December 18, 2015 (Pokljuka, Slovenia) – Team USA’s Susan Dunklee sped to her best result this season with a sensational sixth-place finish as the top North American in the women’s 7.5km Sprint at the third round of the BMW IBU World Cup Biathlon in Pokljuka, Slovenia. France’s Marie Dorin Habert (FRA) stormed to victory with clean shooting and a time of 20:17.8.

Dunklee was only 17.6s off the podium after logging one missed target in prone. The top US biathlete landed her first podium in 2014 finishing 3rd in the sprint at the final round in Oslo, Norway.

“Biathlon can be such a challenging sport sometimes,” said Dunklee after the race. “You train all year long, you have a race plan that you always try execute to the best of your ability, but then you’d better be ready to weather intense ups and downs. Many preparations have to go right to create a great race, not only by the athlete but by the entire team staff, and today was one of those magical days where almost everything went right for my race. I am very happy.”

“A really good race for Susan today,” said U.S. Biathlon Chief of Sport Bernd Eisenbichler. “She struggled a bit in the last weeks with her confidence, especially in standing shooting, but made a great step forward in the pursuit in Hochfilzen and today was just perfect. She worked hard to cut her shooting times over the summer and showed that today very impressively. On the track she looked good and the seventh ski time reflects that. But I also know there is quite more to come for her on the ski speed in the coming weeks.”

Rosanna Crawford (CAN) posted the top Canadian finish in a solid 23rd with one shooting error. “I’m feeling a bit frustrated with my ski speed right now. The shooting has been pretty good but the shape isn’t quite there,” said Crawford, who adjusted her offseason training this year with hopes of peaking towards the end of the season.

“I knew that with changing things the first trimester of racing might now be where I want to be. Hopefully things pay off and the ski speed will come.”

Second place went to Laura Dahlmeier (GER), who also shot clean to finish a mere 1.1s behind the winner in an ultra-close battle. Fellow countrywoman Franziska Hildebrand (GER), shot error-free as well to finish third and 13s back.

Results

1. Marie Dorin Habert (FRA) 20:17.8
2. Laura Dahlmeier (GER) +1.1
3. Franziska Hildebrand (GER) +13.0

6. Susan Dunklee (USA) +17.6
23. Rosanna Crawford (CAN) +1:11.4
31. Julia Ransom (CAN) +1:26.3
51. Megan Tandy (CAN) +2:00.8
64. Hannah Dreissigacker (USA) +2:20.5
84. Clare Egan (USA) +3:18.8
89. Emma Lunder (CAN) +3:31.7
94. Annelies Cook (USA) +3:47.0

Full results here.