December 20, 2009 (Pokljuka, Slovenia) – On Sunday, American biathlete, Tim Burke, achieved something that even the most ardent American biathlon fans probably never thought they would see – an American awarded the yellow World Cup Overall leader’s bib. A few hundred fans who made their way twenty-some miles from civilization to the Pokljuka biathlon venue deep in the Slovenian mountains, stuck around to witness this momentous occasion, helped by the fact that countryman, Klemen Bauer, finished a career-high 7th and would be included in the flower ceremony. Regardless of the lean crowd on hand, the occasion served as a moment in time where the biathlon world was flipped on its ear.

The opportunity to claim the leader’s bib arose partially out of consistently high-level early-season performances by Burke, and also from decisions and fortunes of his strongest competitors. Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen and the great Ole Einar Bjoerndalen — the leader and second place biathletes respectively in the overall standing coming into this weekend in Pokljuka — sat out the weekend in favor of training for the 2010 Games. Svendsen is the only biathlete whom Burke has yet to beat this season. But Burke was not dismayed by the absence of the two Norwegians in earning his acheivement saying, “I have no control over them (being here or not).”

The lead up to Burke’s historic performance began when Thursday’s 20km Individual winner, Christoph Sumann of Austria, took a commanding lead in the overall standings over the absent Svendsen now in second. Sumann was 44 points ahead of Burke, sitting in 3rd place after his 14th place finish in the Individual race.

Then in the 10km sprint on Saturday, Sumann missed 8 of 10 targets to finish 103rd, well outside the top 60 necessary to qualify for Sunday’s 12.5km pursuit. Burke, who finished a solid 8th in the sprint, moved into second overall and within 10 points of the defenseless Sumann, who was destined to watch his yellow bib fall to someone following Sunday’s pursuit.

The likely someones were France’s Simon Fourcade and the USA’s Burke. Fourcade had moved within one point of Burke by finishing 6th in the sprint, to take over 3rd spot behind Sumann and Burke. With everyone but Fourcade and Burke mathematically out of contention for the overall leaders bib, Sunday’s 12.5km pursuit became a mano a mano battle between the American and the Frenchman for yellow.

Burke started with perfect shooting in the two opening prone stages and challenged for the lead, trailing by 16 seconds in 4th, entering the third shooting stage, while Fourcade was out of sight behind with a penalty in each of the first two stages. Burke followed Ivan Tcherezov around the third lap despite feeling stronger.

“I felt it was pretty easy skiing behind him, thinking I’d take it easy coming into first standing shooting stage,” said Burke. But Burke missed twice. “Obviously it didn’t work very well for me. In hindsight, maybe I should have gone around him and just raced.” Fourcade missed once in the third stage, putting Burke three seconds ahead going into the second to last loop, with the two running 10th and 11th respectively.

On the fourth lap Burke pulled away from Fourcade, but a penalty in the final stage while Fourcade shot flawlessly, put the American in trouble, though he never lost track of Fourcade. “I was looking towards the course (while in the penalty loop) to see where he was. He shot on the point next to me and I saw him go out. I knew exactly how far I was behind him and what to do.”

Burke left the loop in 10th chasing Fourcade in 5th, with a gap of 8.9 seconds separating the race for yellow in favor of the Frenchman. Burke skied impressively in the final lap, catching Fourcade midway through and not giving the Frenchman even a glimpse of the maillot jaune in the final kilometer. He moved into 6th by the finish while Fourcade slipped to 9th while Evgeny Ustyugov of Russia won.

Burke ends 2009 in yellow with a 7-point lead over Fourcade, and can revel in yellow over the holidays. He’ll wear the yellow bib at the hallowed Oberhof venue in the Thuringen region of Germany, where biathlon is a religion.

An American in Germany. Burke in yellow will be a horse of a different color for the manic fans of the sport and a signal of a new era in the sport. “I can’t wait,” said Burke, of the opportunity of wearing yellow in front of the Oberhof crowd — likely to be nearly 50,000 strong — when he takes to the start of the 10km sprint, on January 9th. “I wish it was tomorrow.”