February 11, 2016 (Presque Isle, Maine) – American Susan Dunklee was the talk of the town with perfect shooting for a historic career-best, and team-best, silver-medal performance in the 7.5km women’s Sprint at the BMW IBU World Cup 8 in Presque Isle, Maine. Series’ leader, Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic won with clean shooting as well.

It was the first World Cup held on American soil in four years and Dunklee, a Vermont native, certainly gave the partisan crowd plenty to cheer about. One of only eight competitors in the 88-woman field to hit all 10 targets Dunklee finished 17.8 seconds behind winner. Third place went to clean-shooting Krystyna Guzik of Poland at 19.1 seconds behind Soukalova.

Dunklee was all smiles after each round of shooting after coming away clean, and the smile grew even bigger as she completed the final lap. “This was a dream come true,” she beamed. “To have my family here and the supportive crowd, what a wonderful feeling.”

That crowd made it a little more difficult to stay focused during the shooting but Dunklee worked through it. “I was much more aware of the crowd and had to really refocus on the trigger squeeze and follow through and it worked out for me.”  Dunklee took advantage of the technical nature of the course which plays into her strengths. “When I saw the track, I loved it. This is my course.” Dunklee actually sat in second place after the first shooting and held on to grab the silver podium position. Her third trip around was only seventeenth best, but it was just enough.

Soukalova, the most consistent IBU World Cup woman this season, continued with her winning form shooting clean as well – she’s had no finishes lower than eighth place. Sitting in third place after cleaning in prone, Soukalova turned her 4.8 second deficit into a 9.2-second lead after hitting all targets in standing, as she cruised home on the final lap for a 17.8 second win over Dunklee.

“I was tired after the long trip (from Canmore) but I started feeling good in the ski. I was very lucky. We had good conditions and I had good skis,” shared Soukalova who had a plan. “To stay clean, I imagined that this was training… and I shot well. I also had to change the color of my hair to ski faster in these tracks,” she quipped.

The American squad saw solid finishes from their other starters as two of the remaining three qualified for the pursuit competition to be held on Friday. Hannah Dreissigacker had one miss in the prone on her way to a twenty-seventh place finish just 1:33.7 behind the leader.

Clare Egan, a Maine native competing in her home state, was solid in 32nd and with one miss in standing will start 1:38.5 behind Soukalova. “I was pleased with my performance today,” stated Egan. “I thought it went well.”  Maddy Phaneuf, who recently moved up from the junior ranks, finished in sixty-fifth just out of the running for the pursuit.

For the Canadian squad, Zina Kocher finished 42nd despite a pair of misses in prone and another standing which cost her 1:28.4 on the penalty loops. She actually skied the third fastest final lap to climb the leaderboard. Kocher will be the only Canadian woman in the pursuit competition on Friday and will start at 2:20.0 behind Soukalova.

Emma Lunder ended up in 68th with two misses, while Audrey Vailancourt finished in 80th despite a single miss in the prone position. Erin Yungblut struggled on the range and finished in 87th having a single miss prone and three misses in standing.

All of the competitors benefited from light consistent winds and moderately cool temperatures. Temperatures hovered around -7 during the race with slightly overcast conditions. Temperatures are expected to drop for Friday with highs only supposed to reach -13.

Results here.