Biathlon (Ladies' 15 km): Norway's Tora Berger claims gold

Whistler (AFP) - Tora Berger claimed Norway's 6th medal of the Winter Games on Thursday after won the women's 15km individual biathlon title.Elena Khrustaleva of Kazakhstan took silver with Darya Domracheva of Belarus took bronze.

Tora Berger set the early pace with just 1 miss on the shooting range and her final time of 40 min 52.8sec was unbeaten at Whistler Olympic Park.In spite of being flawless on the shooting range, Khrustaleva had to settle for silver at 20.7sec behind whereas Domracheva was 3rd with one penalty at 28.2sec back.

Present World Cup leader Helena Jonsson had a day to forget, finishing 49th with 4 misses at more than 5 minutes behind.The expected strong challenge from the Germans never materialized with 3-times gold medalist Kati Wilhelm the closest to a medal in 4th.

Germany's Andrea Henkel had 2 misses on the shooting range which cost the 2002 gold medalist dearly as she attacked Berger's time, and she ended a sizeable 1 min 39.6sec off the pace.And compatriot Magdalena Neuner missed out on claiming her 3rd medal of these Games, after gold in the pursuit and silver in the sprint, with 3 misses on the shooting range leaving her in tenth.

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