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RUHPOLDING, Germany (AP) — Simon Eder edged overall biathlon World Cup leader Martin Fourcade of France to win the men's 12.5-kilometer pursuit on Saturday.
The Austrian missed one target at the first range but shot cleanly after that to win in 33 minutes, 19.1 seconds, beating Fourcade, who missed two, by 4.2 seconds.
"I didn't think it was possible. After (the) first mistake I thought I couldn't get to the podium. At the last loop I heard that I had a 17 seconds gap, and I hoped I had fast legs to keep this gap," Eder said after his first victory of the season.
Fourcade was circumspect, saying he was satisfied to be back on the podium getting points for the total score, but "we can also see it as a lost victory."
Michal Slesingr of the Czech Republic was third, 5.1 behind after shooting cleanly.
Norwegians Tarjei Boe and Emil Hegle Svendsen were next — Boe was 8.0 behind with three missed targets and Svendsen trailed by 26.2 with two misses.
Fourcade leads the standings after 10 of 26 competitions with 481 points, ahead of Svendsen on 394, and the Frenchman is also top of the discipline standings with 228 points, ahead of Boe on 172.
Laura Dahlmeier of Germany later defeated overall leader Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic by 7.3 seconds to win her third successive women's 10K pursuit.
Dahlmeier, who was fourth in Friday's sprint, missed one target and finished in 32:35.9 for her fifth World Cup victory.
"It was extremely difficult. It was a brutal fight on the last round. I wished I could have been on the coach watching it on TV," Dahlmeier said.
Soukalova, who was also second on Friday, missed one target.
Italy's Dorothea Wierer was third 53.6 behind with two missed targets, ahead of Norway's Tiril Eckhoff, 57.3 behind with three, and Marie Dorin Habert of France, 57.5 behind with two.
Soukalova leads the World Cup standings by 53 points from Dorin Habert. The Czech also leads the pursuit standings by five points over Dahlmeier.
The World Cup was moved to Ruhpolding from Oberhof due to a lack of snow.
The mass start races are scheduled for Sunday.
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