Austria’s Lisa Theresa Hauser shot clean and skied powerfully to the first sprint victory of her career, taking the Oestersund women’s 7.5 km sprint in 19:30.2. Once the Austrian took the lead after the stranding stage, she was never challenged on the way to her third career win. Sweden’s Elvira Oeberg, with two penalties, finished second, 12.5 seconds back. Belarusian Hanna Sola, with one penalty finished third, 14.4 seconds back.

Sola’s teammate Dzinara Alimbekava shot clean, but finished fourth, 20.6 seconds back. Germany’s Franziska Preuss and Anais Chevalier-Bouchet of France, both with one penalty finished fifth and sixth, 24.2 and 27.5 seconds back, respectively.

Snowy and cold; Sola tops in prone

Real winter arrived for the second women’s sprint of the season, with light snow throughout the competition, reinforcing -12C temperature and a light breeze just fluttering the shooting range wind flags. Five of the first seven starters shot clean in prone with Alimbekava taking the early lead. Starter number 1 Elvira missed a shot, after skiing the first loop very fast. Alimbekava’s teammate Sola one-upped her, cleaning prone 10 seconds faster to become the top prone shot. Hauser challenged with a clean prone but was 9.9 seconds slower than Sola. Chevalier-Bouchet made her case for the win shooting clean three seconds faster than Hauser. Her sister Chloe did the same to move into third after the prone stage.

Hauser moves up

Alimbekava shot as well in standing, closing all five targets with ease, as did Persson, but the Belarusian was a dozen seconds faster. Elvira missed another shot in the standing stage, but was only 14.4 seconds down after Alimbekava cleaned. Sola missed a single shot in standing, but after the penalty loop was just 3 seconds behind her leading teammate. Her lead disappeared when Hauser shot fast to grab a commanding 15-second lead. Chevalier-Bouchet missed a shot, falling 20 seconds back while her sister cleaned to leave in third, but faded from contention in the last loop.

Career-best for Elvira

Elvira flew over the last 2.5 km, deleting her deficit by the 6.7 km split, finishing 8.1 seconds faster than Alimbekava. Sola was not as strong as the rising Swedish start on the last loop, pushing hard, but falling 1.9 seconds at the finish. Hauser held her pace high over the last loop, skiing powerfully crossing 12.5 seconds faster dropping Elvira to a career-best second place, to set the podium.

Special to have family and friends

Getting on the podium at home in front of fans and family was extra special for the 22-year-old. “It felt so great; I mean I have friends and family here watching. It is the first big event that people can watch on site in a long time. It was a really cool experience, racing in front of them and also giving them a podium.”

Sola Pleased

Sola’s third place, her fourth career podium was satisfying. “I have to say I am quite pleased with my competition today. It did not work our perfectly at the shooting range, but overall I am quite happy…I was not quite secure today on the shooting range. In general, I am happy that I had just one mistake.” Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni