March 14, 2010 (Kontiolahti, Finland) – It was a solid day for

who moved up eight spots to claim 12th in Sunday’s 10km pursuit won by Darya Domracheva (BLR) in 31:32.6 over Germany’s Magdalena Neuner in second with Simone Hauswald (GER) in third. Kocher missed only one shot while Megan Tandy missed two shots to place 39th, Megan Imrie was 47th, the USA’s Studebaker placed 50th while Rosanna Crawford was lapped and did not finish.

“That was a very solid day,” said Kocher, the 27-year-old Red Deer, Alta. native who is a two-time Olympian. “The targets went down almost effortlessly. It would have been fantastic to have skied just a little bit stronger, and made the top-10, but I am very satisfied with a close to perfect shooting day.”

Martin Fourcade (FRA) won the men’s 12.5km race as Canada’s Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, the lone Canadian male to qualify, lead the North Americans in 25th with Tim Burke (USA) in 41st and Lowell Bailey (USA) in 55th. Italy’s Christian De Lorenzi was second and Jay Vincent (FRA) was third.

Full women’s results here.
Full men’s results here.

With files from Biathlon Canada.