Biathlon: Skardzina wins bronze medal at mass start in Pokljuka (video)
Belarus star Darya Domracheva dropped out of the race due to problems with her rifle after a fall.
A women’s mass start was organized in Pokljuka, Slovenia on December 21. It was part of the 3rd round of the Biathlon World Cup.
Belarusian biathlete Nadzeya Skardzina was #16 and her teammate Darya Domracheva – #2. However, Domracheva encountered problems at the first shooting line and fell down afterwards. She damaged her rifle. Nadzeya Skardzina hit all the targets and continued the race in the 10th position.
Domracheva had her rifle replaced at the second firing line but it made her lose time. The Belarusian already had 4 penalty laps and was behind the leader of the race (Finn Kaisa Mäkäräinen) by more than 3 minutes. Skardzina was successful at shooting again and continued at the third position.
Domracheva dropped out in the middle of the race – she was at the last position. Nadzeya Skardzina hit all the targets at the 3rd and 4th firing lines and managed to make it to the top-3. She was behind the winner (Kaisa Mäkäräinen) by 15.8 seconds and behind the silver medal winner (Anaïs Bescond from France) by 8.2 seconds. Thus, Skardzina won a bronze medal in the mass start in Pokljuka.
