updated 9:50 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2006

CESANA, Italy - France capped a surprising day in the women's biathlon when Florence Baverel-Robert won the 7.5km sprint Thursday after Russian superstar Olga Pyleva was suspended for failing a doping test.

In another shocker, Ukraine's Lilia Efremova took the bronze. The only favorite to reach the podium was Anna Carin Oloffson of Sweden, who won silver.

Olofsson crossed just 2.4 seconds behind Baverel-Robert's time of 22 minutes, 31.4 seconds. Efremova was 6.6 seconds behind the surprise gold medalist.

It was a day full of the unexpected, as the heavy snowfall at the start of the race turned to sunshine and slush by the end. The biggest stunner was Pyleva becoming the first athlete to test positive at the Torino Games.

The silver medalist in Monday's 15km and a winner of gold and bronze at Salt Lake City in 2002, Pyleva was scratched from the field just before the start of the sprint race.

An announcer told the crowd that Pyleva, considered a leading medal contender, was ill.

"Oh my goodness!'' American Rachel Steer reacted after hearing the news of Pyleva's doping test afterward. "I just noticed they said she was sick, and I saw her last night and she didn't look like she was getting sick.''

Steer took 35th place Thursday, a step up from her 49th-place performance in the 15km individual event. Teammates Tracy Barnes, Sarah Konrad and Carolyn Treacy took 71st, 75th and 80th out of 83 competitors.

Favorite Germany had another tough day on the difficult, high-altitude course with Kati Wilhelm taking seventh despite a clean shoot and Uschi Disl finishing way back in 34th.

Wilhelm, the World Cup leader, won the event in Salt Lake City, where Disl, the most decorated female biathlete in Olympic history with eight medals, took silver.

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