Sikora, Beck triumph in pursuits (Roundup)

Dec 7, 2008, 12:04 GMT

Ostersund, Sweden - Tomasz Sikora of Poland won the men's 12.5km biathlon World Cup pursuit while Germany's Martina Beck triumphed in the women's 10km race in Ostersund, Sweden on Sunday.

Sikora clocked 34 minutes 55.5 seconds to edge Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, the 81-time World Cup race winner, by 2.5 seconds, with both missing three times on the shooting range.

It was a fifth World Cup victory for Sikora, who Saturday finished second behind Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen in the 10km sprint.

Svendsen was again on the podium, finishing 4.9 seconds behind Sikora in third place, ahead of Michael Greis of Germany, who was 12.2 seconds adrift.

Svendsen leads overall on 156 points, head of Sikora on 143, Greis on 130 and Bjoerndalen on 114.

Beck claimed the women's 10km pursuit in 32 minutes 42.4 seconds for the 14th World Cup win of her career.

The German hit all her targets to finish 2.6 seconds ahead of Russia's Yekaterina Iourieva, who was also without a shooting error.

Fellow Russian Svetlana Slepzova was third, 29.2 seconds behind, and Germany's Kati Wilhelm fourth, 32 second behind, both with three misses.

After three races, Wilhelm leads the overall standings on 135 points, ahead of Beck and Norway's Tora Berger, both on 128.