Darya Domracheva wins her third gold medal in women’s biathlon

SOCHI, Russia — Darya Domracheva of Belarus completed an unprecedented hat trick of Olympic gold medals in women’s biathlon by winning the 12.5-kilometer mass start race on Monday.

Domracheva, who also won the pursuit and individual race last week, took the lead after four minutes and stayed ahead of the field before finishing in 35 minutes, 25.6 seconds.

Gabriela Soukalova of Czech Republic was 20.2 seconds behind for silver and Tiril Eckhoff of Norway finished 27.3 behind for bronze.

The overall record for most biathlon gold medals in one Olympics is held by Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway, who won four events at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Domracheva is also expected to compete in the relay, but Belarus is not among the favorites for gold.

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