Germany dominate women's biathlon

Kati Wilhelm won the women's sprint competition Saturday, as Germany dominated the opening of a Biathlon World Championships hit by both warm weather and a doping controversy.

The World Cup leader shot cleanly and sped to finish in 21 minutes and 11.1 seconds, 9.9 seconds ahead of teammate Simone Hauswald, who also hit all targets. Olga Zaitseva of Russia was third, 27.1 seconds behind Wilhelm, also with a clean shoot.

Germany also had Andrea Henkel in sixth place and Magdalena Neuner in 8th. Neuner had the fastest course time but was set back by three missed shots.

Wilhelm cried on the podium. It was the 32-year-old's first individual world championships gold in 8 years. "The medal ceremony was quite the same," Wilhelm said, laughing. "It was a long time and I worked hard to come back on the podium in the world champs."

World champion Yekaterina Iourieva and her Russian teammates Albina Akhatova and Dmitri Yaroshenko were barred from the world championships after testing positive for banned substances in a systematic doping scheme, the International Biathlon Union said Friday.

They face possible two-year bans that could rule them out of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

"It is a really very difficult situation and of course I'm also concerned about having it in our team," Zaitseva said, declining to discuss the doping issue further. "I cannot support my colleagues, but I cannot judge them either."

Hard rain and warm temperatures on Friday depleted the race tracks in the resort town of Pyeongchang, forcing training and the opening ceremony to be canceled.

Crews worked through the night to produce more snow, using dump trucks to ferry large mounds to the track. By mid-Saturday, temperatures had retreated below zero, allowing the contest to go ahead.

"I thought maybe to change the day so we could race tomorrow, so maybe the conditions would be better," Wilhelm said. "So I was not really happy because I don't like the soft conditions. I was very nervous. But I'm very happy with the result."

Hauswald came back from health problems in January to take the silver, dedicating it to her mother, who is Korean.

"It's a very special medal for me," Hauswald said.

The men's sprint competition was to take place later Saturday.