March 19, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina cleaned a crucial final standing leg on the shooting range to come from behind and take the top podium spot in Saturday’s 10km Pursuit in Oslo. Kuzmina’s victory marks just the third of her career.

Germany’s Andrea Henkel was leading coming into her final time on the range but she faltered with two misses as did second-placed Darya Domracheva of Belarus giving the sharp shooting Kuzmina a chance to capitalize – and she did creating a 23-second lead over Henkel entering the home stretch.

“I am happy to be back on the podium, especially at the World Cup Final. In some of the previous starts, I was not so lucky with my shooting but today my shooting was quite good. After the two penalties in prone, I did relax a bit and that helped me concentrate on my shooting, which is so important in this competition,” Kuzmina commented in an IBU report.

Norway’s Tora Berger got bib number one after Magdalena Neuner was a late scratch due to a cold that has been ailing her since Thursday’s Sprints. But it as not Berger’s day as she missed three targets in the opening shooting stage to drop out of the lead pack, while Kuzmina, wearing bib number four, shot clean to take the early lead.

In round two of the shooting range Kuzmina missed a pair of targets, while Germany’s Henkel shot clean to jump out in front.  Domracheva battled back from a 2-miss performance in the first lap to shoot clean and leave the stadium in 3rd position.

Henkel and Domracheva entered the range 1-2 for the first standing shooting stage. Both missed a target, but retained their positions as they entered their fourth lap. At 32 seconds behind them was Kuzmina and Ekaterina Yurlova of Russia. Kuzmina hit 4 of 5, while Yurlova shot clean for the third consecutive lap.

At the final round of shooting, Henkel entered the stadium having distanced herself somewhat from the rest of the lead pack. However, a pair of misses from both her and Domracheva, gave Kuzmina her opening and she nailed it for the gold.

Domracheva, who left the stadium 13 seconds back from Henkel, put in an impressive last-lap effort to overcome the German, taking 2nd place at 23.1 seconds behind Kuzmina.

“It is the finish of the season, and I did not have enough concentration today,” the Belarus skier said of her shooting, “Everybody had too many penalties.”

Henkel, who finished 4 seconds behind Domracheva to take 3rd, said she was unaware how slim the gap between them was in the final stretch. “It is much easier when there is someone in front of you to chase,” Henkel said, “I did not realize Darya was so close, but I had nothing left when she passed me.”

The American duo of Sara Studebaker and Haley Johnson impressed for the second straight race, finishing 20th and 21st respectively. Studebaker missed just one shot through three laps, racing in the top 10 for a while ranked 8th after the first standing shooting leg – 3/4 of the way through the race. A 3-miss performance on the standing range on the final lap, however, pushed her back considerably, as she finished with a time of 36:14.2.

“Today was a good race for me. It was very exciting to come out of the first standing stage in 8th position and come in to shoot for the final time in 9th! Being right up there in the top-10 was a new experience for me, and definitely a little nerve-wracking,” Studebaker told SkiTrax post-race.

“It’s really exciting to be able to end the year with a mass start,” Studebaker added, “Having only qualified for one other mass start, this is very special – and it’s especially neat because we have two Americans in there! I think it will be a great experience and a fun race for us to end the season on.”

Johnson also missed four targets to come in just over six seconds behind Studebaker in 21st, claiming the first mass start of her career so both American biathletes will be on the start line at Sunday’s Mass Start in Oslo, the final race of the season.

“Yes, today was a great day for me. This whole week in fact has been great. I am here because of a discretionary decision to send three women to the final World Cup instead of only two,” Haley wrote SkiTrax by email. “So, for me, this experience of racing Holmenkollen is a huge bonus and surprise extension to the season.

“Even though the bluebird skies looked like a picture perfect race day, it was rather windy and gusty in the range. This made for tough shooting, but I’d say we were pretty prepared for it and I was confident knowing my strategy when I entered the range. Again, it was just a bonus that I held steady and raced a good race.”

“I feel I have made the most of this opportunity, especially since I knew I still had some good racing left within me. I really like racing here and I am really excited about my first Mass Start. I am not a results-oriented athlete, so I feel great that my process has worked great this week and my hard work is paying off.”

Full results HERE.
Results (brief)

1. Anastasiya Kuzmina, SVK (0+2+1+0) 33:42.5
2. Darya Domracheva, BLR (2+0+1+2) 34:05.6
3. Andrea Henkel, GER (0+0+1+2) 34:10.1

20. Sara Studebaker, USA (1+0+0+3) 36:14.2
21. Haley Johnson, USA (1+0+1+2) 36:20.4