March 06, 2016 (Oslo, Norway) – The USA’s Susan Dunklee enjoyed her best sprint finish ever at the IBU World Championships on Saturday placing eighth in the women’s 7.5km race with one penalty. Rosanna Crawford was the lone Canadian in the top-30 hitting nine of 10 targets while skiing to 29th spot.

Susan Dunklee (USA) © Nordic Focus

Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff shot clean to thrill the boisterous hometown crowd with a gold medal. Eckhoff clocked the winning time at 21:10.8. Marie Dorin Habert, of France, also had a perfect day of shooting to help her win the silver medal at 21:25.8. Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier missed one in her opening round of shooting, but rebounded to win the bronze medal at 21:30.6.

W Podium © Nordic Focus

“Everything is going as I had hoped,” said Dunklee who’s previous best at a World Championships sprint was 42nd at last year’s event. “My body feels good, I feel confident on the shooting range, and there are lots of positive vibes coming from the huge Norwegian crowd. I’m excited to see what the next few days bring.”

Rosanna Crawford © Angus Cockney

Hannah Dreissigacker also enjoyed a career-best day at the World Championships with an 18th place finish with clean shooting and a time of 22:28.8. Her previous best was a 56th place in the individual race at the 2013 World Championships.

“It was a decent race for me. I had some trouble with prone during zeroing so to come away with one miss is okay considering,” said Crawford. “The skiing felt a lot better than it turned out to be. I was quite surprised to be only 29th with one miss. The skis were good, and I felt like I attacked the course well.”

Tim Burke © Dave Allen

In the men’s 10km sprint, the USA’s Tim Burke was the top North American in 14th with one miss on the range. Also having a personal best day for Team USA was Leif Nordgren with an 18th-place finish. Nordgren hit all 10 targets – his previous best sprint finish at a World Championships was 26th back in 2011.

M Podium © Nordic Focus

Martin Fourcade, of France, hit 10 of 10 to win the World Championship crown with a time of 25:35.4. Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was also clean in shooting to win the silver medal at 26:02.3. The Ukraine’s Sergey Semenov finished 27.6 seconds off the leading pace in third at 26:03.0 (0+0).

Crawford’s boyfriend, Brendan Green, 29, was the top Canadian in the men’s race finishing 35th spot with one penalty.

Women’s results here.
Men’s results