Once again in a perfect sunshine, the men had good conditions for their 10 km sprint competition. After yesterday’s competition, the favourites were Russians and Norwegians with the latter taking it all today. With a perfect 10-out-of-10, Sindre Fjellheim Jorde won in 23:54.4. Although the sunshine was gone for the women’s competition, the conditions remained good. Russia’s Larisa Kuklina played cards in her favour by closing all ten targets claiming the 7.5 km sprint win in 20:24.1.

Men’s 10 km sprint

Clean-shooting Jorde winning, Erlend Bjoentegaard, after earning a standing penalty, settled for the second place finishing 6.2 seconds behind his teammate. Johannes Dale missed once in each stage, but as the fastest skier, pushed himself to the podium making it a Norwegian sweep.

A surprise from Jorde 

Bjoentegaard. the first starter and a strong athlete, carried the weight as one of the favourites today. Not disappointing, he delivered a perfect prone, but his lead was soon gone as teammate Haavard Gutuboe Bogetveit proved faster taking the lead after shooting one leaving Bjoentegaard in fifth, 8.3 seconds behind. Dale, the leader before prone, earned one penalty dropping to 14th. Jorde, despite closing all the prone targets, was seventh, 9.9 seconds behind Bogetveit. Aleksander Fjeld Andersen, the winner of yesterday’s competition, cleaned but was third, 7.5 seconds behind his teammate. 

By the 4.6 km split, Bogetveit was still holding on to the lead, but Andersen had climbed up to second. Bjoentegaard was still fourth while Jordi had taken back a spot and Dale had managed to take back six places during the second loop. Now the question was who will manage to excel in the standing? 

Standing stage shuffles cards

The first one up, Bjoentegaard, missed once knowing that might cost him the win, but the hoped his ski speed would compensate for the miss. Seeing that Dale missed once and Bogetveit twice, the Bjoentegaard's hopes were still high, but Andersen and Jorde were still to shoot. Jorde was in sixth before standing round and knew that he is not as fast as his teammates, he had to deliver a clean shooting to even stand a chance for the win. With confidence, the 25-year old Norwegian cleaned, taking the lead, but he too, had to wait for the result of Andersen to be sure of his win. While Andersen arrived standing in second, his one miss was too much today resulting in the first-ever IBU Cup win for Jorde. 

Almost a Norwegian top 6

Splitting up the Norwegians, Russia’s Vasilii Tomshin earned a penalty to finish in fourth, 12.8 seconds behind. Haavard Gutuboe Bogetveit with a total of two penalties claimed the fifth place, 18.2 seconds back. Completing the top six, Aleksander Fjeld Andersen, after earning a standing penalty, finished 26 seconds back. 

Women’s 7.5 km sprint 

Only 2.4 seconds behind Kuklina, yesterday’s sprint winner Ragnhild Femsteinevik of Norway missed once to finish second. Starting with bib number one, clean-shooting Victoria Slivko of Russia finished third, 12.3 seconds back. 

Kuklina dominates; claims win

Mid-field starter Kuklina took the reins in her hands from the start of the competition. First after cleaning prone, she held a 10.7-second lead over France’s Camille Bened. While most of the stronger athletes had already shot in prone, Kuklina was quite confident in her lead. However, numbere 108 Natalia Gerbulova, had also plans to fight for the win. In second position, 10.3 seconds behind Kuklina after a clean prone, she was one of Kuklina's main rivals. Bened was third, Slivko 11th and Femsteinevik was far back on 23rd after her one penalty. 

Femsteinevik, fast on skis, managed to recover 16 places by the standing stage, leaving in first position after shooting clean. Kuklina, however, knew that Femsteinevik had a mistake in prone and since the Russian was slower on the tracks, and she had to shoot clean and did that. By closing all ten targets, Kuklina left the standing round with what seemed to be a very comfortable 23.8 second lead. Since Kuklina lost time on the last loop, the result of the competition was unclear until the finish line. With a mere 2.4 seconds, Kuklina retained the lead and the win.

Slivko adds another podium for Russia

Despite closing all ten targets and leaving the second shooting just two seconds behind Femsteinevik, Slivko’s ski speed was not good enough to match the Norwegian. While Femsteinevik gained time on the last loop, Slivko did not have the same spark resulting in a third place finish for the Russian, 12.3 seconds behind her teammate. 

The next two spots went to France with clean-shooting Sophie Chauveau in fourth place, 17.6 seconds back and Camille Bened, with one standing penalty in fifth, 36.9 seconds back. Norway’s Jenny Enodd also had a single penalty in sixth place, 38 seconds back.

Photos: Igor Stancik / IBU