March 22, 2015 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – The USA’s Susan Dunklee capped off the season with a 19th-place finish in the women’s 12.5km Mass Start at the final event of the IBU World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia won by Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier with clean shooting.

Susan Dunklee (USA) © Nordic Focus

Second place went to Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic, also shooting clean at 7.1 seconds back. Marie Dorin Habert of France, a two-time world champion, finished third with two penalties at 19.9 seconds behind.

Final W Mst podium © Nordic Focus

Darya Domracheva (Belarus) in fourth sealed her first-ever World Cup overall title. Hannah Dreissigacker (USA) finished 26th with six penalties while Canada’s Rosanna Crawford was caught up in an early crash and DNF’d as her day ended early.

Athough conditions were calm and mild for the final race of the season, both U.S. athletes struggled at the shooting range with neither posting a clean round in four attempts. Dunklee missed four targets in prone and another two in standing, but made up for it with some exceptional skiing. She posted the fifth-fastest course time for the day, including the fastest second lap. She was also grateful to avoid a large crash on the first loop that hampered several of the competitors including Canada’s Crawford.

Post-crash Rosanna Crawford (r) with Tom Zidek ©

“(I) left it all out on the course today and I’m thankful I didn’t get tangled in the big crash,” said Dunklee. “We fought hard all the way through the end of the season and we are proud of our efforts. After four-plus months of living out of our duffle bags in Europe and Russia, it will be a real treat to see home again. Personally, I’m looking forward to a pancake breakfast with real Vermont maple syrup!”

Darya Domracheva (BLR) © Nordic Focus

Dunklee was the top North American overall in 17th followed by Crawford in 21st, Megan Heinicke (CAN) was 37th, Dreissigacker finished 53rd, 72 Annalies Cook was 72nd, Audrey Vaillancourt (CAN) was 78th and Clare Egan (USA) was 96th.

Women’s mass start results here.
Overall Standings here.