Andreas Birnbacher wins men's 15-km mass start in biathlon World Cup

Andreas Birnbacher of Germany shot perfectly to win a men's 15-kilometre mass start event at a biathlon World Cup meet Sunday, while Tora Berger of Norway took the women's 12.5K race.

Norway's Tora Berger takes women's 12.5-km race

Germany's Andreas Birnbacher celebrates after winning the men's 15-kilometre mass start race at the Biathlon World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia on Sunday. (Darko Bandic/Associated Press)

Andreas Birnbacher of Germany shot perfectly to win a men's 15-kilometre mass start event at a biathlon World Cup meet Sunday in Pokljuka, Slovenia , while Tora Berger of Norway took the women's 12.5K race.

Birnbacher was the only skier to hit all targets in the men's race, finishing in 35 minutes, 39.4 seconds to beat Jakov Fak of Slovakia by 17.7 seconds.

Tim Burke of the United States was third, 22.6 seconds. Both Burke and Fak missed two shots, as did defending overall champion Martin Mourcade of France, who was 25.9 back in fourth.

Berger also missed two shots but took advantage of even more mistakes by her main rivals to win in 35:53.8. Miriam Goessner of Germany was 35.5 seconds back in second after missing four shots, while Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic was a full 1:02.1 back.