updated 9:48 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2006

CESANA, Italy - The worst of conditions brought out the best in Germany’s Kati Wilhelm, who convincingly won the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 10km biathlon pursuit Saturday in a snowstorm and swirling winds.

In an exciting format that often produces photo finishes, the World Cup leader blew away the competition, finishing an astonishing 1 minute, 13.6 seconds ahead of teammate Martina Glagow.

Russia’s Albina Akhatova took the bronze.

Wilhelm crossed the finish line with a German flag held high in her right hand and her dyed bright-red hair fluttering underneath her bright red ski cap.

She hit 19 of 20 targets and was basically skiing by herself after the first of two clean prone shoots, finishing in 36 minutes, 43.6 seconds.

Wilhelm faltered in her first two races in Italy but made up for it in a big way in the first biathlon competition since Russian star Olga Pyleva was stripped of her silver medal in the 7.5km sprint, tossed out of the Turin Games and banned from competition for two years after allegedly taking an illegal stimulant. Akhatova was awarded the bronze in that event when Pyleva’s medal was taken away.

Florence Baverel-Robert of France, who won the 7.5km sprint for her first career gold medal, started first but was quickly surpassed by Wilhelm, the seventh starter, who made up 18 seconds by the first shooting stage. Baverel-Robert missed one target and fell behind Wilhelm by 45 seconds.

Baverel-Robert finished 13th.

After her second clean shoot, Wilhelm had a 33-second lead on Olga Nazarova of Belarus. On her first standing shoot, she missed once high left and had to ski a 150-meter penalty loop. Still, she held a 68-second lead over France’s Sandrine Bailly with one standing shoot remaining.

She had the luxury of being able to miss two targets on her final shoot, but hit them all.

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The starting times in the pursuit were based on the finish times of the previous race. So, Baverel-Robert had a 2-second head start on Anna Carin Olofsson of Sweden, and Wilhelm started 18 seconds later.

Olofsson finished 14th. American Rachel Steer finished 39th.

Several inches of snow fell Saturday morning, slowing the San Sicario course, where the leaders were “trail-breaking,” basically snowplowing the fresh powder for the rest of the field. The bad weather also made the shooting range more challenging.

None of that bothered Wilhelm.

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While organizers cleared the course as best they could, they didn’t remove about four fresh inches of snowfall on the penalty loop, which added about 5 seconds to what is normally a 25-second run.

For the first time since Thursday, the biathlon buzz wasn’t about the 30-year-old Pyleva, who tested positive for carphedon, which Russian officials have blamed on an over-the-counter medication she took in January. Pyleva was the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the pursuit, having edged Wilhelm at the Salt Lake City Games.

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