POKLJUKA (Slovenia), Dec 15: Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen claimed his 77th World Cup career victory by winning the men’s sprint on Saturday.

Bjoerndalen claimed his third victory of the season, from the seven events held so far, with Russian Dmitri Yaroshenko finishing second and Swede Mattias Nilsson in third.

The Norwegian great, a four-time World Cup champion who won a record four golds at the 2002 Olympics, has thus increased his World Cup overall lead to 255 points, with Yaroshenko keeping close tabs on 237.

The race meanwhile was held without another Russian challenger. Ivan Tcherezov was suspended from racing for five days after a pre-race blood control showed his haemoglobin level to be above the threshold permitted by the International Biathlon Union (IBU).—AFP