KONTIOLAHTI, Finland (AP) Johannes Thingnes Boe secured his first biathlon world championship title Saturday by winning the 10-kilometer sprint race, with older brother Tarjei Boe taking bronze.
The 21-year-old Thingnes Boe missed his 10th and final shot after hitting the first nine at the two shooting stations but finished in 24 minutes, 12.8 seconds to beat surprising silver medalist Nathan Smith of Canada by 12.1 seconds.
Tarjei Boe, a former overall World Cup champion, was one of only two skiers to shoot clean in the tricky wind conditions but couldn't match his younger sibling's pace on the skis, finishing 25.3 seconds back.
The other favorites struggled at the shooting range, with Martin Fourcade of France missing three targets to finish 12th.
In the women's 7.5K sprint race, Marie Dorin Habert of France won her first major title after beating Poland's Weronika Nowakowska-Ziemniak by 9.6 seconds.
Dorin Habert missed one shot and finished in 22:16.8, while Nowakowska-Ziemniak shot clean.
Valj Semerenko of Ukraine took the bronze, 19.7 seconds back after missing one target.
The two big favorites, Darya Domracheva of Belarus and Kaisa Makarainen of Finland, missed five times each in the blustery conditions to fall out of conention.
