Norway and France dominate, Germany is lagging behind: At the start of the IBU Cup weekend on Arber, there was nothing for the German biathletes to gain. The Norwegian men’s team in particular was simply unbeatable.
At the start of the IBU Cup weekend on Arber, the Norwegian biathletes’ second suit once again proved that it is the best the 2nd biathlon league has to offer. In the sprint on Thursday, the Scandinavians ended up taking places one to five.
The victory was secured by Johannes Dale, who despite two penalties was 15.2 seconds faster than the error-free Sivert Bakken. Third place went to Sverre Dahlen Aspenes (+23.9 seconds/2 penalties), fourth and fifth place went to Isak Frey (+33.3/2) and Vetle Paulsen (+58.7/1).
The best German in the final ranking was Roman Rees in eighth place, who, like winner Dale, “only” shot two penalties, but was 1:19 minutes slower than the Norwegian on the cross-country ski trail. David Zobel finished the sprint in eleventh place, Franz Schaser, Darius Lodl and Elias Seidl in places 23, 42 and 43.
Lucas Fratzscher had a pitch-black day, making five mistakes at the shooting range and already having no chance of a good placement after the prone position (three mistakes). He ultimately reached the finish line in 55th place, 3:40 minutes behind.
Frenchwoman wins first IBU Cup race of her career
As much as the Norwegian men dominated the sprint, the French women dominated their race. Five of the first six places went to the French. Only the Italian Rebecca Passler was able to break her phalanx in third place.
The sensational victory went to 20-year-old Amandine Mengin, who competed in the IBU Cup for the first time ever on Thursday. Thanks to her flawless performance at the shooting range, she finished 3.7 seconds ahead of her teammate Sophie Chaveau (one penalty).
From the German team, only Lisa Maria Spark made it into the top 10 in seventh place. Despite only one penalty, she was 1:11 minutes behind at the finish.
Stefanie Scherer (12th), Marlene Fichtner (15th) and Johanna Puff (16th) also knew how to impress at the shooting range, but couldn’t keep up with the best on the cross-country ski trail. It was still enough for them to make it into the top 20.