December 04, 2011 (Oestersund, Sweden) – Martin Fourcade of France slammed the door on his competition with a perfect day on the shooting range in the men’s 12.5km Pursuit to capture his second WCup victory of the season in Oestersund, Sweden. Likewise Norway’s Tora Berger with only one miss and fabulous skiing nailed the gold in the women’s 10km race.

The USA’s Tim Burke continued his strong rebound to the start of the season with a top-ten result finishing 9th, with three misses at 1:21.2 behind Fourcade. His teammate Lowell Bailey, who was fourth coming into the final standing session on the range, suffered three misses for a total of four overall and ended up 13th.

Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen settled for second place as he couldn’t match Fourcade’s shooting but was able to catch a hard-charging Jaroslav Soukup of Czech Republic, at the line for the silver with Soukup claiming his first WCup podium in third.

Brendan Green, 25, was the lone Canadian in 32nd missing five shots at 3:27.2 behind the winner.

Snow began falling before the women’s race slowing down the tracks as Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen shot well to take the silver medal while Germany’s Magdalena Neuner faltered on the range allowing the Finnish skier to take over second. Neuner was able to recover and despite four misses her strong skiing allowed her to pass Valj Semerenko (UKR) – who only missed one shot – on the final leg for the bronze.

Canada’s Zina Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta., could not maintain her form from the Sprint race and dropped nine places to finish as the top North American in 24th with a time of 37:57.1.

“Shooting was difficult this week,” said Kocher following Saturday’s sprint. The two-time Olympian missed six shots in four rounds of shooting when a snow storm made conditions challenging on Sunday. “My skis feel great and my body just wants to go.”

The USA’s Susan Dunklee had 5 misses placing 32nd at 5:03.2 behind Berger while her teammate Sara Studebaker shot well with only one miss to end up 39th at 5:34.8 behind the winner.

Canada’s Megan Imrie, of Falcon Lake, Man., dropped 10 places from her sprint finish to 43rd (39:43.3), while RosannaCrawford, of Canmore, Alta., moved up five places into 51st (41:20.4).

Fourcade was the only competitor in the field of sixty to shoot clean. “I shot very slowly today; that was most important,” he said in a Biathlonworld.com interview. “I am not surprised. This is the third time that I have done 20-for-20. It is the result of all of the hard work that I have done with my coaches.”

Berger found herself leading unexpectedly but was up to the challenge. “It was okay to lead also. I was shooting well so it was not a problem. When I missed the one standing shot, my only hope was that Kaisa would miss too . . . and she did. I did not want to fight her in the last loop.”

Women’s results HERE.
Men’s results HERE.