SPORTS

Vermont’s Dunklee earns historic silver in biathlon

AP
Vermont native Susan Dunklee celebrates her silver medal in the Women’s 12.5km Mass Start race at the IBU Biathlon World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, 19 February 2017.

HOCHFILZEN, Austria - Laura Dahlmeier won the world title in the women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start on Sunday, becoming the first athlete to win five gold medals at a single biathlon world championship.

The overall World Cup leader from Germany overtook Vermont native Susan Dunklee, who led most of the race, on the final kilometer and finished in 33 minutes, 13.8 seconds to beat the American by 4.6 seconds.

“It’s gigantic, five gold medals and a silver,” said Dahlmeier, who also won the mixed relay, pursuit, individual competition and women’s relay, and was runner-up in the sprint.

“This is the result from years of hard work. It’s incredible how everything has worked out,” said the German, who has won a medal in 11 straight world championship races in a series that started in Oslo last year.

Dunklee, a 2004 graduate of St. Johnsbury Academy, is the first American woman to capture an individual medal at an Olympics or worlds event, according to NBC Sports.

American Susan Dunklee competes during the 2017 IBU World Championships Biathlon Women's 12,5 km Mass start race in Hochfilzen on February 19 , 2017.

Dunklee is a native of Barton, Vt., and a 2008 graduate of Dartmouth College.

It was the second medal of these championships for the U.S. biathlon team after Lowell Bailey won the men’s 20K individual competition on Thursday for the first ever American gold medal at a major biathlon competition.

“It’s a dream come true,” Dunklee, 31, said. “We’ve believed in the U.S. that we can get these world championships medals in the past. A (U.S.) woman winning a world championships medal is a really big thing. We believed that we could get a gold someday, and Lowell did that this week. We just have all this positive momentum going right now.

“I think watching Lowell win his gold the other day really inspired me. A couple of years ago, he got his first (World Cup) podium in (Kontiolahti, Finland), and one week later I got my first podium in (Oslo, Norway), and I thought of that a couple days ago when he won. I’m like, ‘Wow, there goes Lowell, he did it again; maybe I could get a world champs medal too."

US's Susan Dunklee competes during the 2017 IBU World Championships Biathlon Women's 12,5 km Mass start race in Hochfilzen on February 19 , 2017.

Shooting fast and cleanly in each round, Dunklee first took the lead after the second round of prone shooting. The American stayed ahead of the field and led Dahlmeier by five seconds after leaving the shooting range for the final time. However, Dunklee could not keep up with the German’s pace at skiing.

“I have been working on my shooting speed this year so my shooting is a lot faster and that really paid off today,” said Dunklee, adding she knew Dahlmeier would be the faster skier. “I tried to do everything I could to stay emotionally detached and just keep my patience.”

Germany's winner Laura Dahlmeier, center, America's second placed Susan Dunklee, left, and Finland's third placed Kaisa Makarainen celebrate in the finish area after the women's 12,5 km mass start competition at the Biathlon World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austrian province of Tyrol , Austria, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017.

Former two-time overall World Cup champion Kaisa Makarainen of Finland recovered from a 150-meter penalty loop in her first shooting stage to take the bronze medal, 20.1 behind.

Defending champion Marie Dorin Habert of France was in a leading group of four before missing a target on her final visit to the shooting range and finishing seventh. Olympic champion Darya Domracheva damaged her chances of a podium result with three misses in her second shooting stage.

In the men’s competition, Simon Schempp won the mass start world title on Sunday, raising Germany’s haul at the biathlon world championships to seven gold medals and eight overall.

Schempp led defending champion Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway by nine seconds, while Simon Eder of Austria was one second further behind to take bronze in the men’s 15-kilometer race.

America’s Bailey just missed out on another American medal in Sunday’s concluding event. In third place when leaving the shooting range for the final time, Bailey failed to hold on to his position as he was overtaken by Boe and pre-race favorites Anton Shipulin of Russia and Martin Fourcade of France.