KONTIOLAHTI, Finland (March 11, 2015) - Susan Dunklee (Barton, Vt.) led the charge for the U.S. women's team with a 12th-place finish in Wednesday's 15-kilometer individual race at the IBU World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland. It marked the third career top-15 finish for Dunklee in the event.

After a warm afternoon, a cold front moved through leaving behind calm winds and clear skies for the evening competition under the lights.

Dunklee was the 37th competitor out of the starting gate among the 101 starters and struggled at the first prone shooting stage, missing two of the five targets, good for only 80th place among the field through that point in the race. But Dunklee put the pedal to the metal on the skis to make up the penalty time. She turned in the fourth fastest lap 2, and fifth-fastest lap 3 in the field. Combined with going clean over her next 10 targets, Dunklee quickly moved up the ranks. Even with one miss at the final standing shooting stage, she was in 11th place as she exited the range for the final time. Her sixth-fastest course time for the day moved her up to ninth place as Dunklee crossed the line, but would eventually be bumped down to 12th with a time of 44:15.2. Dunklee's result earned her a start in Sunday's 12.5k mass start event.

"My race got off to an inauspicious start in the first prone with two minutes worth of penalties," said Dunklee. "I got lucky and caught an awesome ride for a few loops, skiing in a fast pack with Laura Dahlmeier and Valj Semerenko. That helped me stay focused. Most of my remaining shots found their way home to the target and I'm happy to report I eeked into the mass start with bib 30!"

Ekaterina Yurlova stunned the frontrunners by starting near the end of the competitors and being the only athlete to shoot clean as she won the gold medal with a time of 41:33.2. It was Yurlova's first podium and first victory of the 30-year-old's career. The silver medal want to Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic, with one penalty, 32.2 seconds back. Local favorite Kaisa Makarainen of Finland claimed the bronze medal, with two penalties, 24.8 behind Yurlova.

Annelies Cook (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) was among the early starters, going third off the line, and it seemed to suit her well as she went clean in the first three shooting stages, hitting all 15 targets. In fact, she had the sixth-fastest time in the field through those first three shooting stages, but the final standing stage proved to be Cook's downfall as she missed four of the five targets and would eventually finish 47th with a time of 46:59.0.

Team USA rookie Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) also got off to a strong start as she nailed her first 10 targets without a miss. But two misses at each of the final two stages knocked her down to 51st place in a time of 47:17.9. Hannah Dreissigacker (Morrisville, Vt.) rounded out the American competitors in 67th place (48:21.9/+5). Full women's individual results are available here.

The IBU World Championships presented by BMW resume on Thursday with the men's 20k individual race. The race will be streamed live on Eurovision, beginning at 12:15 p.m. EDT, with English commentary by Chad Salmela. See the broadcast schedule below for the live streams on Eurovision and the highlight packages on the Universal Sports Network.

Women's 15km individual

Broadcast schedule

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