A beautiful sunshine covering the biathlon venue in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, the athletes were fully motivated to deliver a good competition. Caroline Clombo of France showed today her domination by claiming a confident win. After closing all ten targets she finished the competition in 18:59. Despite the sun going down for the men’s competition, the conditions remained good. Norway’s Sverre Dahlen Aspenes made the most out of the competition, taking the win with one penalty in 23:44.9. 

Women’s sprint

Caroline Colombo way ahead, it was time to see who will join her at the podium. Second place went to Anna Gandler of Austria, who closed all ten targets as well and finished 39 seconds back. Closing all the targets as well, Larisa Kuklina of Russia finished 40.7 seconds back claiming the third place. 

Old-new rifle brought the win 

Colombo, a mid-field starter, took the lead from the first meters of the competition. Showing an excellent speed, she arrived at the prone stage already carrying the weight of being number one. She didn’t let that get on the way, cleaning with confidence, she left the range still in the lead. Germany’s Janina Hettich managed to clean prone as well in second, 6.4 seconds back. Gandler closed all five prone targets as well in fourth, 11 seconds back. Kuklina, also clean, was ninth, 16.7 seconds behind the French leader. 

With almost half of the athletes cleaning the prone stage, the question was who would keep up the perfect score. Hettich missed twice, losing her podium chances opportunity, opening the door for the other competitors. Being an early starter,  Hettich had to now see how the clean-shooters started getting ahead. Kuklina, after closing all the standing targets, left the range in the lead until Colombo started shooting. Closing the five standing targets, Colombo pushed Kuklina to second taking a 31 second lead just before the final loop. Gandler managed to close her targets as well in third, 33.1 seconds behind Colombo and only 2 seconds behind Kuklina. 

Colombo seemed like she was from another planet today: her speed remained unbeatable resulting in an emotional win for the lady who just before this competition decided to change her rifle and go back to one she used three years ago. 

Race for the second place

It was clear that no one was a worthy match to Colombo, but the second and third place were still to be decided. Having a two-second advantage over Gandler after standing, Kuklina had her eyes on the second place. However, Gandler managed to find some extra energy for the final loop, passing Kuklina to claim second place. Kuklina, despite a perfect 10/10, was left in third place. 

The top six women shot clean, so ski speed determined the results. France’s Lou Jeanmonnot joined Colombo for the flower ceremony in fourth place, 44.4 seconds back. Anastasia Tolmacheva of Romania placed fifth, 52 seconds back. Norway’s Marthe Krakstad Johansen completed the flower ceremony in sixth place, 53.8 seconds back. 

Men’s sprint 

Clean-shooting Alexander Povarnitsyn of Russia took second place, 10.2 seconds behind Aspenes. Germany’s Philipp Horn with one penalty, finished third place, 28.5 seconds back. 

Third win for Aspenes

As in the women’s competition, Aspenes dominated competition, taking the win, his third after two Gold medals at last week's IBU Open European Championships. Being a mid-field starter today, he had the advantage of seeing how his main competitors fared. Most had already pulled off a zero in prone, so Aspenes knew that he had to follow the pattern. Doing so, he calmly cleaned, taking the lead in his name. Horn was second, 8.5 seconds behind the Norwegian. Povarnitsyn, however, despite closing all the targets, did not make it into the top 10, but was 11th, 18.3 seconds behind Aspenes. 

Not giving up, the Russian showed one of the fastest second loop times, pushing himself to fourth by the beginning of the standing stage. Despite not being one of the fastest shooters, his another perfect zero gave him the title of the leader. Horn arrived at standing in third, but already knowing that Povarnitsyn had closed all the ten targets. That pressure resulted in one mistake, pushing him to fourth position after completing his penalty loop. Aspenes, however, started his standing stage with a full range of information and a 18.8 second advantage ahead of Horn. He knew he could allow himself to make one mistake, but only one. Starting standing with the lead, he quickly closed four targets, but feeling overly confident, he missed the final shot. That did not change the course of action for the Norwegian. After completing his penalty loop, he was still first, now only 10.9 seconds ahead of Povarnitsyn. Pushing himself to the maximum, Aspenes crossed the finish line for the win. 

The fight for the podium

Even though Aspenes took the win and Povarnitsyn was second, there were a lot of questions left regarding the fate of third place. After the standing stage, Germany’s clean-shooting Justus Strelow found himself in the third position, 9 seconds behind Povarnitsyn and .9 seconds ahead of Horn. Sindre Pettersen of Norway, after closing all ten targets, was fifth, 1.5 seconds behind Strelow. As Strelow started to loose speed, it was clear that he would not be competing for the podium. Pettersen however pushed himself to third by the 9.2 km split time; Horn had dropped to fifth. But still, 800 meters before the finish line, the results were unclear; the finish line would determine the las podium spot. Horn managed to push the most, claiming the third place. 

Aleksander Fjeld Andersen, with one penalty came in fourth, 28.7 seconds behind Aspenes. Pettersen earned a penalty as well to finish in fifth, 29.1 seconds back. Russia’s clean-shooting Vasili Tomshin rose to sixth, 34.6 seconds back. 

Photos: IBU/Igor Stančík