January 21, 2006 (Oberstdorf, GER) – Beckie Scott completed the hat trick, winning her third World Cup gold medal of the season, and her career, in the women’s 15 kilometre pursuit race in Oberstdorf, Germany on Saturday.

The first World Cup victory on European snow for the Vermilion, Alta. native, Scott led for most of the race and skied away from the pack in the pursuit to solidified her position back on top of the podium after stopping the clock at 39 minutes 44.3 seconds. The pursuit race combines 7.5 kilometres of skate skiing with an additional 7.5 kilometres of classic technique. Athletes enter a transition area mid-way through the race to change equipment.

“I really thought it could go either way today because I was pretty tired and drained out still getting over the jet lag, and wasn’t sure what I was capable of doing,” said Scott, who was fourth in the pursuit at the World Championships on the Oberstdorf track. “I was really looking forward to this race and I really like this course. I knew I had great skis and when I hit the start line I just told myself to go for it.”

Scott, who finished 6.7 seconds ahead of Germany’s Claudia Kuenzel (39:51.0), admitted it was important to get a good race under her belt in Europe.

“I think everything in Canada was rolling for us so well that we almost couldn’t fail,” said Scott, who fell from first to fifth position in the race after a poor transition zone on Saturday. “It is a different scene in Europe and there were many of the top women in this race that didn’t compete in Canada so it was good to get a race against many of the women that I haven’t seen this year.”

Katerina Neumannova, of the Czech Republic, was third (39:59.8).

Scott, who won Olympic gold in the women’s pursuit at the 2002 Games, is poised to be a favourite in the discipline again when the world gathers in Torino, Italy in just three weeks. The Olympic champion also won a silver medal in the women’s pursuit last month in Vernon, B.C.

“It would be nice to just keep on winning heading towards the Games,” laughed Scott. “I’m looking forward to the sprint races on Sunday, and then we get into a week of some pretty high intensity training before the Olympics. We are feeling good and looking forward to the final few weeks.”