Biathlon World Cup 2016 (Week 5) - Men's 20km Race

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• published: 13 Jan 2016
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BMW IBU Biathlon World Cup 2016 (Week 5/Day 1) - Men's 20km Individual Race 13.01.2016, Ruhpolding Martin Masters Ruhpolding 20K Turns Tables on Eder Martin Fourcade of France mastered the snowy conditions on the tracks to take the men's 20K today, with a single penalty in 50:53.9. Second went to the man who beat him in last week's pursuit, Simon Eder of Austria, with one penalty17.5 seconds back. Anton Shipulin of Russia finished third, also with one penalty, 28 seconds back. Clean shooting Ondrej Moravec of Czech Republic was fourth, 37 seconds back, while Maxim Tsvetkov of Russia was fifth, also shooting clean, 58 seconds back with Evgeny Garanichev in sixth with one penalty, 1:07 back. Mother Nature reminded everyone who is in charge as the second week in Ruhpolding kicked off; moderate to heavy snow that everyone has waited for all season arrived, making for slow, soft conditions. However, as the competition progressed, the snow slowed and typical of Ruhpolding, the wind flags remained flat. Shipulin Sets the Pace Shipulin set the bar high with solid shooting and a strong performance on the tracks that put him at the top of the leader board; his early number 21 put the pressure on the rest of the field to match his one-penalty day. On a day like today, with very easy shooting conditions, Moravec, Johannes Thingnes Boe, Eder, and Fourcade were up to the challenge. Moravec whose shooting has been on the rise, shot clean and stayed just seconds behind Shipulin throughout the competition. After the final standing stage, he trailed by 21 seconds, but was closed the gap on the Russian star until he was just 8.1 seconds back at the finish. Boe looked like he would challenge with two clean stages and a single penalty in the second prone. Then he fell completely out of contention with his three penalties in the final standing stage. Master of the Tracks Competing just ahead Boe with number 46 was the Yellow Bib of Fourcade. Like the Norwegian and Shipulin, the Olympic and World 20K Champion cleaned the first two stages with ease; then had a single penalty in the second prone. However, just as all season, Fourcade was the master of the tracks, literally killing off the one-minute penalty with his skis. It all came down to the final standing stage where he cleaned with ease, leaving 17.9 seconds ahead of Shipulin. He picked up speed in the final loop to add another 10 seconds to his gap on Shipulin and sealing the win. Fourcade said, "I really felt good on my skis and the shooting range today...I was really sad to miss that prone shot today; I hate to give a gift to my rivals...the course was getting faster and faster in the last loop, so I was not worried about Anton in the last loop. I had some luck with my bib, where Anton as an earlier starter was not so lucky." About the 20K, where he has won all of the major titles he admitted, "I really like the 20K; unlike the sprint, you have time to think. It is my favorite competition." Behind the rest of the top men, Eder at number 76 tried to challenge for the win, with three clean stages. However, a single penalty in the last standing put him behind Fourcade, but ahead of Shipulin at the finish. Eder Gets Healthy Eder who challenged Fourcade said his win may have helped today. "My goal this season was to win a competition and I did that, so no it is like starting over...the key to my results now is most importantly getting healthy over the break. The races at Schalke helped me also to get my shooting back to this level." Russian Team Confident Shipulin said, "We had very good skis today. I am quite happy about our team's good results...We are full of confidence right now."