2nd Place for Tim Burke in the World Cup!

Biathlon World Cup: Östersund

Fri, Dec  4, 2009 - By Viktoria Franke

4.000 spectators followed an exciting individual race in Östersund today. The Norwegian winner Emil Hegle Svendsen set the time to beat right from the beginning, as he was the first one to finish the race. 57 numbers later Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) started what was meant to be his best race ever.

For three shooting stages Burke stayed clean on the shooting range and although the pressure was too high to repeat that result in his last shooting he managed to finish his race with just one penalty overall, making the race not only his personal best but also the best US result since 1992!

See what Tim Burke says after his result

"We did know that Tim was getting better and better. But that he showed a result like that in the World Cup opener, that's just unbelievable", stated team manager Bernd Eisenbichler after the race. One could hear the excitement in the US team all over the stadium as there was shouting, jumping and cheering. Even Kevin Patzoldt, who raced his first World Cup ever couldn't quite manage to stay focused on his race. "When I was on the track, I heard that Tim was up front. I got so excited for him that I really wonder how I managed to hit all the targets!" So even Patzoldt has a reason to cheer: With no missed targets he was just one of two athletes today who managed to stay clean.

The US results in detail

2	BURKE Tim	0+0+0+1	53:19.2	+35.5
28	HAKKINEN Jay	2+0+1+0	56:16.7	+3:33.0
69	PATZOLDT Kevin	0+0+0+0	58:36.3	+5:52.6
88	TEELA Jeremy	1+1+0+3	59:54.1	+7:10.4
	Lowell Bailey had to skip the race due to health reasons

Statement of Head Coach Per Nilsson