March 17, 2012 (Khanty-Mansiysk, RUS) – American Susan Dunklee is gettingt used to top-ten finishes as she placed 9th on Saturday in the IBU Women’s 10km Pursuit in Khanty-Mansiysk. Cool as a cucumber in the shooting range, Dunklee only had one shooting penalty on her way to a finishing time of 34.39.6 at 1:55.1 behind the race winner, Danya Domracheva of Belarus in 32:44.5 with two penalties. Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen placed 2nd while Vita Semerenko of the Ukraine grabbed 3rd as both also suffered two penalties.

SkiTrax asked Dunklee how her race played out.  “Today was another exciting day,” said Dunklee.  “I had a lot of fun working with a fellow North American (Zina Kocher) for the first three laps.”

“On the range I took my time but I didn’t feel quite as focused as I have the last several races,” said Dunklee who is generally cool and collected on the range. “I was surprised I hit as many targets as I did.  I am looking forward to the mass start tomorrow and plan to bring my best effort to the last race of the season.”

Canada’s Kocher continued her solid run this World Cup season with a 12th-place finish. SkiTrax caught up with Kocher to talk about how her race unfolded. “I had great shooting today and felt decent skiing despite the much softer fresh snow out there today.  My strategy was to keep with the pack and focus on each shot one at a time.”

Kocher was in a great position for another top-ten finish, however she received one shooting penalty in the final round, bumping her down to 12th. “The last shooting is important to maintain your focus. Shooting clean that round can easily mean moving up in positions. I really wasn’t that stressed today. I was shooting pretty slow but I was really focusing on each shot and making each shot count.”

Despite receiving a penalty in each of the final two rounds of shooting, Kocher is pleased with her result. “I’m happy with the shooting. 90% is always a decent day and I’m glad I pulled that out today.”

Kocher is going to stick to the game plan for her final World Cup race of the season.
“I will be focusing on staying with the pack, being relaxed in the group and on the range,” said Kocher. “The shooting is going to be key once again on Sunday so I’ll just be focusing one shot at a time.”

With the two strong finishes in the sprint and pursuit competitions, both Dunklee & Kocher have earned berths in Sunday’s Mass Start race. Other North American results in today’s Pursuit race include American Sara Studebaker in 44th and Canadian Megan Imrie in 55th place.

Competition from Khanty-Mansiysk continues Sunday with the men and
Women’s Mass Start events.

Full results HERE.