Fourcade wins overall biathlon World Cup title
KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia (AP) Martin Fourcade of France secured the overall biathlon World Cup title for a record fourth season in a row Saturday, while Canada's Nathan Smith earned his first career race win.
Fourcade's fourth place in the 12.5-kilometer pursuit ensured he has an insurmountable 112-point lead over Russia's Anton Shipulin in the overall standings ahead of Sunday's mass start, the last race of the season.
The result also secured Fourcade a fourth career World Cup pursuit title.
Smith missed one of 20 shots as he won in a time of 30 minutes, 51.5 seconds to become only the second Canadian man to win a World Cup race after Jean-Philippe Leguellec in 2012.
Germany's Benedikt Doll finished 24 seconds behind Smith for second place, with Shipulin 35.7 seconds back in third.
Darya Domracheva of Belarus won the women's 10K pursuit Saturday to close in on her first career overall World Cup title.
Domracheva missed one shot on her way to victory in 28:14.4. Germany's Laura Dahlmeier was 15.7 seconds behind for silver, 0.2 ahead of her teammate Franziska Preuss.
Domracheva now leads the overall standings by 26 points from defending overall champion Kaisa Makarainen of Finland with one race remaining. A victory is worth 60 points.
Makarainen, who missed three shots, finished fourth Saturday to take the pursuit title by one point over Domracheva.
The season ends with two mass start races Sunday in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk - 15K for men and 12.5K for women.