Hauswald back in race for crystal globe after Oslo win

SIMONE Hauswald put herself in contention for the overall biathlon World Cup crown after scooping her second win of the season in Oslo.

SIMONE'S IN THE HAUS: Olympic mass start bronze medallist Simone Hauswald wins her second World Cup sprint of the season to move to fourth in the World Cup standings (Getty Images)

In the first race at the historic Holmenkollen track since its recent renovation, the German shot clean before skiing home in 20:42.4 minutes to win the 7.5km sprint.

The 30-year old has never been far from the podium this season, capturing sprint gold in Oberhof as well as bronze in the 12.5km mass start event at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver last month.

And Hauswald has continued to impress post-Vancouver, finishing third in last weekend's 10km pursuit at Kontiolahti before upgrading to gold on Thursday.

Victory propels the German into fourth in this season's standings, 80 points off the top spot with four races remaining.

Belarus' Darya Domracheva won the sprint and pursuit double in Kontiolahti and impressed again to strike silver in Norway, 4.9 seconds behind the German.

Meanwhile, Sweden's Anna Carin Zidek-Olofsson returned to the podium for the first time for 11 races, another 9.5 secs back.

Double Olympic champion Magdalena Neuner extended her lead at the top of the World Cup standings to 53 after finishing sixth with second-placed Helena Jonsson continuing her recent hiatus from the podium to finish 24th.

Great Britain's Adele Walker finished 71st in Oslo after missing just once in her two visits to the range while Amanda Lightfoot also made just one prone miss on the way to 84th.