Boeuf captures first win, Berger makes it six for season

Feb 6, 2011, 20:52 GMT

   Presque Isle, Maine - Alexis Boeuf of France claimed his first biathlon World Cup victory with a pursuit win Sunday in Presque Isle, Maine.

Tora Berger of Norway meanwhile clinched her sixth win of the season in the women's pursuit race.

   Boeuf made two shooting errors but took the 12.5-kilometre race in 36 minutes 2.4 seconds, 10.3 seconds ahead of Russian Ivan Tcheresov who made four errors.

   Sweden's Carl-Johan Bergman was 14.3 seconds behind Boeuf after three errors.

   Germany's Arnd Peiffer - winner of Friday's sprint - had to make do with fourth after he went into the final round of shooting with a clear lead, only to miss three targets and run out of steam on the last lap.

   After 16 of 26 events, Tarjei Boe of Norway leads the overall World Cup standings on 679 points, followed by compatriot Emil Hegle Svendsen (592) and Martin Fourcade of France (567).

Olympic individual champion Berger could afford four misses on her way to her sixth win of the season in the women's 10km pursuit.

She clocked 35:12.1 to beat Marie Dorin of France by 30.7 seconds, with Darya Domracheva of Belarus third, 1:11.2 back.

Helena Ekholm of Sweden continues to lead the overall standings on 637 points, ahead of Kaisa Makarainen of Finland (630) and Andrea Henkel of Germany (579).