By Yegor Glebov
The 7.5km sprint saw the Belarusian break her chain of unsuccessful performances, earning her first medals of the year. Of course, as long as Darya’s marksmanship is on form, all else usually falls into place. The good weather helped her on the shooting ranges and with her speed, allowing her to cover ground at a fantastic pace.
Over the last 2.5km, German Miriam Gцssner slightly lost her lead, inspiring fans to hope for Domracheva closing her nine second gap before the second shooting range. Sadly, Darya only brought the gap to seven seconds, allowing Ms. Gцssner to take sprint gold, despite a penalty lap.
Darya also did well in the mass start, covering the 12.5km distance just 26.7 seconds behind the winner, Norway’s Tora Berger. The latter had just one miss on the shooting range, compared to Darya’s two (1+0+1+0), and finished in 37 minutes 14.4 seconds. Third place went to Russian Olga Zaitseva (1 miss: +37.8 seconds).
After the last shooting range, Ms. Domracheva was in third position, 17 seconds behind Ms. Zaitseva, but closed the gap on the last lap, outstripping her rival by 11 seconds.
After five stages of the IBU World Cup, Darya Domracheva is ranked third overall, with 443 points, behind Norway’s Tora Berger (574 points) and Miriam Gцssner from Germany (471). Darya’s return to form on the shooting ranges places her back in the running for the Big Crystal Globe.
