France’s Martin Fourcade coasted to victory in today’s men’s 10 kilometer sprint race at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Ruhpolding.
The Sochi 2014 double gold medalist crossed the line in 22min 34.2sec after producing a 100 percent shooting record in the race.
He has now won nine of the 12 races to take place in the Word Cup so far this season as he bids to win a sixth straight title.
“During my training I was watching the screen, and I saw that Julian and Emil Hegle were shooting clean, and I wanted to match them.” said Fourcade.
Austria’s Julian Eberhard also shot clean to finish second, 18sec behind Fourcade.
Eberhard, flawless in both stages, set the time to beat, but Fourcade put in an emphatic performance, leaving the shooting range with a 13sec lead which he only extended in the final stages.
Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen finished third, 39.7sec back.
Arnd Peiffer of Germany posted the best result among the hosts’ competitors today, finishing fourth, 51.8sec back.
His teammate Simon Schempp, with one penalty, was fifth 52.8sec back while Russia’s Dmitry Malyshko took sixth.
In the sprint standings Fourcade once again dominates, with his total of 274 points a massive 72 ahead of Norway’s Svendsen, with Eberhard in third on 186.
The women’s 7.5km sprint competition takes place tomorrow before action in Ruhpolding comes to a close on Sunday (January 15) with the men’s 12.5km pursuit and women’s 10km pursuit events.
By Max Winters
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.