Natsuko Abe made her international debut in 2007 at the Biathlon European Cup . She contested her first races in Obertilliach and was 48th in an individual and 51st in a sprint. In 2009 she finished in the same place as 37th in a sprint and 35th in a pursuit for the first time in the points, in 2010 she again achieved her best result in the racing series as 28th in a pursuit race in Obertilliach. Abe made her World Cup debut in 2010 in Kontiolahti , where she was 64th in a sprint and came 14th in the mixed relay race with Fuyuko Suzuki , Junji Nagai and Kazuya Inomata . In 2011 , in her best race so far in Ruhpolding , she missed a first point win by only six places on a 46th place in the sprint. The first major event for the Japanese was the Asian Championships 2011 in Almaty . She finished eighth in the individual race, and in the relay she won the bronze medal with Fuyuko Suzuki, Itsuka Owada and Ayako Mukai as the final runner.
Biathlon World Cup placements
The table shows all placements (depending on the year, including the Olympic Games and World Championships).
1st - 3rd Place: Number of podium placements
Top 10: Number of placements in the top ten (including podium)
Points ranks: Number of placements within the point ranks (including podium and top 10)
Starts: Number of races run in the respective discipline
Japan
