Biathlon World Cup 3 (2015-2016) - Men's 10km Sprint Race

BMW IBU Biathlon World Cup 2015-2016 (Week 3/Day 1) - Men's 10km Sprint Race
17.12.2015, Pokljuka

Another Sprint Win for Simon Schempp

Clean Shooting for Top 3
Clean-shooting Simon Schempp of Germany won the men’s 10K sprint at Pokljuka in 23:02.5 seconds. Norway’s Ole Einar Björndalen finished second, 15.2 back while Russia’s Evgeniy Garanichev in third place, was 25.1 seconds back. Both Björndalen and Garanichev matched Schempp on the shooting range.

Russia's Alexey Slepov also shot clean to finish fourth 25.3 seconds back, his best-ever World Cup result. Martin Fourcade, wearing Yellow and Red was fifth, 25.6 seconds back, with one penalty. Sixth place went to Russia's Anton Shipulin, 28.4 seconds back, with one penalty.

Great Conditions

Pokljuka is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the World Cup event this year; Mother Nature gave the Slovenian organizers great conditions, a fair amount of snow, lots of sunshine and light manageable winds.

Schempp: Flawless and Strong

Just like six days ago in Hochfilzen, Schempp is on top of the podium again. In the beginning of the season, he was 77th in the Östersund sprint, but recovered since then and continued his streak of excellent results this season. He commented, "I feel good on skis. I was lucky to close the gap with the Russian guy on my second loop and had a very powerful last loop." Schempp, who started in the last start group, did not think it was an advantage. "The conditions were the same for all the start groups. We thought the tracks would get faster after 3 pm, but this was not the case today." He also added that great snow conditions were crucial for his win, "The course conditions here are much better than in Hochfilzen. The course has a long downhill, but comparing to Hochfilzen, it was not icy."

Fourcade in Sixth

Fourcade looked confident leading the competition before the second shooting stage. He started shooting fast; however, he missed the first target. His penalty loop played a decisive role in the results. Despite his great shape and fast skis, Fourcade was not able to get to the podium.

Björndalen on his Goals

Björndalen was one step from the victory. At the moment the "King of Biathlon" is number two in both the World Cup Total Score and Sprint Cup. He, however, says that it is not the ranking that interests him the most.

"I focus on each competition. I was close to making a good one today, but Simon was very strong. I focused on winning the Total World Cup score in 2008. Now my main goal is World Championships in Oslo."

Regarding clean shooting, he added, "If you make mistake, you have to be very fast."

Russian Men Getting Stronger

This is the first podium for Sochi Bronze medalist Garanichev this year. The Russian men were first in the Relay at Hochfilzen, which gave them confidence coming into in Pokljuka.

Garanichev commented. "Starting from the first World Cup I was able to show good condition. I am happy about preparation. Our coach Ricco Gross was an athlete himself not a long time ago. He is an excellent coach and it is a pleasure to train with him. He thinks like us. He is always with us: at the shooting range and sometimes on skis."

After finishing, the Russian watched closely his teammate, Alexey Slepov, who finished a mere .2 second behind him. "I understood Slepov was strong enough to take my third place today. By a consequence Slepov and I are living together in the hotel. When I saw he was shooting clean, I was very happy for him."

Видео Biathlon World Cup 3 (2015-2016) - Men's 10km Sprint Race канала International Biathlon Union