POSTED: Sunday February 15th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ZINA KOCHER CLIMBS UP STANDINGS WITH STRONG RESULT IN PURSUIT COMPETITION AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

—Robin Clegg leads Canadian men with 44th-place finish—

 

PYEONGCHANG, Kor.—Canada’s Zina Kocher discovered her race legs on Sunday and fired her way up the standings during another challenging day with conditions at the Biathlon World Championships in Pyeongchang, Korea.

 

Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta., who is slowly developing into elite form after missing last year with mono, climbed six spots in the standings after Saturday’s sprint to finish 24th in the women’s 10-kilometre pursuit. Starting time-behind the leader of the women’s sprint race where Kocher was 30th, the 2006 Olympian missed one of five shots in each of her four trips to the range en route to clocking a time of 37:01.2.

 

“I am excited to compete this week and go out and fight as hard as I can until the bitter end,” said Kocher following Saturday’s sprint competition. “I knew there were still opportunities open in the pursuit <today> and I’m happy.”

 

The pursuit consists of the athletes racing five times around the three-kilometre loop. Athletes enter the shooting range after each of the first four laps to take a series of five shots. The first two sets of shots are taken while standing, and the final two set of shots are completed in the prone position.

 

Sweden’s Helena Jonsson won the women’s competition despite missing two shots in her first trip to the range. Jonsson clocked a time of 34:12.3. Germany’s Kati Wilhelm, who won Saturday’s sprint, struggled shooting where she missed six shots and was forced to settle for second place (34:30.6).Russia’s Olga Zaitseva also missed six shots en route to claiming the bronze medal at 34:36.4.

 

Robin Clegg, who races for the Quebec Biathlon Team, was the top Canadian in the men’s 12.5-kilometre pursuit competition. Clegg missed two shots in each of his last three stops at the shooting gallery to finish 44th with a time of 37:30.5.

 

Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, of Shannon, Que., was the only other Canadian in the field and finished 46h (37:48.0).

 

Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen struck gold for the second straight day giving him 11 World Championship titles for his career. Bjoerndalen clocked a winning time of 31:46.7. Russia’s Maxim Tchoudov was second (32:28.4), while Alexander Os, of Norway, fired into the final spot in the podium with a time of 32:39.5.

 

The Biathlon World Championships continue in Korea on Tuesday with the men’s 20-kilometre individual start competition.

 

Biathlon Canada, the governing body for biathlon in the country, oversees the Canadian Championships, Eastern and Western Canadian Championships, and North American Cups held in Canada. The organization’s mandate is to provide national level programs for the continuous development of biathlon athletes from the grassroots to the elite level. For more information on Biathlon Canada, please visit their Web site at www.biathloncanada.ca on the Internet.

 

Complete Results and Live Race Action Can Be Viewed at www.biathlonworld.com

Women’s Top-Five Results: (Shooting Results in Brackets)
1. Helena Jonsson, SWE, (2+0+0+0), 34:12.3; 2. Kati Wilhelm, GER, (1+1+3+1), 34:30.6; 3. Olga Zaitseva, RUS, (0+3+1+2), 34:36.4; 4. Kaisa Makarainen, FIN, (1+0+1+0), 34:49.2; 5. Darya Domracheva, BLR, (1+0+1+0), 34:51.4.

Canadian Results:

24. Zina Kocher, Red Deer, Alta., (1+1+1+1), 37:01.2

 

Men’s Top-Five Results: (Shooting Results in Brackets)

1. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, NOR, (0+2+0+2), 31:46.7; 2. Maxim Tchoudov, RUS, (0+0+1+2), 32:28.4; 3. Alexander Os, NOR, (0+0+2+1), 32:39.5; 3. Tomasz Sikora, POL, (0+0+2+1), 33:20.1; 4. Lars Berger, NOR, (2+3+1+2), 33:39.6.

Canadian Results:

44. Robin Clegg, Ottawa, (0+2+2+2), 37:30.5; 46. Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, Shannon, Que., (0+0+1+4), 37:48.0

 

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Keywords · Biathlon · Biathlon World Championships in Pyeongchang · Korea

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Name: Chris Dornan
Organization: Biathlon Canada
Email:
Phone: 281-703-4394
URL: http://www.biathloncanada.ca/main.php?lan=1

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