German biathlete Magdalena Neuner won the 10 km pursuit at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver on Tuesday, avenging Anastasia Kuzmina's victory in the sprint event three days earlier.
Kuzmina, who was born in Russia's Tyumen but competes for Slovakia, finished second in a reverse of the 7.5 km sprint results from Saturday.
Neuner finished in 30:16.0, with Kuzmina 12.3 seconds behind and France's Marie Laure Brunet winning bronze a further 16 seconds back. Both Neuner and Kuzmina missed two targets, while Brunet was boosted by her perfect shooting.
The top Russian was Anna Bulygina, who started in fourth but finished sixth, followed by Olga Zaitseva in seventh. The staggered start is based on the sprint results, which Kuzmina won by 2 seconds over Neuner. Bulygina started 12 seconds behind Kuzmina, while Brunet began alongside Zaitseva, 28 seconds back.
Russia has yet to medal in three biathlon races in Vancouver, and the sequence looks set to continue in the men's 12.5 km pursuit later on Tuesday with the leading Russian, Ivan Tcherezov, starting in 10th place, 1:18 behind the 10 km sprint winner Vincent Jay of France.
MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti)
