January 24, 2015 (Antholz, Italy) – American Susan Dunklee pushed closer to the podium with a stellar 6th place finish with one penalty at 1:40.8 behind winner Darya Domracheva (Bel) who nailed her third straight victory winning the IBU women’s 10km Pursuit at Antholz with one penalty. Russia’s Daria Virolaynen also had one penalty en route to  second as Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen pipped Franziska Hildebrand (GER) for the bronze in a tight finish despite suffering five penalties to Hildebrand’s single missed shot.

Dunklee was the eighth skier out of the gate but dropped to 13th after a penalty at the second prone position. She regrouped and cleaned both standing stages advancing to sixth, less than two seconds behind Makarainen in 4th. But she was unable to move up as Makarainen pulled away over the final stretch to steal away third place.

“Kaisa was a great ride to have on that last loop because she pushes the pace,” added Dunklee. “Tactically, it would have been smart to get in directly behind her early and hope the pace would be too hard for Marie Dorin, but I was feeling a little tired today and fell off the back instead. By the time Kaisa dropped Marie Dorin at the end of the loop, I was too far back to capitalize.”

Meanwhile, Canada’s Rosanna Crawford, 26, put in another solid performance in just her second race since returning from illness that kept her in bed for just over one week. Shooting clean in her first three stops on the range she moved into 17th spot, but one miss in final shooting dropped her out of the top-20 and she finished 26th at 3:28 behind.

Megan Heinicke (CAN) [P] Nordic Focus