March 19, 2016 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia) – Tim Burke delivered another top level 6th-place finish in the men’s 12.5km Pursuit in Khanty-Mansiysk as an encore to Friday’s season-best sixth place in the men’s 10km sprint. The effort tied a personal best for Burke in a World Cup pursuit, having previously finished sixth in 2012 in Oslo, Norway, and in 2009 in Pokljuka, Slovenia.

Tim Burke (USA) © Nordic Focus

Simon Schempp of Germany took the win despite three penalties. Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe, with one penalty, was second at 8.5 seconds back. Third place went to Germany’s Erik Lesser, with two penalties at 15.7 seconds behind his teammate Schempp. Canada’s Brendan Green was the lone Canuck in 36th also with three penalties.

Starting sixth on the day, 52.6 seconds back of the leader following yesterday’s sprint, Burke showed he was running on some fast skis today as he made up nearly eight full seconds on leader Julian Eberhard of Austria at the 2.1km time check. After cleaning the first prone shooting stage, Burke maintained his sixth place in the pack but was now just 29.4 seconds out of the lead, and he was just beginning to heat up.

On the second lap of the race, Burke tied Russia’s Anton Shipulin for the fastest course time in five minutes, 39.9 seconds. He capped off the blistering lap with another clean round in prone to vault him into medal contention in third place, now only 20.9 seconds from first.

M Pursuit podium © Nordic Focus

Burke maintained his position through the third lap as he entered the standing shooting phase. His first miss on the range bumped him down to fifth place but still only 22 seconds out of the race lead. Another miss on the final standing stage put Burke in sixth and he turned in a strong finish to lock him into his second-straight top-10 performance of the week. His final time of 33:59.1 was 31.3 seconds behind winner Simon Schempp of Germany.

“Today was a very exciting race for me and I am happy with my sixth place, but I also realize that this was a great opportunity for a podium,” said Burke. “Once again, our technicians did a great job and that really allowed me to stay in podium contention until the finish.”

Simon Fourcade, who did not start, won the overall Pursuit crown and crystal globe.

Results here.
Overall Pursuit standings here.