Biathlon: Women's 15km Individual Recap

Belarus continued its domination of the women's biathlon, winning gold again and a bronze in today's race.

Belarus continued its dominance of the women's biathlon, winning gold again and a bronze in today's individual 15 km.

Much like the men's races, we had a repeat gold medalist today: Darya Domracheva, who was a full minute and 15 seconds ahead of second place finisher, Switzerland's Selina Gasparin. What's even more impressive is that Domracheva missed one target, giving her a minute penalty. Gasparin didn't miss any. Nor did third place's Nadezhda Skardino.

"We have a really good team," Domracheva told the AP. "And the Olympic races are not over yet. I am relaxed now and want to enjoy the next races."

Ukraine's Olena Pidhrushna didn't make the podium, but she did get a top 10 finish, her first of these otherwise disappointing games. Surprisingly, none of Norway's women could manage the same. Pursuit silver medalist Tora Berger was the country's best, and she fell all the way to 16 after missing three targets.

Darya Domracheva dances when she wins, which is often (AP)

And the Americans continued to underwhelm. Susan Dunklee, whose fast skiing in the pursuit nearly got her a top 10 or even five finish until she missed three targets in the last shoot and dropped to 18, finished 34th. She missed five targets. Hannah Dreissigacker was our best at 23, missing only two targets. Sara Studebaker came in 55th with four misses, and Lanny Barnes, whose twin sister Tracy gave up her spot in the games so she could compete, was 64 with three misses.

"I went out there to give everything I had for her and ended up dying a slow, painful death, but you've got to for it and I was going for it for her," Lanny said.

Complete standings can be found at Sochi's official site and more stats and analyses can be found at Real Biathlon.

From left to right: Selina Gasparin, Darya Domracheva and Nadezhda Skardino  (AP)

More Sochi Day 7 action in The Wire's live blog.