By Yuri Pinchuk
The Belarusian biathlete ran the distance of 10 kilometres with four firing lines without misses, with a time of 31 minutes and 6 seconds. First place went to Andrea Henkel of Germany, who was also faultless on the shooting ground, with 31 minutes and 4 seconds, while the third place was taken by Tora Berger of Norway, who lagged behind the winner by 6.6 seconds. Skardino’s result shows that new talented ‘starts’ are arising in the Belarusian biathlon event. It is especially important in advance of the winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
The leader of the Belarusian national team, Darya Domracheva, was leading the pursuit race after two firing lines in the lying position, but she received four penalty loops, in the standing position and, as a result, was only 5th in the total rating, coming in 30.7 seconds behind the winner.
Two days earlier, participating in the women’s sprint race (7.5 kilometres with two firing lines), Darya shot much better and achieved 3rd place, making it the fifth appearance of the Belarusian biathlete in the top three of the World Cup stages of this season.
