March 22, 2104 (Oslo, Norway) – American Susan Dunklee had a good day at the office as she placed 6^th in the women’s 10km pursuit in Oslo with two penalties at 1:03.4 behind winner Anastasiya Kuzmina (SVK) who won today’s race in 30:29.1, also with two penalties. Tora Berger (NOR) was second at 41.8s behind with four penalties while Olga Vilukhina (RUS) finished third with two penalties at 54.0s behind the winner.

Susan Dunklee (USA) © Nordic Focus

“Two races and two times in the flower ceremony- I could get used to this,” said Dunklee. “The thing I am happiest about with my race today with my ability to stay calm and focused after an unfortunate start. I fell on a big downhill on the first loop and lost time and a couple of my ammo clips, which I had to get replacements for in the range. Over the rest of the race I slowly worked my way back up.”

Canada’s Zina Kocher finished a solid 16th with five penalties at 2:18.7 behind followed directly by teammmate Rosanna Crawford in 17th with four penalties at 2:21.0 back. Megan Heinicke (CAN) did not start.

Darya Domracheva (BLR) took an early lead as Kuzmina and Vilukhina were not far behind with Berger further back with four penalties. Dunklee moved into third ahead of Vilukhina but the final standing changed the order as Domracheva faltered with three penalties while Kuzmina cleaned to take the lead.

Vilukhina also cleaned the targets as did Berger but Dunklee suffered a penalty as well. Berger charged ahead to take second behind Kuzmina as Vilukhina took 3rd and Dunklee settled for 6th behind Domracheva in 5th.

Berger is now only 10 points behind Kaisa Makarainen (FIN) for the overall series title with one race remaining meaning more fireworks are in store for Sunday.

Two-time Olympian Sara Studebaker from Boise, ID, finished 44^th with four penalties, marking the final race of her career as she is retiring at the conclusion of the 2013-14 season.

“Today was a solid effort for me and I am happy to have that as my last race,” said Studebaker. “It was definitely a strange feeling to cross the finish line for the last time, but it also felt right. The atmosphere in Oslo is amazing – it’s the perfect place to end. I’ve had a career that I’m really proud of and I’m so thankful to all those who have supported me along the way. I’m looking forward to the next phase of life, and definitely continuing to be involved in biathlon!”

Full results here.