Ukraine's Valj Semerenko made perfect shooting to grab the title of women's 12.5km mass start in a time of 34 minutes 32.9 seconds at the biathlon world championships in Kontiolahti on Sunday.

Semerenko, who snatched her first major individual gold at the biathlon worlds, was a member of Ukraine's victorious relay team at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. She had won two silvers and two bronze from previous world championships.

Germany's Franziska Preuss, who won relay gold earlier in the event, took silver by 6.2 seconds behind. Italy's Karin Oberhofer recovered from two early penalties to claim bronze, 12.6 seconds behind of the leader.

Darya Domracheva of Belarus, the reigning Olympic and world champion in the discipline, was 2.1 seconds off the podium in fourth.