Bulgarian Wins 15-K in an Upset

Yekaterina Dafovska, an unheralded Bulgarian ranked only 51st in the world, won her country’s first Winter Olympics gold medal Monday in the women’s 15-kilometer individual biathlon.

The silver went to another middle-ranked biathlete, Yelena Petrova of the Ukraine. Ursula Disl of Germany skied and shot her way to a second consecutive bronze medal.

Despite falling snow and a gusting wind, all three missed only one of the 20 targets, which meant cross-country skiing decided the winner.

Dafovska, 22, finished the race in 54 minutes 52.0 seconds. Petrova’s time was 55:09.8 and Disl’s was 55:17.9.

Although snowfall tapered off toward the end of the race, the weather conditions slowed times on the course and made shooting difficult. Some biathletes had to wipe snowflakes from their eyes before pulling the trigger.

Wind was light but changed directions four times.

Sweden’s Magdalena Forsberg, ranked first in the World Cup standings, missed three targets--adding three penalty minutes to her time--and finished only 14th.

The best American effort came from Stacey Wooley, 29, of Newbury, Vt., who finished 55th in a slow time of 1:03:57.3. But she shot well.

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Medalists

Biathlon

Wonen’s 15-K

Gold: Yekaterina Dafovska, Bulgaria

Silver: Yelena Petrova, Ukraine

Bronze: Ursula Disl, Germany