Winter Sports Roundup

Gross claims gold in men's pursuit at biathlon worlds

KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia (AP) -- Germany's Ricco Gross won the men's 12.5-kilometer pursuit race while France's Sandrine Bailly and German Martina Glagow shared gold in the women's 10K pursuit at the biathlon world championships.

Bailly and Glagow both clocked 36 minutes, 15.6 seconds to win their first world titles. The pair made two shooting mistakes apiece. Glagow's victory also gave her the World Cup pursuit title.

Svetlana Ishmouratova of Russia, who finished third 52.3 seconds behind, received the bronze. No silver was awarded.

For 32-year-old Gross, who won his first title in the pursuit event in 1999, it was his first victory in the World Cup this season.

After finishing runner-up Saturday to Ole Einar Bjorndalen, who would win the World Cup pursuit title, Gross started Sunday's race 51 seconds behind the Norwegian and covered the course in 37:37.4 with two missed targets.

Halvard Hanevold of Norway, fourth after the sprint, came second, 12 seconds back. He made one shooting mistake in the standing position.

Gross missed one target on the final shooting range and was six seconds behind Hanevold with 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) to run. But he overhauled Hanevold 400 meters from the finish.

Finland's Paavo Puurunen, 2001 world champion in the individual event, went into Sunday's race in 21st place, 2:16 behind the winner. He missed one target and finished third, 56.3 seconds off the pace.

Bjorndalen, the five-time Olympic champion and a strong favorite after winning his first individual world championship title on Saturday, made six shooting errors and finished eighth by 1:31.2.

"I saw him missing the fourth and fifth targets on the second shooting [station]," Gross said. "Besides, the wind has changed its direction and I realized it was a perfect chance for me."

Bjorndalen, who'd won all four previous World Cup pursuits he competed in this season, was compensated by earning the pursuit title with 230 points. Gross came second, 25 points behind. Raphael Poiree of France, who did not qualify for Sunday's race, remained third with 199.

Bjorndalen leads the overall standings with 686 points. Vladimir Dratchev of Belarus, who finished sixth on Sunday, was second with 624. Gross was third with 567.

In the women's race, Bailly began Sunday in seventh place, 17.8 seconds ahead Glagow, the women's World Cup overall leader, who started 10th. Glagow was 57.8 seconds behind Saturday's winner Sylvie Bacaert of France.

Glagow shot clean from the prone positions to take the lead after two shooting stations. Bailly, who had one mistake on the first range, was trailing Glagow by 18 seconds. She narrowed the gap to 0.4 seconds after Glagow had to run a penalty loop after she missed a target on the third station from standing position.

"I tried to gain advantage all the race, but she (Bailly) was on my back all the time," Glagow said.

Both made an error at the final station and fell exhausted after finishing.

Ishmouratova, the first Russian to take the podium in two days of competition, made four shooting mistakes which cost her at least 1:30. It was her third time on a World Cup podium this season.

Glagow collected 257 points to take the World Cup pursuit title. Olena Zubrilova of Belarus was 13 points behind for second, followed by Bacaert with 197.

Glagow tops the Cup overall standings with 691 points. Bacaert was second with 662. Albina Akhatova of Russia stood third with 603.

The championships continues with the women's individual event on Tuesday.

Friesinger wins third speedskating gold

BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's Anni Friesinger became the second woman to win three gold medals at the world speedskating championships when she swept the 1,000 meters Sunday.

Friesinger, who'd already won the 1,500 and 2,000 titles, joined countrywoman Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann as the only women to win three races since the annual championships began in 1996.

Dutchman Erben Wennemars won his second gold in the 1,000, while Germany's Claudia Pechstein took the women's 5,000 as the three-day event ended.

Friesinger clocked 1 minute, 16.85 seconds, followed by American Jennifer Rodriguez in 1:17.28, and Canadian Cindy Klaasen in 1:17.36.

The 26-year-old German said she'd made up for a disappointing season filled with injuries.

"This makes up for all these defeats this year, its more than a consolation prize," said Friesinger, the Olympic 1,500 champion.

Her 1,000 triumph gave the Germans a sweep of all five women's golds.

Wennemars, who also won the 1,500, set a track record of 1:09.71 as he held off countryman and Olympic gold medalist Gerard van Velde at 1:10.52. American Joey Cheek took the bronze in 1:10.94, repeating his feat from the Salt Lake City Games.

Pechstein also broke the women's 5,000 track record in 7:04.52. Canada's Clara Hughes was second at 7:06.31, edging Greta Smit of the Netherlands by just three-hundredths of a second.

Canadian men win world short-track champs

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) -- Canada won the men's competition, and South Korea won the women's title at the short-track speedskating World Championships on Sunday.

The Canadian men finished first in the 5,000-meter relay in 6 minutes, 57.910 seconds and finished with 42 points, 12 points ahead of runner-up South Korea.

The South Korean women, second in the 3,000 relay in 4:27.245, finished first with 44 points.

China, disqualified in the relay, was second, and Italy, which won the relay in 4:26.207, was third.

 

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