The last competition day in Arber surprised the athletes with heavy snowfall and strong wind. Norway with Endre Stroemsheim and Karoline Erdal conquered these conditions to win the single mixed relay with ten spares in 41:27.7. In the 4x7.5 km mixed relay, Russia’s Said Karimulla Khalili, Daniil Serokhvostov, Anastasiia Goreeva and Valeriia Vasnetcova claimed the win with one penalty and 15 spares in 1:22:52.8.

Single mixed relay

Despite one penalty, Italy with Daniele Cappellari and Rebecca Passler finished second with 9 spares, 45 seconds back. Third place was claimed by Germany's Lucas Fratzscher and Stefanie Scherer with two penalties and nine spares, 59.7 seconds back.

Norway's domination

Team Norway dominated the competition from the start. After being the only one in the first leg to close all the targets, Stroemsheim sent Erdal on her way with a comfortable lead 40.7 seconds ahead Italy. Erdal, using two spares in prone and one in standing, managed to keep the lead for the team. With three spares in prone and one in standing Stroemsheim avoided penalties and hands over to Erdal with Norway still in the lead. Erdal, clearing the final two shooting rounds with three spares, brought the duo to the finish as winners.

Italy managed to stay in the second position for most of the competition, until the very last leg. in her final standing stage, Passler earned one penalty leaving the range in fourth position. Showing great ski speed, the Italian passed Scherer on the final loop to finish second.

France was holding the third until the final shooting bout, Germany, ninth after the first exchange. With a good performance, Scherer moved the team up to fifth by the second exchange. Fratzscher regained another place during his leg sending Scherer to the anchor leg in fourth. With Italy’s Passler and France’s Jeanmonnot earning one penalty in their last standing stage, Scherer left the final stage in second. Having to surrender to a faster skier on the final loop, team Germany finished third.

Mixed relay

France with Oscar Lombardot, Sebastien Mahon, Sophie Chauveau and Camille Bened finished second, using 6 spares, 40.3 seconds back, Norway, after taking the lead in the beginning of the competition, had to settle for third place. Aleksander Fjeld Andersen, Filip Andersen, Aasne Skrede and Emilie Aagheim Kalkenberg had two penalties and thirteen spares, finishing 1:06.7 behind Russia.

Penalty for Vasnetcova

With Khalili handing over on the sixth position, 20.3 seconds behind the leader Norway, Russia’s second leg had some work to do. Serokhvostov used all three spares to clear his first prone, but with perfect shooting in standing, he managed to put the team up to third by the end of his leg, 10.5 seconds behind the leader France. Goreeva, shooting clean in prone, needed two spares to clean the standing. But that was enough for the team to take the lead until the end of the competition.

Vasnetcova cleaned prone with two spares, but struggled in standing. The gap between Vasnetcova and Bened of France was 1:15.2 before the last shooting, things seemed to be very clear. With Vasnetcova earning one penalty, Bened took a risk and with fast, clean shooting cut the gap with the Russian to only 16.3 seconds. Vasnetcova being the fastest skier of the final leg, managed to keep Bened behind and finished first. Bened, after a great final leg, arrived second 40.3 seconds back.

The fight for the third place

Taking the lead after the first leg, Norway’s luck changed. With Filip Andersen’s penalty loop in standing, the team sent Skrede on her way in fourth. While she managed to take one position back in prone, one penalty in standing sent the team back to fourth. Showing good skiing speed, Skrede took back seconds and closed the gap with Germany in her final loop. With less than a second ahead Germany, Norway finished the third leg in third position. Although Germany’s Juliane Fruehwirt pushed Kalkenberg back to the fourth in the final standing stage, the Norwegian skis worked yet again a wonder. Passing Fruehwirt in the last meters of the competition, Kalkenberg secured third place for Norway.

Photos: IBU/Harald Deubert