Hannah Dreissigacker rebounded from 75-percent shooting at IBU World Championships to hit 90 percent of her targets on Friday and place 14th for a career best in the final IBU World Cup sprint of the season in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Also for the U.S., Susan Dunklee finished 26th, and Canada's Rosanna Crawford was close behind in 28th.
Germany's Vanessa Hinz relied on fast skiing and precise shooting to give her team a 30-second lead heading into the last leg of Friday's 4 x 6 k relay at IBU World Championships, and teammate Laura Dahlmeier ran away with it to win by more than a minute. Canada achieved its top-10 team goal, and the U.S. matched its season best in 12th.
Leave it to dads to predict medal potential. Ekaterina Yurlova's father did just that, one month before the Russian won gold at IBU World Championships in the women's 15 k on Wednesday. Susan Dunklee placed 12th with her best shooting in an individual race in the last week, and Megan Heinicke tallied her third-straight top 30 in Kontiolahti.
France's Marie Dorin Habert was essentially speechless in a post-race press conference after winning her second gold in as many days at IBU World Championships, and her third medal of the week. American Susan Dunklee skied the third-fastest course time, shooting excluded, and Canada's Rosanna Crawford and Megan Heinicke finished in the top 30.
Belarusian Darya Domracheva took the overall IBU World Cup leader's bib from Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen with a 14.3-second win in Saturday's sprint, and Rosanna Crawford finished 1.6 seconds out of 10th in 13th for Canada. American Hannah Dreissigacker had her best result of the season in 16th with perfect shooting.
Darya Domracheva literally weathered the storm better than anybody in Nove Mesto, including Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen, to win Sunday's 10 k pursuit by 6.8 seconds. Susan Dunklee started ninth and led the U.S. in 18th with five penalties on an especially challenging Sunday.
Germany's Laura Dahlmeier squeaked ahead of teammate Franziska Hildebrand on the final loop to earn her first-ever IBU World Cup victory. American Susan Dunklee took ninth to capture her third-straight top-10 result, while American Annelies Cook had one of her best World Cup results ever in taking 28th.
Darya Domracheva of Belarus won her 21st IBU World Cup race on Friday by nearly 27 seconds over Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen in second, and Germany's Laura Dahlmeier tallied her first podium in third in the 7.5 k sprint. Susan Dunklee executed her plan to place eighth for a season best.
The Canadians got off to a strong start, skiing in second throughout the first leg of Wednesday's 4 x 6 k women's relay at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. The Czech women held steady up front to tally their second-straight relay win in the last week.
The Tour de Ski kicked off in miserable fashion in Saturday, with rain and minimal snow in Oberhof, Germany. But 3 1/2 hours away in Gelsenkirchen, there was a more fun solution. For the 12th time, fans packed a soccer stadium to watch World Cup athletes do a relay race around a small artificial course. For the first time since the inaugural race in 2002, an all-German team won.
The Canadians notched a national first of fourth place in the IBU World Cup women's relay on Thursday in Annency, France, and the Americans tied their collective career bests of eighth for the second-straight week.
Take a multi-time World Champion, a speed demon who has improved enough on the range to win World Cups - and then add a junior racer and an Olympic gold medalist skier who recently turned biathlete. It's not the usual formula, but it got Germany a win over Ukraine and Norway in the women's biathlon relay in Sochi today.