March 09, 2014 (Pokljuka, SLO) – Belarus star Darya Domracheva rebounded in the women’s 12.5km Mass Start today in Pokljuka taking home the victory with two penalties as she reminded everyone of her Olympic Mass Start gold pedigree. Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen was back on the podium in second at 22.2 seconds behind also suffering two penalties. In third was Olga Zaitseva (RUS) with one penalty at 35.9 seconds behind the winner.

Canada’s Rosanna Crawford was the lone North American on the start and had a tough day on the range with seven penalties as she finished in 30th at 5:38.8 behind Domracheva.

Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina took an early lead with Zaitseva in tow. Domracheva and Makarainen were chasing behind and then opportunity knocked as the Belarus skier shot clean in the first standing but the others all suffered a penalty. She extended her lead and missed one target in the final standing but still had a strong lead over Makarainen who took the silver over Zaitseva.

“I feel now more attention maybe, but not pressure or something like that. Maybe there is somewhere, but I don’t think about it,” Domracheva told biathlonworld.com “I just do my race, do my job. There are the same people around me, the same team and same athletes with whom I compete, and I am the same Darya that I was before.”

Full results here.