World Cup Biathlon: Nordic Athletes Say Presque Isle is COLD (Videos)

UPDATE: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAYS TONIGHT'S TEMPERATURE IS EXPECTED TO DROP TO 17 BELOW FAHRENHEIT WITH WIND CHILLS AS LOW AS 35 BELOW.

DUE TO THE EXPECTED COLD WEATHER - THE WOMEN'S RELAY ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR SUNDAY AT PRESQUE ISLE HAS BEEN ADVANCED TO SATURDAY AFTERNOON - FOLLOWING THE MEN'S RELAY. 

THE COMPETITION SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY :

MEN - 2:20 PM START TIME

WOMEN - 4:10 PM START TIME

Men's Pursuit

On his 100th day in the Yellow Bib, Martin Fourcade of France came from behind by cleaning the finals standing stage to win the men's pursuit with two penalties in 31:04.4. Sprint winner Johannes Thingnes Boe finished second after a penalty in the final standing stage dropped him out of the top spot, 24.8 seconds back. Third went to Russia's Anton Shipulin, with two penalties, 1:11.5 back.

Austria's Simon Eder finished fourth, with three penalties, 1:39.7 back while Erlend Bjoentegaard of Norway finished in a season-best fifth place with two penalties, 1:57.6 back and Michal Slesingr of Czech Republic was sixth, with three penalties, 2:04.9 back.

Fourcade commented, "I am so proud because of this 100th day in Yellow but also because I matched Raphael Poirée for victories today; he as my idol as a child, watching him on TV."

Women's Pursuit

Gabriela Soukalova of Czech Republic made it two in row by winning the women's pursuit on the heels of Thursday's sprint win. She had three standing penalties in her 30:22.5 victory. Second went to Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen also with three penalties, 30.4 seconds back. Third went to Marie Dorin Habert, with five penalties, 41.3 seconds back.

Cold Persists

The wind and cold weather persisted for the women, but the women fared much better in the prone stages. Soukalova, Dunklee, Guzik and Wierer all cleaned the first two prone stages, with Wierer moving up with her fast shooting style and equally fast skiing to find herself alongside the Yellow Bib at the first standing stage. Both of them had three penalties as the wind whipped the flags on the shooting range.

Final Clean Stage Seals Soukalova's Win

Wierer went out with a 2 second lead over Soukalova while Dunklee regained the third spot with just two penalty loops and Mäkäräinen also with two just behind her. The two leaders skied together as did Dunklee and Mäkäräinen. Soukalova cleaned the final stage as Wierer had three penalty loops; Mäkäräinen cleaned and moved into second but 25 seconds in arrears, with Guzik 38 seconds back, 10 seconds ahead of Dunklee and Dorin Habert. Dorin Habert pushed hard over the last 2K to move up to third place, just edging Guzik in the final 900 meters.

Soukalova said, "It is awesome like yesterday; the atmosphere here is a bit easier with a few less people. Sometimes it is hard with all of the noise in the big stadiums." Regarding the three penalties, she added, "It is hard to say, my legs started to shake and maybe I was worried about the last shooting."

This information is courtesy of the International Biathlon Union.

You're invited out to the Nordic Heritage Center venue in Presque Isle today to watch the events. You can find out more at the Biathlon Maine website.

The competitions are also streamed live at Eurovision Sports.