January 06, 2017 (Oberhof, GER) – Canada’s Rosanna Crawford, 26, shot clean to earn her best result of the season, finishing 21st in the BMW IBU World Cup 7.5km women’s sprint race in Oberhof, Germany on Friday.

The Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalova also shot clean for her second straight victory. Kaisa Makarainen of Finland was second with two penalties at 21 seconds back while France’s Marie Dorin Habert grabbed the last spot on the podium at 23.7 seconds behind Koukalova, with one penalty.

Susan Dunklee was the top American in 50th with four penalties at 2:36.3 behind followed by Clare Egan in 52nd with two missed targets.

Crawford took advantage of little wind to shoot clean for the first time in more than two years at 1:32.3 behind Koukalova. “It was a dream day out there with conditions more like Canmore than Oberhof,” said Crawford, who lives just west of Calgary. “There was little to no wind in the range and the tracks held up nicely. It was great to have a good shooting day, but the ski speed is still way off.”

“Oberhof was the most beautiful I have ever seen it with great snow, almost no wind and plenty of sunshine,” commented Dunklee. “I felt a little rusty after the break, particularly on the shooting range. I don’t think the jet lag helped matters either. Missing two in prone is already more mistakes than I want in a race, but that just make it more important to ski hard and come into the range fully focused for standing.”

While happy with her shooting Crawford is looking for more speed on her skis.  “The coaches and myself are still scratching our heads as to where the ski speed is,” she added. “Hopefully things will turn around in time for World Championships. I am happy that my results are getting better, but when you analyze the ski speed it is similar to what it was in December. I had good skis today though and the techs did another great job.”