Biathlon World Championships 2016 - Men's Pursuit race

BMW IBU Biathlon World Championships 2016 - Men's 12,5km Pursuit race 06.03.2016, Oslo Fourcade Hat Trick with Pursuit Title Another Silver Medal for Björndalen Martin Fourcade of France faltered with two penalties in the final standing stage, but it did not stop him from a Gold medal hat trick with his pursuit win today after mixed relay and sprint Golds previously. His winning time of 32:56.5, with three penalties, put him 201.1 seconds ahead of Silver medalist Ole Einar Björndalen, with one penalty. The Bronze medal went to Björndalen's teammate, Emil Hegle Svendsen, with one penalty, 31.2 seconds back. Johannes Thingnes Boe finished fourth, also with three penalties, 38.3 seconds back. Slovenia's Jakov Fak moved from 39th to fifth with clean shooting, 41.9 seconds back. France's Simon Desthieux finished sixth, also shooting clean, 42.9 seconds back. Flurries and Five Men Conditions today were very similar to Saturday, with cloudy skies, temperatures at freezing and just a light breeze in the stadium and a few snow flurries. A lot of the men shot clean in the first prone, but the leading group of Fourcade, Johannes, Sergey Semenov and Dominik Windisch and Arnd Peiffer controlled the field. Fourcade maintained a 30 second lead going into the second prone stage. He cleaned while Johannes had two penalties as did Semenov. However Peiffer stayed clean and now Garanichev, Semenov and Björndalen were 3-5. Fourcade blinked with a penalty in the first standing, but Björndalen cleaned and moved back into second, 38 seconds back with Erik Lesser and Svendsen back around a minute off the pace. Two Penalties but the Win Fourcade was in control and pulling away with more than 40 seconds as they came to the final standing stage. Before the range, Svendsen moved into second position. Fourcade had two penalties, but was on the loop before anyone else was on the range. Björndalen had a penalty, but was solidly in second, 20 seconds ahead of Johannes who even with three penalties was now ahead of Svendsen. However, Svendsen pulled away from his younger teammate and claimed his first medal of the week. Big Crystal Globe Number Five! Fourcade secured his fifth World Cup Total Score title and the big Crystal Globe with his victory today; no other athlete can top him even if he would not compete the rest of the season. He commented with a huge smile, "This is something that I had no doubts about, but winning five years in a row. I never imagined this in my wildest dreams...this is all crazy; the pursuit win and the third Gold medal, 46th World Cup win and the Crystal Globe." Stronger Next Time He admitted that even though the last standing stage left something to be desired, "I am really satisfied. I knew that I could miss two, but really did not plan that. The shots looked good. I just need to be stronger next time." Negotiating He joked with King Harald V. "Not many people can negotiate with the king; I said I would be back on Thursday: he said Saturday and Sunday. I will be happy to win the relay and mass start!" Satisfied with Silver Björndalen was equally satisfied with Silver number 2. "I made a good race; the pursuit is hard, so this is fantastic. Biggest Smile Svendsen was thrilled to be on the podium. "Johannes said he was tired on the last loop, so I decided to try it...the crowd was a huge help...Before this, I started from scratch training for this and it was perfect...I saw myself during the flowers and I think I had the biggest smile in the stadium."