Hakkinen finished 4:07.7 behind hometown favorite Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who needed to shoot clean to stop the five-competition winning streak of Raphael Poiree of France. Poiree finished second, with three penalties, 46.9 seconds back, while Michael Greis of Germany, also with three penalties was 55.3 seconds back.

Hakkinen flirted with the top 30 throughout the first three stages of the competition when he only missed two of his 15 shots. In the final standing stage, he shot aggressively, missing an additional two targets and falling back to 37th at the finish. “I got caught up with Carl Johan Bergmann of Sweden in that last stage and was a bit too aggressive, not shooting as I planned,” Hakkinen commented.

Bailey, who finished 5:15.3 back, on the other hand missed two shots in the first prone stage putting him at a disadvantage immediately. Bailey explained what happened in that first stage. “It was quite windy during zero, but when I came to the first stage, the wind had died. Then I overcorrected and missed two. Since I started so far back, it was hard to move up after that.” From that point, Bailey emulated Hakkinen with only two penalties in the final three stages. “I shot 80% again, which is better than my season average, so I am pretty happy. My shape is not what it was a month ago, but I am feeling good in these races.”

Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) did not start today, to prepare for Sunday’s 15K Mass Start. He will be the only US entrant in the closing competition here.

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