Hanna Oeberg of Sweden shot clean and surprised all of the big name favorites this afternoon to win the women’s 15K individual in 38:27.3, her career-first first victory and podium. Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia, with two penalties, won her second Silver medal of these Games, 24.7 seconds back. Sprint/pursuit double Gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier of Germany won the Bronze medal, 59.7 seconds back.

Dahlmeier’s teammate Franziska Preuss, without a miss, finished fourth, 59.7 seconds back, while Kuzmina’s teammate Paulina Fialkova, with one penalty was fifth, 1:02.3 back. Sixth place went to Poland’s Monika Hojnisz, also with one penalty, 1:54.8 back.

Nice Afternoon

After yesterday’s postponement, the women were treated to a daylight start, the first of these Games and a bonus. The weather took a turn for the good, with clear skies, temperatures just at freezing and a lighter breeze than in the previous competitions.Despite the lighter wind, everyone seemed to be taking a few clicks before shooting their first prone stage. By the finish, only three women shot clean, Oeberg, Preuss and Slovenia’s Urska Poje.

Kuzmina on TopEarly starter pursuit Silver medalist Kuzmina took the lead with a strong clean prone stage, 20 seconds ahead of the field. As the competition progressed, Darya Domracheva cleaned as did Hanna Oeberg and Weronika Nowakowska. Wierer, wearing number 69 showed her form with a clean fast stage, making her the second fastest through the first stage. Number 80 Dahlmeier had a single penalty, putting her at an immediate disadvantage. She commented on that penalty. “I had this miss and I tried to keep focused. I know that with on miss you can still reach the podium, but it is better to have none. So, I tried to focus on each shot.”

Dahlmeier Moves UpA first standing stage penalty dropped the Slovak off the top of the standings, as Domracheva, not skiing as fast moved up with a second clean stage. Oeberg and Nowakowska, starting before the Belarusian both cleaned, putting them in second and fourth, surrounding Kuzmina. Wierer fell out of the top group with a single miss, but was skiing very fast. Dahlmeier recovered with a steady clean standing stage, moving her from 34th to 10th.

Oeberg Takes OverKuzmina missed a shot in the second prone, adding a minute to her time, despite her fast skiing. Nowakowska was the first to go 15-for-15; Oeberg followed, matching, and taking a 32 second lead. Domracheva missed one shot, dropping her to fourth behind Kuzmina. Nadezhda Skardino was the next women to shoot clean, putting her just a few seconds behind her teammate. With Oeberg in the lead, Wierer made a challenge, cleaning and moving up to third for a couple of minutes. Preuss, slowly moving up the standings closed the five targets to jump into second position, just 20.8 seconds behind the young Swede. Dahlmeier matched, moved into the third spot, but remained 32 seconds back.

Final Standing: Smile and the LeadThe Slovak star came to the final standing stage, dropped the first four targets, and hesitated for about 15 seconds before closing the final one, giving her an 18-for-20 day. The Polish biathlete missed two shots, dropping her out of contention.

Oeberg, calm, cool and collected, went 5-for-5 in the final standing; she smiled broadly as the last one closed and headed home with the lead. Domracheva missed three shots and fell out of the medals race, leaving Oeberg and Kuzmina at the top of the leader board. Slovakia suddenly had two athletes in medal contention as Fialkova cleaned the final standing stage. After being well behind during the whole competition with a first stage penalty. Skardino had a single miss that threw her out of the podium hunt. Wierer shot fast, added a minute penalty and dropped out of contention. Preuss continued her run with another five shots in the black, leaving in third. Yet Dahlmeier had something to say, another clean stage, moving into second, 31.2 seconds behind the young Swede with 3K of hard packed snow to go. However the double Olympic Gold medalist was slowing down, with each meter; she slipped into the third spot with 1400 meters to go.

Podium SetKuzmina was the first to finish, but her lead was short-lived; Oeberg ahead since the second prone stage moved into the top spot next, with a 35.1second lead. Fialkova, finishing shortly after Oeberg, solidified her claim on a medal, crossing in third place, but was later eclipsed by Preuss. Then Dahlmeier, visibly tired, came into the stadium and crossed the finish line with her third medal, this time Bronze