Soukalova tops Olympic gold medalist, wins 15K biathlon World Cup race

Published Nov. 28, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic outraced Olympic gold medalist Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia on the finishing stretch Thursday to win the women's 15-kilometer individual biathlon race in the first World Cup competition of the season.

Soukalova missed two targets to finish the race in 47 minutes, 56 seconds. Kuzmina, who was in the lead after the fourth shooting range, also missed two targets overall but crossed 1.2 seconds behind Soukalova.

Olympic bronze medalist Marie-Laure Brunet of France was in the lead after the third shooting range, but missed a target in the fourth and ended third, 16.2 seconds back.

Tora Berger of Norway, last year's overall World Cup winner, missed five targets and ended in 23rd place.