TNT Sports
Wilhelm the spoiler
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Published 09/12/2005 at 13:18 GMT
Kati Wilhelm denied Russia's Svetlana Ishmouratova of her first World Cup victory, as the German blasted to a dramatic victory in the 7.5km sprint at Hochfilzen. Last year's points leader in the event shot perfect to take the race over Ishmouratova, who e
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The German team dominated the day with Uschi finishing in third 27.5 seconds off of Wilhelm's time of 22 minutes and 30.1 seconds, and Simone Denkinger was right behind in fourth.
After a disappointing performance in the Individual 15km on Wednesday, Germans took six of the top 12 finishes in Friday's sprint.
Disl's third place finish was good to switch positions with France's Sandrine Bailly in the overall World Cup race, with Disl now in second and last year's World Cup champ now in third. Bailly finished 21st on the day.
Olga Zaitseva of Russia stayed atop the standings with a 14th place finish, while Wilhelm moved up four spots into fourth.
Dream crasher
With perfect aim on both of her shoots and a last-gasp dash to stay ahead of Uschi Disl at the finish line, Ishmouratova was in solid position for her long awaited first Cup win.
She pipped Disl's time of 22:57.8 by a mere 1.4 seconds despite having a full 18 second lead over the 2005 Sprint World Champion after two shoots. A win within her grasp, all the Russian could do was wait for Wilhelm.
Unfortunately for the Russian, Wilhelm was also on her marks. The German hit her final five shots to massive cheers from the crowds in Austria, as she went 10-for-10 on the day and gained a massive 24 second lead over Ishmouratova.
Cruising across the finish line, Wilhelm even managed to gain time on Ishmouratova to ultimately finish 26.1 seconds ahead of the Russian.
The 29-year-old Wilhelm, the sprint points leader last season ahead of Bailly and Zaitseva, earned her 10th career World Cup victory.
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