Impressive win for Domracheva in mass start

Belarus' leading biathlete Darya Domracheva came back from three prone penalties to win the women's mass start at BMW IBU World Cup Biathlon 4 in Oberhof.

The Belarusian covered the 12.5K distance in 41:36.6, with four total penalties. Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic finished second, with two penalties, 14.9 seconds back, while Tiril Eckhoff of Norway finished third, with two penalties, 21.7 seconds back.

It is the third win for Darya Domracheva at the 2014/15 IBU World Cup. She claimed victory at the women's 15K individual race during BMW IBU World Cup Biathlon 1 in Ostersund, Sweden on 4 December and dominated at the 10K Pursuit at BMW IBU World Cup Biathlon 3 in Pokljuka, Slovenia on 20 December.

Nadezhda Skardino of Belarus finished 24th, 3:31.4 back, with five penalties.

Darya Domracheva and leader in the IBU World Cup standings Kaisa Makarainen led from the start. Both had two penalties, while Nadezhda Skardino cleaned and reached the second shooting range in the lead. She had two penalties and lost her position. Domracheva had one penalty and raced after the pack of leaders. Soon enough she reduced the gap and was one of the three leading racers together with Jana Gerekova of Slovakia and Czech's Veronika Vitkova after the first standing stage. Having one penalty the Belarusian left the final shooting stage in the second position, behind Jana Gerekova. The Slovak, however, was quickly moved by those who had penalties in the fourth shooting stage. Domracheva grabbed the lead with two kilometers to run and held it until she crossed the finish line.

In the IBU World Cup overall standings Darya Domracheva goes 2nd, up from the 4th position, with the total of 386 points. Kaisa Makarainen of Finland still leads the table with 486 points. She finished fourth in mass start, 25.9 seconds back, with four penalties. Ukraine's Valentina Semerenko is third in the IBU World Cup overall standings with 366 points.