December 03, 2010 (Oestersund, Sweden) – Kaisa Mäkäräinen of Finland, 27, controlled the race despite cold conditions to earn her first World Cup victory as the clear winner in the women’s biathlon 7.5km sprint. Mäkäräinen shot clean to take the win over Germany’s Miriam Gössner who also made no mistakes on the range.  In third was Darya Domracheva of Belarus with one penalty.

“I have been in the World Cup for many years, five times on the podium, but never the winner. So this is something new for me,” said Mäkäräinen post race.

It was not a great day for the North Americans lead by Canada’s Megan Imrie lead in 69th followed by the USA’s Laura Spector in 80th. Veteran Canuck Zina Kocher placed 84th while team mate Rosanna Crawford was 86th and Sara Studebaker (USA) was 88th.

Video highlights HERE.
Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Kaisa Mäkäräinen (Fin) 0+0, 22:42.1
2. Miriam Gössner (Ger) 0+0, +18.7
3. Darya Domracheva (Blr) 1+0, +47.1

69. Megan Imrie (Can) 0+3, +3:47.3
80. Laura Spector (USA) 1+2, +4:35.5
84. Zina Kocher (Can) 2+3, +5:05.0
86. Rosanna Crawford (Can) 0+4, +5:29.5
88. Sara Studebaker (USA) 2+2, +5:34.3
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