December 21, 2014 (Pokljuka, Slovenia) – Canada’s Rosanna Crawford claimed a solid 12th place result with three penalties at 1:25.2 behind Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen, who rebounded from almost a 30s-deficit and two missed targets, to take home the victory in the women’s 12.5km Mass Start at the Pokljuka IBU World Cup before the holiday break.

Rosanna Crawford (CAN) © Nordic Focus

Anais Bescond (France) shot clean for second place at 7.6 seconds behind the winner while Nadezhda Skardino (Belarus) took third also with clean shooting at 15.8 seconds back. Yesterday’s sprint winner Gabriela Soukalova (Czech Republic) finished fourth with clean shooting as well at 24.1 seconds back while the Ukraine’s Valj Semerenko suffered one penalty to take 5th.

“My confidence is building each race, and I can definitely feel that a podium is within reach, but I’m staying focused on the process,” said Crawford heading into the weekend. “Continuing to ski well and hitting the targets will be the key to success. I’m excited to see what the rest of the season will bring.”

The USA’s Susan, who has been battling a cold, missed two targets in the first prone session to end her day in 22nd as bright sunny conditions were the order of the day.

Susan Dunklee (USA) © Nordic Focus

“It was a beautiful, sunny day to end on in Slovenia and I had fun in my last race of 2014,” said Dunklee. “My body felt a lot better than yesterday and even though I missed a couple shots early in the race and lost touch with the lead pack, I had people to chase down every loop. Team USA is looking forward to the holiday break and some time back home. All the European athletes are jealous that we’ll have lots of snow; it looks like a green Christmas for everyone over here.”

Full results here.