Tora Berger wins 3rd gold at biathlon worlds

Defending champion Tora Berger of Norway won the women's individual race on Wednesday for her third gold medal at the biathlon world championships.

The Olympic champion in the discipline shot clean in snowy conditions to complete the 15-kilometre course in 44 minutes, 52.5 in seconds.

"It was a little harder on the track today," Berger said. "But I did really great at the shooting range. It was a perfect day."

She also won gold in the mixed relay on Thursday and the pursuit race on Sunday plus took silver in Saturday's sprint.

Andrea Henkel of Germany also made no errors on the shooting range to finish 52.7 seconds behind in second place. Valj Semerenko of Ukraine missed one target to trail 1:42.5 behind Berger in third. One missed target means one minute added to the final time.