The Swedish star was happy about the victory, but not with the scenario in the stadium that took away the potential drama. “I am very happy about the relay; my teammates did really great laps. Of course, I wanted to take it to the finish line in a good way. I feel so, so bad about what happened with Ingrid in the stadium. I really wanted a fair fight. It was nothing by my intent to trip her. I am really sorry about that, but really happy about the win.”
She continued, adding about the strength of the team that was missing her sister Elvira, out with a cold. “We showed how good a team we are. We’ve been competing with six or seven girls; it shows that we have really good strength. Today, France was the really big favorite, but we showed that when we come together, we can give them a match.”
Norway, with seven spares finished second, 13.4 seconds back. Despite the heart-breaking loss, Karoline Offigstad Knotten was upbeat, “We did four very good legs today. It was so much fun watching the girls race…It is so much fun fighting for the victory…sometimes things happen.”
France, with eight spares finished third, 23.6 seconds back. Switzerland with a penalty and eight spares finished fourth, 2:13.8 back. Italy with a penalty and nine spares finished fifth, 2:17.4 back, nipping Ukraine, with seven spares, 2:17.9 back.
Three beautiful competition days morphed into a cloudy Sunday with a rain/snow mix falling, but virtually windless conditions. Knotten and Jeanne Richard led after clean prone stages. After a spare in prone, Skottheim quickly cleaned standing, taking the lead over Knotten and Richard.
Skottheim tagged Halvarsson eight seconds up on Lou Jeanmonnot, with Ragnild Femsteinevik a dozen seconds back. The sprint/pursuit winner needed two spares in prone, cleaning standing in five shots, taking the lead.
Jeanmonnot tagged Oceane Michelon first, closely followed by Maren Kirkeeide, who controlled the third leg skiing strongly, despite using several spares.
Kirkeeide tagged Tandrevold ten seconds up on Oeberg. The leaders battled on the range and tracks, using spares, staying mere seconds apart on the tracks. Julia Simon trailed in third, out of contention.
The two battled; Tandrevold got a slight lead before the stadium. Hanna’s ski pole hit Tandrevold’s knee just before the shooting range loop. The Norwegian tumbled into the snow. Hanna, looking back, skied to the win.
Photos: IBU/Yevenko, Nordic Focus