January 17, 2013 (Antholz-Anterselva, ITA) – Slovakia’s Anastasiya 

had a great day on course Thursday as she captured her first win of the season in the Women’s 7.5km Sprint.  Kuzmina shot clean and stopped the clock with a time of 20:28.6. Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen finished 16.7 seconds back, with a single penalty while Belarus star, Darya Domracheva, finished 3rd 21.9 seconds back (1+0).

Before today, Kuzmina’s best finish was 8th in the Östersund Pursuit.  “It is unbelievable! I was surprised today!” Kuzmina told biathlonworld.com.  Antholz is special to Kuzmina and her results back it up.  “I feel a special emotion here. I am a big girl and everyone says I should not be able to go fast here, but for some reason, I can.”

American Annelies Cook had a career-best 18th place finish as she shot clean in prone and missed her first shot in standing, crossing the finish with a time of 21:38.9 for a three-way tie for 18th place with Marie Laure Brunet (FRA) and Ann Kristin Aafedt Flatland (NOR). Cook’s career-best performance today – following her previous personal-best 26th place in last week’s 7.5 km Sprint in Ruhpolding – was just 40 seconds behind the skiing time of today’s winner.

“Today was really fun for me,” said Cook in a team release. “I was nervous and excited to start 5th because I have never done that, but the up side for me was that I knew I could wave to my parents on the start line. I realize that is pretty dorky, but when they still get up in the middle of the night to watch me race, I always feel a little better if they at least get to see me.”

Cook continued, “I love this course. It suits the way that I ski with lots of V2 and powerful strong skiing rather than steep uphills. I also like how altitude feels. I was very aware that altitude can change shooting and make it trickier because you don’t have as much oxygen and sometimes your eyes blur. It can have a much bigger affect that one might think. I tried really hard to relax and keep that in mind.

“I had a good ride with Kaisa Makkarainen and tried to keep her in my sights as she skied two loops around me. I think that helped when I started to get tired. There was a lot of great cheering to get me around the course on that last lap too. The coaches kept yelling that every second counts.” Fellow Americans Sara Studebaker and Susan Dunklee finished 46th and 49th respectively.

Top Canadian on the day was Audrey Vaillancourt in 55th with Zina Kocher in right behind her in 56th place.  Fellow Canadians Megan Heinicke was 68th and Rosanna Crawford finished 90th. Kocher admitted the Canadian women did not have a great race.  “Yes, not a good result day out there,” Kocher told SkiTrax.  “On the bright side, skiing is feeling much better than the last 2 World Cups and the speed is there. Which is a positive for getting closer to the main focus – the World Championships.  Fortunately, our little youngin’ Audrey, had an excellent day in the range today with clean shooting and made her first World Cup Pursuit! “

Kocher is hopeful for the team relay.  “Despite today’s poor shooting performance for 3 of us, I’m sure we can all refocus and put it together for the relay on Sunday.” Rounding out the North American women was USA’s Hanah Dreissigacker in 81st position.

Racing continues from Antholz-Anterselva Friday with the Men’s 10 km Sprint.

Full results HERE.