Fourcade, Koukalova win mass start biathlon races in WCup

By AP
Published

NOVE MESTO, Czech Republic (AP) Martin Fourcade's domination of the men's biathlon World Cup continued Sunday with the defending champion and overall leader's victory in the 15-kilometer mass start.

In the women's 12.5K mass start, defending champion Gabriela Koukalova of the Czech Republic won in front of 30,000 home fans for her second victory of the season.

Dropping to 14th after missing one target at the second shooting range, Fourcade didn't waste time in overcoming one penalty lap. The Frenchman pulled away after the next shooting to cross the finish line in 36 minutes, 18.9 seconds.

Germany's Simon Schempp finished 8.3 seconds behind in second, while Anton Babikov of Russia was third, 9.4 back.

Fourcade also won the sprint on Thursday and pursuit on Saturday and claimed seven of the individual eight races this season.

Fourcade has a 158-point lead over Russia's Anton Shipulin in the overall standings.

Koukalova came back after missing one target at the second shooting range to win in 34:42.1, edging overall World Cup leader Laura Dahlmeier of Germany by 3.1 seconds. The German enjoyed a strong finish but it was not enough for her to win after missing two targets. Italy's Dorothea Wierer was 9.7 behind the winner in third.

Dahlmeier leads the overall standings with 420 points, followed by Kaisa Makarainen of Finland with 312. Koukalova is another seven points back in third.