Reigning biathlon champ Fourcade wins season opener
Frenchman puts on impressive performance in 12.5km pursuit
Reigning biathlon World Cup champion Martin Fourcade earned his first win of the new season in the 12.5-kilometre pursuit in Ostersund, Sweden on Sunday.
Starting second, France's Fourcade, who posted a time of 30 minutes, 12.2 seconds, put on a virtuoso performance with just one missed shot and fast skiing speed to win by 40.8 seconds over Slovenian Jakov Fak.
Quentin Fillon Maillet gave France another podium place, finishing third, 1.3 seconds behind Fak.
Christian Gow finished 21st as the top Canadian in the field, 2:04.6 back of the winner.
Germany's Denise Herrmann (30:02.7) took her first solo World Cup win in Friday's sprint and followed that up with a victory in Sunday's 10km pursuit, beating France's Justine Braisaz by 25.8 seconds.
Third place went to Marte Olsbu of Norway, 48 seconds off the lead.
Herrmann is a former Olympic bronze medalist in cross-country skiing who made the switch to biathlon last year. Fourcade and Braisaz lead the men's and women's standings respectively.
Canadian Julia Ransom finished 23rd.