10 kilometres Pursuit, Women

This was a new Olympic event which consisted of the skiers going off in the order of their finish in the 10 km sprint. The leader in that event starts off, and then every skier after him would start behind by the time margin from the sprint. Only the top 60 finishers from the sprint were eligible to start, but in reality, many of the lower finishers would elect not to start this race. For the women, only 52 eventually started in Salt Lake City. The pursuit had been contested at the World Championships since 1997.

Geman Kati Wilhelm had won the sprint and started first, 16 seconds ahead of her teammate Uschi Disl. Disl would fold, done in by seven missed targets, and eventually placed ninth. Olga Pyleva had been only eighth in the sprint, and started 1:03 behind Wilhelm. But she missed only one target in the pursuit section, and with Wilhelm missing four, including three of her first five, Pyleva powered ahead to finish 5.3 seconds ahead of Wilhelm for the gold medal. Bulgarian Irina Nikulchina had been 11th in the sprint, and started 1:16 behind Wilhelm. Nikulchina had only turned to biathlon after competing at the 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics in cross-country skiing. She used her cross-country strength to gain ground on Wilhelm, and despite missing two shots, won the bronze medal.

Pyleva was not unknown, having won gold medals at the 2000 and 2001 World Championships in the relay. This was her first international gold medal, although she would later win the 15 km individual at the 2004 World Championships. At the 2006 Winter Olympics she initially finished second in the 15 km, but was later disqualified for doping when her urine sample revealed traces of the banned stimulant, carphedon, which is purported to increase endurance and tolerance to cold. Pyleva admitted to taking an over-the-counter medication for an ankle injury, and it was later found that it contained carphedon, which was not listed on the list of ingredients.