Norwegians Karoline Offigstad Knotten and Sturla Holm Laegreid dominated this evening’s World Team Challenge at the Veltins Arena. The pair set up their 33:56.7 victory in the closing pursuit by winning the earlier mass start in 33:50.3. Sharpshooters Knotten and Laegreid brought their “A Game” for tonight’s competitions, going 39-for-40n in their pursuit win.

“Atmosphere and Fans are perfect”

Knotten, whose prone penalty in the pursuit was their only blemish commented. “Even with the one miss, I am very satisfied and would like to come back here again… This is a very nice event, and the atmosphere and fans are perfect.”

“Last shooting, so much fun”

The flawless Laegreid added after taking the lead that led to the first victory of the evening in the mass start with a fast clean standing stage, “My last shooting (taking the lead) was so much fun…This is a huge “World Cup” with 50,000 fans.”

Second and third places went to German teams. Anna Weidel and Justus Strelow after falling back with five penalties rebounded when Strelow cleaned the final standing stage for second place, 30.4 seconds back. Likewise, the Franziska Preuss/ Philipp Nawrath team, with four penalties moved up to third, 33.1 seconds back with Nawrath’s very fast last loop. Belgium’s Lotte Lie and Florent Claude, with a single penalty finished fourth 34.8 seconds, 1.3 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Anna Magnusson and Jesper Nelin with three penalties.

As usual, the Veltins Arena was packed with enthusiastic fans as the mass start opened the evening’s festivities with ten teams batting for the victory.

See-saw Mass Start Battle

The mass start was a see-saw battle between the Norwegian and French duos. Julia Simon and Fabien Claude both cleaned the first prone for the early lead. In standing, the Norwegians moved in front when Claude missed a standing shot and Laegreid cleaned.

Knotten added to the lead with a clean second prone, as Simon and then Claude picked up a penalty. Simon regained the top spot in the second standing with a clean stage, but Laegreid regained the lead, sealing the win when Claude missed three shots.

France finished 37.3 seconds behind Norway while Ukraine’s Yulia Dzhima and Dmytro Pidruchnyi finished third 1:01.9 back.

Unchallenged Norwegians

The deciding pursuit kicked off with the gaps between the teams halved. Norway started in front. Simon closed the 18-second gap into the first prone but had three penalties. Knotten cleaned, taking a 20-second lead; the Norwegians were never challenged after that point. Laegreid had a perfect first prone and hit his next 15 shots.

In the second prone, Kotten’s penalty was the Norwegian’s only miscue. Preuss and Weidel cleaned, tagging 27 and 28 seconds back. Laegreid carefully cleaned the last standing, sealing victory, heading out on a victory lap. Strelow left the final standing second with Nawrath fifth, but the powerful skier closed the gap, giving Germany second and third.

Photos: IBU/Yevenko