After her team's two penalties dropped then to 11th during the men’s legs, Swedish anchor Elvira Oeberg and her sister Hanna rallied to secure a 1:04:24.1 win in the closing Oberhof Mixed Relay. The sisters, Sebastian Samuelsson and Martin Ponsiluoma added ten spare rounds to the penalties in Sweden’s second-ever World Cup Mixed Relay victory. Elvira’s single spare in the last standing left her seven seconds behind France’s Lou Jeanmonnot, but the Swede quickly closed the gap with her usual track prowess, skiing to the win.

“Fun to cross the finish line first”

Despite their many individual Olympic and IBU World Championships medals,. This foursome had never won a mixed relay. “It is actually the first time that our team actually wins a mixed relay. Of course, it is always fun to cross the finish line first and do it in front of this crowd, together with your teammates. It is incredible.”

“Lot of confidence”

The younger Oeberg sister was confident going into the last loop. “I thought in the standing that if I hit that spare round, I could take this. But Lou is one of the best in the world, so you still have to be very focused. I have a lot of confidence with me from yesterday. I felt strong on skis today as well. The waxers have done an amazing job, so it was just go out there and do my thing.”

France, with one penalty and seven spares, finished second, 12.8 seconds back. Norway, with a penalty and nine spares finished third, a distant 1:11.4 back. Switzerland, with a penalty and eleven spares finished fourth, 2:13.5 back. Germany with three penalties and ten spares finished fifth, 2:21 back with Italy in sixth, 2:29.3 back with a penalty and eleven spares.

Norway and Germany

23 teams started the final Oberhof competition. Fabien Claude and Sturla Holm Laegreid set the tone in the first prone, with fast accurate shooting. Danilo Reithmueller cleaned standing for the lead while Laegreid fell 4 seconds back.

Laegreid rallied, tagging Tarjei two seconds up on Philipp Nawrath and Ponsiluoma. Tarjei cleaned prone quickly with Nawrath following 2 seconds back. Nawrath cleaned standing after a spare with Eric Perrot up to third and Tarjei falling to 30 seconds back.

Germany’s Julia Tannheimer started with a comfortable 19-second lead. Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, in her first World Cup after minor heart surgery, outshot her rivals, cleaning prone and with a standing spare tagged Maren Kirkeeide 5 seconds up on Jeanmonnot and Elvira.

Jeanmonnot and Elvira cleaned prone quickly; Kirkeeide needed three spares, falling back. Elvira and Jeanmonnot battled on the tracks and range. Elvira after standing, closed a 7-second gap, skiing to victory.

Photos: IBU/Vianney Thibaut, Nordic Focus