January 14, 2012 (Nove Mesto, Czech Republic) – American Russell Currier had a breakthrough race in Nove Mesto after several seasons of struggling on the shooting range. The US biathlete was one of only two competitors to shoot clean to finish in 6th place in the men’s 10k Sprint race – best finish of his World Cup career in just his 2nd World Cup start of the season.

Despite windy conditions Currier shocked several early starters when he crossed the line just 23.2 seconds behind race winner, Emil Hegle Svendson of Norway. Svendson battled the strong winds and blowing snow to take victory missing one shot with a time of 27:13. Finishing right behind the Norwegian were French brothers Simon and Martin Fourcade at 2.7 and 9.6 seconds back respectively.

Currier was on cloud nine as he shared his thoughts in US Biathlon release, “I think today was a very good example of professionalism and organization. The skis were fast, the coaches were there and everybody did their part, and I think that really showed today. All the work we’ve done in the past year came together and worked smoothly, and that was evident with today’s results all around.”

Along with Currier’s outstanding performance his teammate Tim Burke also had a great race finishing11th with two misses. Lowell Bailey was just out of the top twenty placing 21st while Jay Hakkinen was 31st.

“It was great to be part of such a strong team effort today,” said Burke. “Personally, I was very happy to get back on track with a solid result after many sub par performances. I still don’t feel like I am in my best shape, but I hope to save that for World Championships.”

Canadian’s three competitors finished just behind Hakkinen as Brenden Green was 32nd, Jean Philippe Leguellec was 35th, and Scott Perras placed 45th.

Svendson described the windy conditions as very challenging. “You can see from the shooting results that it was weird day,” he told Biathlonworld.co. “You just had to be right with the wind and shoot as normal in prone. It was very difficult in the standing; you could feel the wind pushing you from side-to-side. I am happy with nine out of ten today.”

US Biathlon Men’s National Team Coach Armin Auchentaller was thrilled with Currier and the team’s performance. “Russell Currier had the race of his life today, which coupled with his IBU Cup results this season, prove he is one of the best in the world. We are pleased that all four of our men earned World Cup points today. The focus is now on tomorrow’s Pursuit and we hope for some more good results.”

Full results HERE.