Wierer claims maiden IBU World Cup gold with 15km success in Östersund

Italy's Dorothea Wierer claimed her maiden IBU World Cup gold by winning the women's 15km event ©IBU

Italy's Dorothea Wierer secured her maiden International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup victory as she shot clean on her way to taking gold in the women’s 15 kilometres individual event in Östersund, Sweden.

Wierer shrugged off the difficult conditions to finish in a time of 42min 17sec, coming home ahead of 10km and 7.5km pursuit world champion Marie Dorin Habert of France, who ended with two penalties.

Olena Pidhrushna of Ukraine recovered from a tough start by powering round the final loop to clinch bronze, 37.8 seconds adrift of the winning time, edging Norway's Tiril Eckhoff, who also amassed two penalties during the race.

The weather in Östersund was clear but the wind still caused problems for the competitors but Gabriela Soukalova of Czech Republic moved into an early lead after three clean shooting stages saw her seize the initiative.

The rest of the main challengers were further behind amid the 103-strong field, including Kaisa Mäkäräinen of Finland, who won 10km pursuit gold in 2011.

Marie Dorin Habert of France came through to take silver ©IBU

The Finnish biathlete took the advantage from Soukalova as she cleared the first prone stage with ease to edge ahead of Dorin Habert, Eckhoff and the Czech.

The first standing phase began to shape the top 10 positions as Fanny Birkeland of Norway dropped all five targets for the second time, putting her into a short-lived lead over Soukalova and Wierer, who managed to sail through the stage by shooting clean.

The Italian trailed the Czech by 3.5 seconds, with Dorin Habert over a minute behind, but the final shooting stage proved to be decisive.

Soukalova missed one of her five shots which saw her surrender top sport as Frenchwoman Dorin Habert emerged as a contender, but it was Wierer who led by 46 seconds thanks to shooting clean in rapid time.

That saw Wierer open up an insurmountable lead and the final loop decided the rest of the podium positions as Dorin Habert powered through to claim silver ahead of Pidhrushna.

The event in Östersund is due to continue on Saturday (December 5) with the men’s 10km sprint following a rest day tomorrow.