Pokljuka (Bled), Slovenia, March 11.  Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK), after missing one target in the first shooting stage and two in the second, watched his hopes of another top15 finish slip away, as he fell from slowly from 11th position at the start until eventually finishing 25th in the Men’s 12.5K Pursuit today.

A training day was scheduled on Friday, after just two competitions at the first World Cup since the Olympic Winter Games. This was fortuitous planning on the part of organizers as the Pokljuka plateau was hit with just what was not needed; another snowstorm. With well over two meters of snow on the ground, a strong low pressure dropped another fifty centimeters during the morning and early afternoon, making the 20 kilometer drive to the venue basically impossible. The men made it up in time to train, but the snow intensity ended the shooting almost immediately. Women’s training was cancelled and everyone had left Pokljuka for the almost balmy, but rainy confines of Bled, hoping for an end to the snows at the venue.

The second big snowstorm of the week left the area overnight, bringing clear skies and temperatures of minus 9, leaving well groomed fast tracks for the Men’s 12.5K Pursuit competition.

Hakkinen took advantage of the good skiing conditions, covering the first 2.5K loop comfortably to shoot his first stage on point 11. “The skiing felt a lot better today,” he commented. The first prone stage resulted in one penalty, not a disaster, but definitely a hindrance to maintaining a high finish. Coming to the second prone stage, he had fallen to the mid-teens. With an additional two penalties, the Alaskan lost another six or seven positions as several of the group around him shot clean.

He explained, “The shooting did not go as I hoped today. I fell back into some bad habits, which resulted in the penalties.” Hakkinen’s strength all season has been standing shooting. Today though, he added a penalty in each standing stage, giving him five for the day. Those five penalties put Hakkinen in 25th, 3:27.9 behind Ole Einar Björndalen, who won with three penalties in 33:45.9.

Björndalen’s victory was hard earned in classic Biathlon Pursuit competition. For the final four loops, he and long-time rival, Raphael Poiree of France battled back and forth. Björndalen would come in a few seconds ahead and miss a shot. Poiree would shoot clean and catch up. The two left the stadium just a step apart for the final 2.5K loop, followed by Sweden’s Carl Johan Bergman, two steps back. All three entered the finishing stretch driving for a win. Björndalen took the victory with a lunge in the final meters from Poiree while Bergman could not match the final kick of the other two. Björndalen officially finished two tenths of second ahead of Poiree, but it was actually less than 6 inches. Bergman, in third, shot clean to finish 1.2 seconds back.

Hakkinen had hoped maybe not to be battling for first, but was unhappy with his 25th place. “Let’s just say I was there. That is about it. I expected more today. Still I scored a few World Cup points and that helps.”

Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) had one less penalty (with one in each stage) than Hakkinen, but could not make the big jump into the top 30 for World Cup points. Bailey started 54th and finished 44th, 5:54.5 back. “In each stage, I had one shot that went astray and four that were great. At least I am consistent .I moved up on every stage.”

Jeremy Teela, who trains with Bailey at the Maine Winter Sports Center in Fort Kent, started one position in front of Bailey. Unfortunately, Teela had three penalties in the first stage and fell to the back of the pack, ending up with six for the day, finishing 53rd, 8:06.8 back.

The final competition in Pokljuka will be the World Championships Mixed Relay (two women, two men) on Sunday. The US Team will field a team with Rachel Steer (Anchorage, AK) leading off and Hakkinen anchoring. The other two members will probably be Bailey and Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO).

The United States Biathlon Association is the National Governing Body for the sport of Biathlon in the United States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Biathlon Union. The US Biathlon Association supports the US Biathlon Team and development of the sport on all levels within the United States.