Russia's Ekaterina Yurlova has won the 15 kilometer individual rally at the biathlon world championship in Finland on Wednesday.
Yurlova completed the biathlon in 41 minutes and 32.2 seconds, and was the only competitor in the race to not miss a single shot. The gold medal is the first for Russia's national team since 2009.
Yurlova started in the last group and caught up primarily at the end of the race.
"Why is this victory unexpected? Yesterday, during official talks with one of the sponsors, I said that Yurlova will win this race. Everyone thought it was a joke, but she won, so I expected this victory. Maybe your colleagues are all shocked, but I knew a day before the race that Yurlova would win," the President of the Russian Biathlonist Union, Aleksandr Kravtsov told R-Sport.
"This world championship is already the best. At the last championship we had two medals, at the one before that not a single one, so progress is obvious. As it seems to me, we must still improve the result," Russian Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko told R-Sport.
The women's relay race will take place on March 13.