Ufa, Russia, September 7, 2006. The host Russian Team continued to dominate the senior competitions picking up three medals in Pursuit competitions today to go with the four from yesterday’s Sprint.

While the Russian athletes could not stay off the podium, the US Biathletes could not stay off the penalty loop as they continued to struggle on the shooting range. The bright spot in the US shooting today was 1998 Olympian Deborah Nordyke (Day, NY), who shot clean in the first prone stage, and finished with just five penalties in the Women’s 5K Pursuit. Despite respectable shooting, Nordyke finished 15th, 7:29 behind Russian Tatiana Moiseeva, who had four penalties on her way to a 25:18.7 victory. The Sprint Champion, Natalia Sokolova of Belarus settled for second today, 22.5 seconds back, with a matching four penalties. Ekaterina Sidorenko of Russia, with six penalties was 42 seconds back in third.

Erin Graham (Jericho, VT), with seven penalties finished 16th, 12:58.7 behind the Russian champion, while Tracy Dooley (Jericho, VT) one place and two seconds behind Graham. Dooley, in 17th place, had 12 penalties.

Former Olympian Erich Wilbrecht (Jackson, WY) was the top US man today after finishing 21st yesterday behind teammate Doug Hoover’s (Williamsburg, PA) 18th place in the Sprint. Wilbrecht was 22nd at the finish in the Men’s 6K Pursuit, after recording seven penalties. He finished 6:35.2 behind now twice World Champion Sergei Balandin of Russia. Balandin had only one bad shooting stage today, the first standing stage, where he had two penalties. His 24:58.5 kept runner-up Indrek Tobrulets of Estonia 43.4 seconds back. The Estonian had three penalties to four for third place finisher Ondre Moravec of the Czech Republic. Moravec with his first medal was 1:27.7 back.

Trailing Wilbrecht was Hoover in 23rd place, 7:39.5 back, with eight penalties. The other two US Biathletes, Keith Woodward (E. Corinth, VT) and Pat Bragassa (Rigby, ID) were 26th and 27th, 9:20.9 back with nine penalties and 10:44.3 back with 12 penalties, respectively.

Friday’s competition will be the Mixed Relay with two men and two women. During the winter, the Mixed Relay is also a World Championship event that is very popular with the athletes.

The week’s competitions will conclude with Roller Ski Sprint and Pursuit on Saturday and Sunday. These will be the first ever Roller Ski competitions at the Summer World Championships. The IBU, through its partner/supplier program has provided 140 pairs of roller skis and bindings, so there will be no differences in the roller skis, creating a level playing field for this new event.

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.