New York's Tim Burke -- who earlier this season was the top-ranked biathlete in the world -- finished 18th among 30 racers in Sunday's 15-kilometer mass start at Whistler Olympic Park. And Anchorage's Jeremy Teela -- who stood on a World Cup podium last season in Whistler and posted the best U.S. finish in Olympic history by placing ninth in a race last week -- finished 29th.
Both men ran into trouble in the shooting range.
Burke cleared all his targets in the first two shooting stages and was in medal contention going into the third. But then he missed three of the five targets, dashing his hope of becoming America's first medal-winner in the sport that combines cross-country skiing and riflery.
"It's a complete disappointment," Burke told reporters. "I came here with three podium finishes, ranked third in the World Cup, had never been outside the top 30 in a race. So yeah, it was awful."
Teela, a three-time Olympian, missed one target in each of the first two stages, was clean in the third and missed two in the fourth. Plus he struggled on his skis as he continued to feel the effects of an illness that kept him out of Thursday's 20-kilometer race.
"I had four days just laying in bed, and I didn't go out for a ski during that time," Teela told reporters. "I just jumped in the race today.
"... After the second loop, I was zapped. I just hit a wall. I was just trying to finish the race."
Victory went to Russia's Evgeny Ustyugov, who cleared all 20 targets while completing the course in 35 minutes, 36.7 seconds. France's Martin Fourcade took silver in 35:46.2 and Slovakia's Pavol Hurajt took bronze in 35:52.3.
Burke, who finished with four misses, was 1:09.0 behind the winner and Teela was 3:00.4 back. For each miss, racers had to ski a 150-meter penalty loop, meaning each American skied an extra 600 meters in the 15-K race.
Burke said he felt good on his third lap, but his legs turned shaky in the range.
"I had to fight to even get two hits," he said. "That's biathlon. That's why it's one of the most exciting sports in the world, because you can go from fourth to 24th in a matter of a few seconds. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of that today."
Nosedives can happen even to the world's best competitors. Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, the most decorated biathlete in history, saw gold turn to silver last week with a single missed target in the final stage of the 20-K race. Sunday, he missed seven targets and finished 27th, two spots ahead of Teela.
The only race remaining for the men is Friday's relay, which not that long ago looked like an event where the Americans might contend for a top-five finish.
The team of Burke, Teela, Kasilof's Jay Hakkenen and Lowell Bailey teamed up for a sixth-place finish in a World Cup relay in January, one spot away from the country's best finish in history, established by the same racers last season.
Teela, for one, thinks the Americans can rebound in time to put together a good relay. He plans to take today off to recover -- both from Sunday's race and what's left of his head cold -- before he resumes training for what will likely be the final Olympic race for both him and Hakkinen, a four-time Olympian. Teela is 33 and Hakkinen is 32.
"The relay's a race where anything can happen," Teela said. "It's a four-man race, so all four guys need to be on their A game. The other two guys (Hakkinen and Bailey) will be rested up. Hopefully I'll figure out myself, and Tim's been going well the whole season. I'm sure we don't have to worry about him."
Daily News sports editor Beth Bragg can be reached at bbragg@adn.com or 257-4335. Daily News wire services contributed to this report.
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