Tomasz Sikora won the Men's 15km mass start in the penultimate round of Biathlon World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Sikora, world champion in 1995 and silver medalist at the 2004 Winter Olympics, missed just one shot to come home 15.1 seconds ahead of Daniel Graf and Michal Slesinger, who finished joint-second.

Ivan Tcherezov of Russia was in fourth, while Norwegian legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was back in sixth.

With the result, Bjoerndalen secured not only first place in the World Cup Mass Start Score but also the victory in the World Cup Total Score. With only one Mass Start left, he is 52 points ahead of Dmitri Yaroshenko in the discipline total.

Bjoerndalen's closest rival so far in the Mass Start had been his teammate Emil Hegle Svendsen, but the 22-year-old had a poor race and ended up in 28th place.

Bjoerndalen now has 851 points in the Total Score and is 169 points ahead of Yaroshenko's 682 - with only three races and a maximum of 150 points left to be won.

In 16 World Cup seasons, Bjoerndalen has now won the Total Score five times, with five second-places.

Meanwhile, Germany's Kathrin Hitzer scored her second win in a row in the Women 12.5 km Mass Start, blowing open the race for the World Cup Total.

The 21-year-old had only two penalties and crossed the finishing line 19.2 seconds before her team-mate Magdalena Neuner, who had a total of five errors but by far the fastest skiing time.

Svetlana Sleptsova of Russia finished third with three misses, 33.3 seconds behind Hitzer.

"I can't quite believe it," Hitzer said. "The last lap to the finish felt amazing. I think I'll really celebrate a bit tonight."

With Sandrine Bailly missing eight of her 20 targets and finishing in a disappointing 20th place and Andrea Henkel ending up in 13th position, Neuner vastly improved her chances in the fight for the World Cup Total.

In the morning I thought that I would never be able to catch up," said Neuner. "But I won't let that get to myself. I am quite confident after the race today, though.

Eurosport