December 01, 2010 (Östersund, Sweden) – The USA’s Laura Spector (Lennox, MA) finished 25th in the women’s 15km race at the 2010-2011 IBU World Cup season opener in Östersund, Sweden. Anna Carin Zidek (SWE), who shot clean, won with a time of 45:26.1 over Marie Laure Brunet of France in second and Helena Ekhold (SWE) in third. The top Canadian was Zina Kocher in 49th.

It was Spector’s personal best result as the full-time Dartmouth College student only missed one shot. “It was not only my best race when it comes to shooting, it also was my best race ever. So of course I feel great about that. I started with one miss so that could actually get to you. But somehow I focused on the skiing and shooting just at the right moments so it worked great,” Spector said.

Canada’s Rosanna Crawford finished in 69th followed by Sara Studebaker in 72nd and Megan Imrie (Can) in 83rd. “I was among the ones that caught the stomach parasite through the drinking water here,” said Studebaker. “I am happy that I am over with the first race of the season. It takes some pressure away. There’s definitively more to come!”

Spector’s great performance came despite juggling a tough a academic and training schedule over the past few months. “I’ll actually have my final exam in biology here in Östersund. I will be at the university here on Friday and Saturday and my U.S. professors will send me the documents,” she added.

Full results HERE.