December 05, 2015 (Oestersund, Sweden) – The USA’s Clare Egan shot clean as she raced to a personal best 16th place finish in the women’s 7.5km Sprint today in Oestersund, Sweden. Gabriela Soukalova, of the Czech Republic, also shot clean to take the win over Italy’s Federica Sanfilippo who was perfect on the range as well at 15s behind. The Ukraine’s Olena Pidhrushna rounded out the women’s podium with one penalty at 38.4s back.

“Wow! I was not expecting to do that today,” said an excited Egan who upped her game a mere two days after posting a career-best 44th-place finish in the 15km women’s individual. “I am thrilled with my race and the result that came out of it. Sixteenth is a 24-place improvement from my previous personal best and a major confidence boost for the season ahead. I’m proud of my work on skis and on the range, and looking forward to racing head-to-head tomorrow in the pursuit.”

Rosanna Crawford was the top Canuck in 22nd with two missed targets while American Annalies Cook was 25th with one penalty, veteran Zina Kocher (Can) was 27th (0+1), Julia Ransom was 32nd (1+0), and Megan Tandy finished 46th (1+1).

Susan Dunklee (USA) got off to a strong start shooting clean in prone, but faltered in standing missing four targets which knocked her back to a 64th-place finish. Hannah Dreissigacker (USA) was 91st. Egan, Crawford, Cook and Kocher earned starts in Sunday’s Pursuit race.

Full results here.