January 23, 2016 (Antholz-Anterselma, ITA) – American Susan Dunklee moved up 20 places to finish 17th with three penalties while rookie Canadian biathlete, Julia Ransom, had the race of her life and shot clean to claim 19th, both career-best efforts, in the women’s 10km pursuit at the BMW IBU World Cup 6 in Antholz-Anterselma, Italy on Saturday.

Susan Dunklee (USA) © Nordic Focus

Dunklee had the fourth-fastest ski time and 10th-best isolated pursuit time which helped negate her three shooting penalties. She cleaned the last standing to jump to 25th, then put the hammer down on the last loop to move up eight more places to 17th.

“Today I felt snappy and energized on skis; a complete turnaround from the sprint,” said Dunklee. “On the last loop there was a giant pack just ahead of me and the highlight of my race was picking those racers off one by one. This will give me a lot of confidence going into next week’s break.” Dunklee is now 23rd in the World Cup standings with 237 points.

Julia Ransom (CAN) © Nordic Focus

Ransom, 22, also started well back of the leaders in 46th spot delivering a superb day on the range as she bolted up to 19th on the hard-packed course.

“It feels amazing to crack the top-20,” said Ransom, who hails from Kelowna, B.C. and got some shooting advice from teammate and World Cup veteran, Rosanna Crawford, before Saturday’s pursuit. “My goal this year was to be in the top 30 so I am over the moon.”

“That was my first 20/20. It feels good. Rosanna passed on some advice about key words. Mine was focus and something clicked! Being one of the youngest on the team, I appreciate every bit of mentorship I can get from our veterans on the team.

Women's final podium © Nordic Focus

Russia’s Ekaterina Yurlova took charge with a single penalty for the second victory of her career as Selina Gasparin (SUI) had the best result of her season finishing second, also with one penalty, at 12 seconds back. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer, took third with three penalties at 18 seconds behind Yurlova.

Men’s 12.5km Pursuit

In the men’s 12.5km pursuit, the USA’s Tim Burke placed 22nd with four penalties, his teammate Lowell Bailey was 28th with three missed targets while Brendan Green was the top Canadian in 31st with one penalty.

Russia’s Anton Shipulin won for the first time this season, taking the men’s pursuit with two penalties in 31:51.9. He took the lead from Simon Schempp of Germany for the first time after the final standing stage. Schempp held on for second with a single penalty, 10.3 seconds back, while Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway finished third, with one penalty, 14.1 seconds behind Shipulin.

Tim Burke © NordicFocus

American Leif Nordgren finished 48th with two penalties while Calgary’s Nathan Smith missed one shot in each of his four trips to the range dropping him into 43rd place.

Burke’s only clean round was in second prone, while Bailey went clean in first prone but had a miss in each of the remaining three stages. Bailey moved up four places in the final lap by turning in the eighth-fastest lap time. In the World Cup standings, Bailey now sits in 20th with 249 points, while Burke is 28th with 200.

Men's final podium © Nordic Focus

“Today was just another one of those races for me that was solid, but not quite what I was hoping for,” Burke said. “I felt really good on the tracks today and I had good skis, but I had a few too many mistakes at the shooting range. I actually felt good on the range but the shots just did not fall. I was happy to at least score some decent World Cup points again. Now I am looking forward to the relay tomorrow. Hopefully, we can build on our success from last week.”