Pokljuka - Rudno polje - 20.12.2009 Teja's Christmas Gift Slovenian biathlete Teja Gregorin saved the sweetest for last. In today's fairy-tale idyll in Pokljuka she perfectly merged her cross-country and shooting skills and finished in high 5th place. She enthusiastically greeted many Slovenian fans in the stadium that gathered in Pokljuka and with joy accepted Teja's Christmas gift. Today's 10-kilometer pursuit race was the last World Cup race in the year 2009. »The fans were phenomenal, the race was really great. I managed to perform well on the shooting range, I tried not to think about everybody around me and I only made one mistake,« said Slovenian hero, who was of course in a good mood after the race. She added: »Now I know that I can shoot in standing position and I can be much more relaxed in the future.« Teja's coach Uroš Velepec was of course very satisfied with her performance: »Teja has done what we agreed on, she went very relaxed into the race, she didn't attack the runners in front, but ran in a group and therefore saved a lot of power. Her shooting performance was great. It is nice to finish the first part of the season with this great result. This is a victory for both the organizers and the weather, as well as for Teja. Today the conditions were ideal. That is the reason why many girls did great on the shooting range.« On the winner's podium stood the same competitors as in Saturday's sprint, the only difference was that the second and third places were reversed. The winner was again Russian Svetlana Sleptsova, who had to take two penalty loops, but had enough advantage from yesterday's sprint: »I always liked Pokljuka. This was the first venue where I competed in World Cup. These two wins in two days will certainly make my New Year holidays even nicer. Today's race was harder than yesterday, because it was colder on the track despite the sun.« The runner up was with three missed shots but fast skiing German Magdalena Neuner, who overtook yesterday's runner up Russian Anna Bogaliy-Titovets in the final lap. Bogaliy-Totovets missed two shots today, but her skis were not as fast as yesterday. At the end she confessed that Neuner was better and that she had to put a lot of effort to stay in the podium: »I didn't sleep well and I didn't perform as well as I expected. Snow was very demanding and Magdalena was better today.« Sweden's Helena Jonsson and Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek are still in the lead in total World Cup standings. Today they finished in seventh and eight places. Teja Gregorin is now tenth, a place in front of today's runner up German Neuner: »I'm delighted that I'm leaving for holidays with very good results. Many lack confidence in my shooting ability in standing position, but today I proved the opposite. In the last shooting I covered all five targets.« Russian Anna Bogaliy-Titovets competed for the first time in Pokljuka in this year's World Cup. With excellent performances she has already advanced to the 16th place in the overall World Cup standings.

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