By Sergey Sokolov
On 3rd January, Ms. Domracheva took first place in the 7.5km sprint; she completed the distance in 23 minutes and 6 seconds, with just one target miss over the two ranges. Second place went to Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen, who was almost 30 seconds behind, with two misses. Ukrainian Yelena Pidgrushnaya came third.
On 4th January, Darya again delighted fans, winning the 10km pursuit despite three misses (two prone and one standing). Her 33 minutes and 36 seconds finish time could not be beaten, with Kaisa Makarainen again coming second (a full 34 seconds behind, with three misses). Norwegian Synnove Solemdal was third, with extra time of 1 minute and 11 seconds, and two misses.
In the final race in the 4th cup stage, on 5th January, the leader of the Belarusian team, Darya Domracheva, came third in the 12.5km mass start, with only one miss across four ranges. She almost caught Norway’s Synnove Solemdal in the final metres, being just only 0.3 seconds behind. Norwegian Tora Berger took first place, with a finish time of 37 minutes and 59 seconds and one miss.
In the overall World Cup standings, Darya is in 4th place, having missed the previous stage in Annecy; she has 284 points, as does Ukrainian Yelena Pidgrushnaya. Czech Gabriela Soukalovб, with 306 points, leads, while Ukrainian Valentina Semerenko occupies second position (304 points) and Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen is third (301 points).
