Today’s sprint held a decisive vote in the very tight competition for the men’s IBU Cup Sprint Score and Total Score Crystal Globes. While Philipp Nawrath of Germany held the advantage in the Men's IBU Cup Total Score before the competition, Norway's Filip Fjeld's Andersen’s win flipped both the IBU Cup Sprint Score and the IBU Cup Total Score Crystal Globes to the Norwegian. Andersen, with one standing penalty won today's men's 10 km sprint in 22:25. With the women’s IBU Cup Total Score Globe winner already decided, the fate of the Women's IBU Cup Sprint Score Globe was up in the air. Russia's clean-shooting Anastasiia Goreeva took the women's 7.5 km sprint win in 20:52.7. Anastasia Shevchenko’s fifth place was enough for her to claim the Sprint Score Crystal Globe.

Men's competition

Norway's Sivert Guttorm Bakken, shooting clean finished second, 4 seconds back. Aleksander Fjeld Andersen also managed to avoid penalties, finishing third, 6 seconds back.

Haavard Gutuboe Bogetveit of Norway with one penalty finished fourth,1 seconds back. Ukraine's clean-shooting Taras Lesiuk finished fifth, 36.3 seconds back. Anton Babikov of Russia with one penalty rounded out the top 6 finishing 36.9 seconds back.

Nawrath crumbled under pressure; Andersen turned the cards into his favour

Enjoying a 4.3-second lead before the prone stage, Nawrath missed twice finding himself in 45th position, 38.6 seconds behind the leading Giuseppe Montello of Italy. While Nawrath was busy doing his penalty loops, F. F. Andersen cleaned to move to second, .7 seconds behind the Italian. Also clean-shooting Bakken went to fourth, 6 seconds behind Montello. A. F. Andersen, shooting clean, found himself in fifth position, 7.2 seconds back.

Still in the high game before the standing stage, Montello suddenly missed two, losing his chance for a top result. Nawrath earned another penalty and with three misses, the game was over for the German. F. F. Andersen had to shoot clean to secure his lead, but missed dropping him to third, 6.7 seconds behind his big brother who with a perfect 10/10 left standing with a 1.7-second lead over Bakken. By then, it was clear it was going to be an all-Norwegian podium; the question of the winner remained unanswered until the finish line. Losing seconds, but still in the lead at the 8 km split, A. F. Andersen couldn’t match his brother’s nor Bakken’s skiing speed resulting in a third place. Bakken came in second while F. F. Andersen claimed the most important win of his young career.

Sprint Score and Total Score Globes to Andersen

Before today’s competition, Philipp Nawrath led both categories. In Men's IBU Cup Total Score, Nawrath had to be in top 12 to secure the overall win. He lost that advantage on the shooting range today when three penalties dropped him to17th at the finish resulting in a double Globe win for the Norwegian in his first-ever senior season.

Women’s competition

Also from Russia, Anastasiia Egorova avoided penalties to finish second, 1.1 seconds behind Goreeva. Also shooting clean, Caroline Colombo of France, also shooting clean finished third, 20.2 seconds back.

Russia's Natalia Gerbulova, with clean shooting, and Anastasia Shevchenko with one penalty came in fourth and fifth, 28.7 and 40 seconds back respectively. 10/10 for Germany's Marian Deigentesch finished sixth, 43.8 seconds back.

Starting and finishing as number one

With the weather getting warmer every minute, the advantage went to the early starters. Starting with the bib one, Goreeva managed to hold on to that number until the very end. Although second after a clean prone, 5 seconds behind leading Ekaterina Noskova, Goreeva did not give up. Showing great speed on the tracks she entered the second shooting bout with a 3.9-second lead over Noskova. However, three misses in standing pushed Noskova down to 25th, Goreeva managed to close all the standing targets leaving in the lead. Also clean-shooting Egorova tried her best to push Goreeva from the lead, but nevertheless was second after her second clean shooting round, 9.8 seconds behind Goreeva. The gap widened even more by the 6.2 km split where Egorova was already 12.1 seconds behind. Pushing strong, Egorova managed to almost close the gap, but finished second, just 1.1 seconds back. Colombo, clearing both stages, finished third, breaking up the Russian podium sweep.

Total Score Globe to Voigt

Germany’s Vanessa Voigt showed her strength throughout the whole IBU Cup season winning the Women's IBU Cup Total Score.

Shevchenko claimed the Sprint Score Globe

Anastasia Shevchenko of Russia, fifth today, claimed the Sprint Score Globe in her first ever senior season.

Photos: Harald Deubert / IBU