Women's pursuit podium: IBU World Cup Nove Mesto ©Nordic Focus

February 08, 2015 (Nove Mesto, CZE) – The USA’s Susan Dunklee placed 18th in the women’s 10-kilometer Pursuit in very tough snowy conditions with five penalties while no skier shot clean as the IBU World Cup wrapped up in Nove Mesto on Sunday.

Darya Domracheva of Belarus prevailed despite the conditions and four penalties to win over Kaisa Makarainen of Finland in second, also with four penalties, at 6.8 seconds back. Sprint winner Laura Dahlmeier of Germany placed third, with three penalties, at 14.9 seconds behind Domracheva.

Domracheva wins ©

Dunklee began in ninth place at 46 seconds back of the leader, but with two misses at the first prone shooting stage she found herself back in 27th position. A clean round at the second prone stage brought Dunklee back up to 20th as the weather turned to blizzard-like conditions, but she could not gain much ground with three more penalties in the standing stages. Dunklee crossed the line in 18th with a time of 37:12.2.

Susan Dunklee © Nordic Focus

“We saw conditions change between blue skies and full-on blizzard several times during our zero and race,” said Dunklee. “The range was windy and snow got into our sights. The tracks were extremely slow with several inches of new snow which mad passing challenging. It was far from perfect for everybody out there, and that’s what I kept reminding myself during the race.”

Other U.S. finishers included Annelies Cook in 38th (40:20.4/+8) and Hannah Dreissigacker in 41st (40:26.9/+8). No Canadians competed.

Full results here.