March 11, 2015 (Kontiolahti, FIN) – Ekaterina Yurlova (RUS), 30, stunned the frontrunners being the only athlete to shoot clean as she won gold in the women’s 15km individual race at the 2015 IBU World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland. It was Yurlova’s first major podium and the first victory of her career.

Ekaterina Yurlova ©

The silver went to Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic, with one penalty at 23.2 seconds back while local favourite, Kaisa Makarainen of Finland, claimed the bronze with two penalties at 24.8s behind the winner.

American Susan Dunklee led the charge for the U.S. women’s team with a 12th-place finish at  2:43 behind with three penalties, marking the third career top-15 finish for her in the event.

“My race got off to an inauspicious start in the first prone with two minutes worth of penalties,” said Dunklee. “I got lucky and caught an awesome ride for a few loops, skiing in a fast pack with Laura Dahlmeier and Valj Semerenko. That helped me stay focused. Most of my remaining shots found their way home to the target and I’m happy to report I eeked into the mass start with bib 30.”

Dunklee ©

Canada’s Megan Heinicke, 26, who is enjoying one of her strongest World Cup seasons, missed just one target in the final standing to place a solid 21st.

“That was a great race by Megan with fantastic shooting,” said Chris Lindsay, high-performance director, Biathlon Canada, who added it was Heinicke’s personal best for a World Championship or Olympic start.

The USA’s Annelies Cook had the sixth-fastest time following the first three shooting stages, but in the final standing stage she missed four of the five targets to finish 47th. US rookie Clare Egan was 51st, Hannah Dreissigacker was 67th, Canada’s Audrey Vaillancourt was 79th, Julia Ransom placed 84th and Rosanna Crawford was 87th

Full women’s results here.