Record-matching Fourcade takes pursuit honours

Victory in South Korea was the Frenchman's 12th of the season, seeing him go level with Ole Einar Bjoerndalen from 2004-05 – the man often labelled the king of biathlon.

But Fourcade has shown himself to be more than just a contender to the crown, once again proving himself to be faultless on the range, missing no targets in his run to secure his sixth pursuit victory in succession.

And while his impeccable firing effort was matched by Anton Shipulin, Fourcade sprinted his way to the line to finish in a time of 31:42.2 minutes – more than 34.5 seconds ahead of the Russian, who took the runner-up spot.

Julian Eberhard paid the price for two faults in the second round on the range, surrendering a 40-second lead, finishing just two seconds behind Shipulin to end on the podium, despite finishing with more shooting fouls than the entire top 12.

Fourcade's domination was the perfect follow-up to an equally-controlled display from Laura Dahlmeier earlier in the day, leading from start to finish to win the women's 10km pursuit.

The German opened up with an eight-second advantage, hitting all the targets and leaving her opponents with little chance to claim the spoils in a time of 27:58.0.

Not only did it give Dahlmeier a 13th World Cup win of the season, but it also saw her within one of the overall record held by Magadela Forsberg and Tora Berger in 2000-01 and 2012-13 respectively.

Two faults from Kaisa Makarainen saw her finish more than a minute off the pace in second place, while the Finnish skier edged out France's Anais Bescond, whose one foul saw her round off the podium.

Dahlmeier has a chance to equal the record when she returns to action on Sunday, with the women's 4x6km and men's 4x7.5km relays both taking place.

Sportsbeat 2017