Skardino takes first biathlon World Cup win

Published Nov. 29, 2017 3:10 p.m. ET

OSTERSUND, Sweden (AP) Nadezhda Skardino earned her first career victory in the biathlon World Cup on Wednesday by winning a women's 15-kilometer individual race.

The Belarusian won by 2.9 seconds from Norway's Synnoeve Solemdal, who was in her first World Cup race for more than a year following severe illnesses.

Third place went to Yulia Dzhyma of Ukraine, who was 12 seconds off the lead.

The top three all completed the race without missing a single shot, but had to contend with temperatures as low as -11 Celsius (12 Fahrenheit).

It was the first individual race of the season after the World Cup began Sunday with mixed relays won by Norway and Austria. There will be a men's 20K individual Thursday.