting put Peiffer back on the podium followed by Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen who was 2nd yielding two misses and Evgenly Garanichev (RUS), also revisiting the podium, in third also with two misses.

“Today was a great day for me,” said Burke in a team release. “This was the first time that I have shot 0 penalties in a four-stage race so of course I am very happy about that. This was the perfect way for me to bring in my 30th year.

“I guess it took me this long to figure out that racing is much easier when you don’t have to ski any penalty loops! I am also feeling strong on the course and I am looking forward to tomorrow’s mass start.”

Cold weather and light snow was the order of the day for the men as Garanichev shot clean and took an early lead with Peiffer in tow and Svendsen at 10s. The leaders shot clean again as Svendsen faltered allowing Russia’s Evgeny Ustyugov to overtake him. The USA’s Lowell Bailey and Burke along with Martin Fourcade from France and Canada’s Brendan Green were chasing behind.

Peiffer continued to hold firm cleaning the first standing stage but this time Garanichev had to do a penalty loop while Svendsen regained some ground shooting clean. Peiffer shot clean again in the final standing stage and was unstoppable as Svendsen’s superior skiing saw him catch Garanichev as they entered the Holmenkollen stadium to grab second.

Burke continued to gain ground as others suffered misses including his teammate Bailey who dropped out of contention with three penalties ending up 12th followed by Green with two misses in 13th.

“I’m definitely happy with the result today,” commented Bailey. “I executed my game plan, except for a few small mistakes (in standing). Otherwise, I feel good about the result and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s mass start. It was great to be racing up at the top of the field and have Tim in the mix there as well! I think we’re both pretty psyched for the race tomorrow!”

Green was also pleased with his day as he posted his first back-to-back top-15 performances. Coming off a career-best 9th-place finish in a World Cup sprint, the 25-year-old Green finished with a time of 33:43.9.

“It was another solid day and I surprised myself,” said Green in a team release. “I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a headache, but I decided that today’s race was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I just tried to focus on the race process and not worry about anything else. The shooting and skiing stayed pretty consistent with the exception of the first standing bout, and I was able to keep things together. Staying in the top-10 would have been great, but I know it will come again.”

American Jay Hakkinen was 25th followed by Canada’s Jean-Philippe Le Guellec in 26th while Regina’s Scott Perras just missed the top-30, placing 33rd.

Men’s 12.5 km Pursuit Results HERE.