Camille Bened of France and Isak Frey of Norway are the winners of the Individual competitions in Geilo, Norway. After taking the second Sprint and Pursuit in Idre Fjall, Frey won for the third consecutive time and Bened for the first time this winter.

Frey wins a thriller

Frey finished with a time of 48:06.3, overcoming a single miss in the first standing shooting to secure victory. Frey was the fastest skier of the day and clocked the fifth-fastest range time. Riding on accurate shooting, Johan Olav Botn seemed entirely in control of the race until the last standing shooting, when his only miss cost him the first IBU Cup victory of the season. He took second place, just 7.5 seconds behind Frey. Germany’s Simon Kaiser rounded out the podium, finishing third, 59.8 seconds back, with the same shooting performance.

THE WINNER’S WORDS - ISAK FREY

Finland’s Tuomas Harjula came in fourth, clean shooting. Roman Rees from Germany finished fifth, 1:48.0 off the winner, and France’s Guillaume Paturel took sixth, 1:56.0 behind Frey.

Bened wins, takes the Total Score lead

Bened claimed victory with a perfect shooting score and a time of 44:41.3. It was a second win in the IBU Cup for the French athlete yet to debut in the World Cup. Norway’s Marit Oeygard finished second, despite one shooting penalty, trailing by 42.2 seconds. France’s Fany Bertrand secured third with clean shooting, just 55.9 seconds behind Bened, the new IBU Cup Total Score leader.

THE WINNER’S WORDS - CAMILLE BENED

Close behind, Norway’s Siri Skar came fourth, followed by France’s Voldiya Galmace Paulin and Ragnhild Femsteinevik from Norway in fifth and sixth, all within 1:17 of the winner, making for a thrilling top-six battle!

Photo: Marius Nordnes