January 15, 2017 (Ruhpolding , Germany) – American Susan Dunklee rebounded to finish 24th in the women’s 10km Pursuit despite four penalties as the BMW IBU World Cup 5 wrapped up in Ruhpolding on Sunday.

Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen took home another victory one standing penalty a day after taking the sprint title. Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalova was second, with two penalties at 1:00.9 back while third place went to France’s Marie Dorin Habert with three penalties at 1:32 behind Makarainen.

Starting in the 32nd position Dunklee got off to a less-than-ideal start missing three of her first five targets from the prone position. After three laps around the penalty loop, Dunklee found herself all the way back in 51st place among the 54 starters.

“You can never count on your position to hold steady in a biathlon race,” said Dunklee. “Whether you are in the lead or bringing up the rear, the task is the same…focus on one lap at a time and one stage at a time. It was disheartening to miss three in the first shooting stage but my job was to continue executing my race plan no matter what.”

Dunklee went on to hit 14 of her final 15 targets and come all the way back to finish 24th at 3:07.2 behind Makarainen and her final loop time of 5:07.5 was best overall. The lone Canadian starter Julia Ransom finished 53rd with three penalties at 6:21 back.

“I posted my best skiing splits of the season and some of the fastest shooting times in the field,” added Dunklee. “That will give me confidence going forward.”

Results here.