Kuzmina bounces back for first sprint win in Holmenkollen

BySportsbeat

Published 15/03/2018 at 18:44 GMT

Slovakia's Anastasiya Kuzmina came back from a prone penalty to win the 7.5km sprint in Holmenkollen, Oslo, on Thursday afternoon, with just that single error.

Eurosport

Image credit: Eurosport

The Slovak stopped the clock in 21:31.8, with Darya Domracheva of Belarus in second, 9.9 seconds back, while Ukraine's Juliya Dzhyma was third, 29.2 seconds back.

Kuzmina's win today was her fourth win at Holmenkollen but her first sprint victory, having won the season-ending pursuit and mass start in March 2014.

The victory solidified Kuzmina's top spot in the World Cup sprint standings.

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Susan Dunklee of the USA also shot clean to finish in a season-best fourth place, with Japan's Fuyuko Tachizaki in fifth place and Germany's Franziska Hildebrand sixth.

Kuzmina finished 13th in the sprint event in PyeongChang, having won gold in Vancouver and Sochi, but still left South Korea with gold in the mass start, as well as silvers in individual and pursuit.

And she explained the difference between this week and her sub-par results last week: "After the Olympics, I was so tired and spent so much time at home with my children and meeting with the people and sponsors.

"Then I went to Kontiolahti and was almost homesick but here, I started to refresh my mind; the body is still strong. I can go be strong on the tracks. My skis were perfect again today.

"One mistake on the shooting range was not good but good enough. I did not look to the right or left today or see what the other competitors did. I just did what I had to do today."

Second-placed Domracheva added: "It is much nicer than last week; almost spring-like here in Holmenkollen. I really like that there were so many kids, the huge crowd to support us.

"That brings some fresh emotions and energy. I am very happy about my race, especially about the clean shooting. It is always a good feeling when you hit all of the targets."

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