February 04, 2012 (Oslo, Norway) – Germany’s Magdalena Neuner was back on the top podium spot with her second win in as many days taking the women’s 10km Pursuit with two penalties but coupled that with strong skiing and a winning time of 30:31.1. Russia’s Olga Zaitseva claimed 2nd with clean shooting at 36.5s behind Neuner, while Darya Domracheva (BLR) grabbed third also suffering two penalities.

Frigid minus fourteen Celsius temperatures greeted the world’s best biathletes but no wind allowed some respite from the cold. Neuner shot clean the first time on the range and never looked back as Zaitseva, Domracheva and Tora Berger (NOR) battled behind for the remaining spots. Zaitseva was able to capitalize on Domracheva’s misses late in the game to grab the silver as Berger faltered with three misses in total ending up fourth.

Leading the North Americans was Sara Studebaker with her second top-25 finish in Oslo this week placing 25th with two missed targets at 3:47.4 minutes behind Neuner, the overall World Cup leader. Her teammate Susan Dunklee finished 35th with five penalties.

“Today was a solid day for me,” said Studebaker in a team release, “I like the courses here, and feel like things are finally coming together for me with my skiing, which is perfect timing. Of course, I would have liked today to be just a little better to put me in the mass start, but there’s still a chance, so maybe I’ll get lucky!”

Zina Kocher led the Canadian women with missed four shots and a time of 34:49.7 to place 29th. Megan Imrie, of Falcon Lake, Man., followed up her career-best 17th-place finish on Thursday to finish 41st at 36:09.3.

“I had an okay race, but four misses in shooting is too much for a pursuit,” Kocher told Biathlon Canada. “It was good enough to make the mass start tomorrow, and I’m incredibly excited to be racing a mass start again. It has been way too long.”

Women 10 km Pursuit results HERE.