December 20, 2014 (Pokljuka, Slovenia) – Rosanna Crawford delivered another strong result claiming 7th with two penalties in the women’s 10km pursuit at 1:20.7 behind winner Darya Domracheva of Belarus who one missed target in the final standing session. Series leader Kaisa Makarainen trailed at 10s with one penalty as well for second followed by the Ukraine’s Valj Semerenko at 36.8 seconds back also with one penalty.

Rosanna Crawford (CAN) © Nordic Focus

Only two athletes shot clean Nadezhda Skardino (Belarus) in 6th and Canada’s Megan Heinicke in 14th who had a stellar day as well moving up from 41st to the top fifteen. The USA’s Susan Dunklee had a tough day on the range with five penalties finishing 28th while teammate Hannah Dreissigacker was 56th with six penalties.

“Tough skiing for me, but happy to hold onto a top 10 with 7th place in today’s Pursuit race! Mass Start tomorrow then home for the holiday,” tweeted Crawford.

In a post-race team release she added, “I didn’t get too nervous until right before breakfast when it slowly started to sink in. I wanted to bring high focus right from the first shots in zero and carry that through the race. Unfortunately I think the pressure still got to me for the first shooting, and I missed one left, one right then the hits were all centre, so it was all me. I used that information for my next prone where I was more settled and focused for each shot.

“The pace was fine. My legs weren’t as good as on Thursday, but I just tried to work with the girls around me. Darya came out flying on the first loop. I stayed with her for a bit, but the pace was too fast for me. I found I’d lose the group on the long uphill at the two-kilometre mark, but would catch up coming back towards the range. I skied along a lot today.”

Susan Dunklee (USA) © Nordic Focus

Dunklee who’s been under the weather commented, “I’ve been fighting a sore throat and my head feels foggy from a cold, so today was a struggle. My goal was to ski efficiently, earn a few more points and secure a spot in tomorrow’s mass start. It wasn’t my prettiest performance, especially with some struggles in the last shooting stage, but I will get another chance tomorrow.”

Full results here.

Women's podium (l-r) Makarainen 2nd, Domracheva 1st, Semerenko 3rd © Nordic Focus