Domracheva wins opener

The 25-year-old Olympic bronze medallist from Vancouver 2010 laid down the gauntlet to her more illustrious rivals in the women’s 15k event as she came home in a time of 47:15.6 minutes.

Sweden’s Anna Maria Nilsson claimed silver in front of her home crowd, her first ever World Cup podium, and two-time Olympic champion Magdalena Neuner was third but both competitors were over a minute down on the Belarusian.

Domracheva’s margin of victory was even more impressive considering she was far from faultless on the shooting range, incurring two penalties in the four rounds, but her powerful skiing blew away the field.

Neuner, the youngest ever overall World Cup champion three years ago, looked the strongest in the opening stages but some wayward shooting cost her dear and she was forced to settle for bronze in the end.

Elsewhere, reigning overall World Cup champion Kaisa Mäkäräinen from Finland ended up fourth after four misses on the range while Oestersund’s favourite daughter Helena Ekholm, third in the overall World Cup standings last year, struggled in the windy conditions and could only manage seventh.