March 15, 2018 (Oslo-Holmenkollen, Norway) – The USA’s Susan Dunklee shot clean to deliver her best performance of the season finishing just 6.5 seconds off the podium in 4th in the women’s 7.5km Sprint at round 8 of the BMW IBU World Cup in Norway.

“I’ve always loved Oslo,” said Dunklee who was all smiles at the flower ceremony. “The course suits my strengths and the crowd creates a great atmosphere. It’s very heartening to put together a great race after a challenging season, and there’s another great opportunity on Sunday.”

Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia came back from a prone penalty to win with just a single penalty. Darya Domracheva of Belarus shot clean to finish second at 8.9 seconds behind, while Yuliia Dzhyma of Ukraine also cleaned ending up third at 29.2 seconds back.

Rosanna Crawford led the Canadians in 38th with one penalty at 1:51 behind. Dunklee was 35.7 seconds behind Kuzmina. After a rest day on Friday, the action resumes on Saturday with women’s 4×6 km relay.

“The post-Olympic World Cups are filled with opportunity because so many athletes are feeling run down,” added Dunklee. “The last couple months haven’t been easy. I’m relying a lot on habits to carry me through; luckily I’ve built some good ones over the years.”

Full results here.