![Susan Dunklee of the US Biathlon skied her way to a career best fourth place in Thursday's 7.5 k sprint in Antholz, Italy. (Photo: US Biathlon/Nordic focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/Dunklee16012014cm9.jpg")
World Cup action this weekend brought racers to Szklarska Poreba, Poland. Despite the absence of the esteemed Scandinavians who were at their respective national championships, the excitement was high, especially for the North Americans who had an exceptional weekend.
In Saturday’s sprint, Kikkan Randall used her extensive experience to tackle a tactical course and rocket her to victory in the 1.5 k freestyle sprint. Randall’s win marks her second sprint victory in two weeks. She bested Germany’s Denise Hermann who is currently ranked first in the World Cup Sprint rankings, and Slovenia’s Vesna Fabjan.
![Jessie Diggins (l) tumbling headfirst over Switzerland's Laurien van der Graaff, who fell right in front of her on the last turn of the women's 1.5 k freestyle sprint final at the World Cup in Szklarska Poreba, Poland. (Photo: FIS Cross Country/Instagram) http://instagram.com/p/jV7XJjrzzf/](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/diggins-van-der-graaff-crash.jpg")
Also in the final was American Jessie Diggins who finished fifth after being taken out by a fall from Lauren Van Der Graaff of Switzerland.
American Sophie Caldwell finished seventh and Canadian Perianne Jones finished tenth after advancing to the semifinals.
The North American’s continues their winning streak in the men’s race. Canadian Alex Harvey out-sprinted Germany’s Josef Wenzl and France’s Baptiste Gros for his first-ever individual world cup win.
American Andy Newell was in medal contention until he had a nasty fall on the final hill of the A-final, knocking him down to sixth place.
Sunday marked the 10 k and 15 k mass starts. The women’s race was handily won by birthday-girl Justyna Kowalcyk. She was followed by a pair of Russians, Yulia Tchekaleva and Julia Ivanova, who finished second and third.
American Elizabeth Stephen finished sixth, followed by teammates Ida Seargent in ninth, Randall in 14th and Caldwell in 16th.
The Russians were dominant in the men’s 15 k with Maxim Vylegzhanin and Evgeniy Belov taking the top two spots. They were followed by Alexey Poltoranin of Kazakhstan in third.
The Canadians all finished in the top 10 with Harvey in fourth, Devon Kershaw in eighth and Ivan Babikov in ninth.
In Biathlon World Cup action, American Susan Dunklee gave the best performance of her career finishing fourth in Thursday’s 7.5 k sprint in Antholz, Italy.
![The women mull around after the race has been called off.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/Picture-8.png")
In the men’s 10 k sprint Brendan Green of Canada gave an impressive performance, finishing eighth. He was followed by American Lowell Bailey in 19th and Canadian Nathan Smith in 22nd.
In Saturday’s 10 k pursuit, Dunklee finished 25th. On the men’s side Bailey finished 12th and Green finished 18th in the 12.5 k.