February 28, 2007 (Lahti, Finland) – It was a tough return to World Cup action for the Canadian women’s biathlon team. After returning home to Canada for a well-deserved break following the 2007 World Championships, Zina Kocher and Sandra Keith were back in action during the women’s 15-kilometre individual race, Wednesday, in Lahti, Finland.

Kocher, a native of Red Deer, Alta., took the top spot for Canada, finishing in 38th-place, a little over six minutes behind the winning time of 49 minutes 27.2 seconds set by Andrea Henkel from Germany. The 24-year-old struggled to find the usual pep in her skis and accuracy on the range, but remains confident that great things are still to come for her during the remainder of the World Cup season.

“Returning to competition after a break is always a bit of a challenge,” said Kocher. “This was the first race after World Championships, and after a 10-day break at home, it was a bit harder to get into race mode today. I’ll just take this race as a stepping stone to getting back into race form for the rest of the World Cup season. There are still a lot of races before we come home for Canadian Championships at the end of March.”

Calgary’s Sandra Keith made up the second half of the Canadian squad in Wednesday’s race. Keith struggled in the first two bouts of shooting but managed to pull it together and shoot clean during the last two bouts. The 26-year-old finished 58th, +8:56.0 out of the lead.

Henkel’s gold medal race was enough to clinch the individual title for the season. Florence Robert-Bavarel was the runner-up, +31.0 off the pace, followed by Germany’s Kati Wilhelm in third, +55.1 behind her teammate.

Three Canadian men, Robin Clegg, David Leoni and Jaime Robb, will hit the start line Thursday in the 20-kilometre individual race.

For full results please visit here.

Women’s Results

1. Andrea Henkel, GER, 49:27.2
2. Florence Robert-Bavarel, FRA, +31.0
3. Kati Wilhelm, GER, +55.1
4. Anna Carin Olofsson, SWE, +55.3
5. Xianying Liu, CHN, +59.3
38. Zina Kocher, Red Deer, Alta., +6:09.8
58. Sandra Keith, Calgary, +8:56.0