By Igor Leshin
In the 15km, across four shooting ranges, the Belarusian biathlete missed two targets, leading to a final time of 45 minutes 45.2 seconds. Behind her were Russian Olga Zaitseva and Norwegian Tora Berger.
Besides skiing at her habitually high speed, Darya demonstrated accurate shooting at three shooting ranges, making her two misses only at the final stage. However, this didn’t prevent her from achieving a confident victory, outstripping Olga Zaitseva of Russia by more than 30 seconds, despite Olga’s perfect marksmanship. The win is the twelfth for Domracheva to date and her second this season.
The sprint race saw Darya in fifth place, under the most difficult weather conditions. In the 7.5km, with two shooting ranges, Ms. Domracheva made one miss, producing a result of 25 minutes 46.9 seconds: 18.2 seconds behind winner Magdalena Gwizdon of Poland (no misses). Anastasiya Kuzmina from Slovakia came second, followed by Norwegian Tora Berger.
The relay took place on the final day of the competition, in which the Belarusian women’s team finished eighth. The Belarusian squad took two penalty loops and seven additional cartridges, with a time of 1 hour 12 minutes 24.1 seconds. This was 2 minutes 57 seconds behind Germany, who won with a time of 1 hour 9 minutes 27.1 seconds and just one penalty loop. Those from Ukraine came second: no penalty loops, 6 additional cartridges and 11.9 seconds behind Germany. Norway was third, with no penalty loops, 10 additional cartridges and +21.2 seconds.
In the current World Cup, Darya Domracheva has claimed nine medals: two gold, five silver and two bronze. Overall, Tora Berger leads, with 1,165 points, making it likely that she will be awarded the Big Crystal Globe. Ms. Domracheva is ranked second, with 848 points, followed by German Andrea Henkel (742).
