China's Kong Yingchao was outpaced by 35.9 seconds by Sandrine Bailly of France in Pokljuka, Slovenia on Saturday to miss her chance of winning the women's World Cup 10-kilometer pursuit biathlon.

Kong, who equaled her best career result, owed her spot on the podium to good shooting, only missing two targets and had to do two penalty laps, compared to four for Bailly.

The 25-year-old Bailly, who also won the sprint earlier in the week, has been taking her fifth victory of the season and 12th of her career.

Russian Olga Zaitseva came in third, 56.4 seconds off the winning pace.

Bailly was erratic from the range, but kept her ground with tenacious skiing.

"My shooting was not perfect today, but I was very fast on the course," Bailly said after the race, which was held in ideal sunny conditions.

(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2005)