In the youth sprint, Norway's Martine Skog had to wait a long time before she could celebrate. She started the race with bib number 16 and dominated the competition from the front. She emphasized her good performance with two clean shootings. After two misses in the mixed relay, her focus in the race was on the shooting range. She had spoken to her coach the evening before about tactics for the shooting. ‘I concentrated a lot on the prone position and when I got through there without a penalty, there was only one direction for the standing position: forwards!’

France's Louise Roguet missed a target in the prone shooting, but impressed on the track with the best time, which she shared with third-placed Ilona Plechacova. The Czech missed two targets at the shooting range and finished 26 seconds behind Martine Skog. Elsa Taglander finished fourth, the best result so far for the home team at this World Championships. Lena Baumann from Switzerland achieved her personal career best with fifth place.

Good team performance from Germany and France

In the men's event, Lukas Tannheimer from Germany gave it his all on the last lap and secured the gold medal in the youth sprint. With only one missed target and second place in the Ski Time ranking, he was unbeatable. Two years ago, his sister Julia Tannheimer also won the gold medal in the sprint at the YJWCH in Shchuchinsk. Leo Carlier from France secured second place, also with one penalty in the standing start. He finished 15 seconds behind Tannheimer.

Norway's Tov Roeysland was still on course for silver after the second shooting but had to pay tribute to the tough tracks in Oestersund on the last lap. Nevertheless, he was very satisfied with a clean shooting result and third place. Korbi Kübler from Germany also performed well and finished fourth, as he did in the individual event. Poland's Grzegorz Galica had the best time, finishing in fifth place with three misses. Camille Grataloup-Manissolle completed France's good team performance in sixth place.

Photos: IBU I Danielsson