Kuzmina wins 7.5K sprint to extend biathlon World Cup lead

Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia celebrates after winning the women's 7.5 kilometers sprint race at the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018.Jens Meyer / AP

OBERHOF, Germany — Two-time Olympic champion Anastasiya Kuzmina won the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint at a biathlon World Cup for her third victory of the season on Thursday.

The Slovak missed one target in prone shooting and completed the course in 22 minutes, 23.7 seconds. Kuzmina was 35.4 ahead of Kaisa Makarainen of Finland and 40.1 in front of Czech Veronika Vitkova, with both of them also missing one target, Makarainen while standing.

Germany’s Franziska Hildebrand was fourth, 47 seconds off the pace, while Justine Braisaz of France was fifth, 53.4 back after missing two targets in standing.

After nine of 22 competitions, Kuzmina extended her lead in the overall World Cup standings to 362 points, 26 ahead of Braisaz with Makarainen a point further back.

The men’s sprint was scheduled for Friday.