Ukaleq Slettemark was the better of Denmark's two biathletes when she and Anne de Besche competed in their first competition at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.
In the 15-kilometer individual competition, the Greenlander had set her sights perfectly and missed only one of 20 shots from the shooting range.
This meant that she was given just one penalty minute, which helped her finish ahead of Anne de Besche in the overall standings.
Ukaleq Slettemark finished in 52nd place, while Anne de Besche came in 70th. Frenchwoman Julia Simon won gold.
- It was really cool. There was a really good atmosphere in the stadium. I felt pretty good on the track. It was a fantastic day, says a smiling Ukaleq Slettemark, who despite a miss was satisfied with her shooting, to TV 2.
Shooting is also Ukaleq Slettemark's specialty. The Greenlandic biathlete executes her shots at a furious pace and is among the best in the world in that regard.
However, in the ski track she lacks some speed to keep up with the best - and so does Anne de Besche, who last year decided to represent Denmark instead of Norway, where she just couldn't get her foot in the door of the strong Norwegian national team.
Anne de Besche is really fast on her skis, but needs to find improvements in her shooting to match Ukaleq Slettemark. In Wednesday's race she hit the target on all five of her first shots, but ended up with a total of four misses and thus four penalty minutes.
This meant that she had to watch Ukaleq Slettemark run with the best Danish position. At the finish line, the Greenlander was 1 minute and 41.4 seconds better than Anne de Besche.
Both Ukaleq Slettemark and Anne de Besche will be on the track again on Saturday, February 14, when the sprint discipline will be held. Here, the two will climb 7.5 kilometers.
/ritzau/
