Oberhof, Germany  - Russian Maxim Tchoudov on Saturday won the men's 10 kilometre sprint World Cup biathlon event in Oberhof.

Tchoudov, who won two gold medals, as well as a silver and a bronze at last year's world championship in Ostersund, managed to edge Germany's Michael Roesch into second place by 12.7 seconds.

Third place went to Poland's Tomasz Sikora, who was 25.2 seconds behind Tchoudov. Sikora takes over the overall lead in the World Cup from Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen.

Like Roesch, Tchoudov managed to complete the race without any misses on the shooting range, but the Russian proved to be just a little bit too fast for the local hero.

Roesch was very pleased with his race. "Finally it was a good race. I no longer think so much when I shoot and that makes it much better."

He complimented the German fans, who cheered him on. "I should actually thank each fan individually, it is fantastic how they manage to encourage me."

Tchoudov's victory gave Russia their third victory in Oberhof during this event, following on Ekaterina Jurjeva's victory in the women's women's race on Friday and their women's relay team on Thursday. (dpa)