POKLJUKA, Slovenia (December 13, 2012) - With clean shooting and a time of 24:56.9, Tim Burke(Paul Smiths, NY) had an outstanding performance finishing fourth in today's 10k Sprint opener at the IBU World Cup 3 in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Burke was just 15.2 seconds back from Jakov Fak (SLO), winning in front of a hometown crowd with a time of 24:41.7 and clean shooting. Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) took second, posting 24:42.5 with one penalty, World Cup leader Martin Fourcade (FRA) was third with a time of 24:47.8 and clean shooting. Burke now sits 13th in overall World Cup standings.

"I am really happy with today's result," said Burke. "Of course it would have been nice to find a few more seconds to get onto the podium, but I really did everything I could out there today so I am very happy with that. I felt very solid on the shooting range today. I was able to execute the techniques that I have been working on in practice. I am still missing my top gear on the skis, but hopefully that will show up at World Championships in February. Now I am looking forward to Saturdays Pursuit. I will be starting only 15 seconds behind first place so everything is still possible!"

Coming off an impressive 10th place Pursuit finish last weekend in Hochfilzen, Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) finished 36th today. Skiing with a broken toe, Bailey posted a time of 26:20.3, with two penalities in standing. "The toe wasn't too difficult to deal with," said Bailey. "I've had a lot of help over the last three days from our support staff. I wish I could have hit at least one more in standing, but given the circumstances, I'm lucky that I was even able to race so I will take a few World Cup points on the day and start getting ready for the Pursuit."

"With clean shooting, Tim pulled out 4th place which is really good for him and the whole team," said Per Nilsson, US Biathlon head coach. "Race conditions were really tricky today, so not many had clean stages. It was a solid and great performance for Tim!"

"It was really a super performance from Tim," added US Biathlon High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler. "Given the circumstances it was not easy shooting, but Tim cleaned the stages, showing the work he has put in has paid off.  It was a very, very strong and complex biathlon performance. Fourth place is just super and exactly what we needed now for getting a push for the whole team.

For Lowell, we were really impressed how he handled the whole situation with a big thanks to our physiotherapist. Lowell went over the pain and skied really strong for two loops after we weren’t even sure if he could start today," added Eisenbichler.

World Cup racing continues in Pokljuka tomorrow with the women's 7.5k Sprint at 8:20am (EST). Watch the race live at  www.biathlonworld.com. Tomorrow's start list and results will be posted here.

Burke and Bailey will race in Saturday's 12.5k Pursuit beginning at 6:45am (EST). Saturday's start list is available here and the race will be webcast live at www.biathlonworld.com.

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Photo Caption/Credit: With clean shooting in today's 10k World Cup Sprint, Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) raced to a 4th place finish. Credit: US Biathlon/Nordic Focus