Biathlete Benedikt Doll was unable to put any pressure on discipline leader Tarjei Bö in the fight for the World Cup sprint ranking.
The 33-year-old veteran landed in 27th place in the US Soldier Hollow after three shooting errors and thus lost further ground.
The Norwegian Bö had to go to the extra lap twice and still ended up in seventh place, well ahead of Doll, who was 1:29.8 minutes behind in the debut victory of the faultless Frenchman Eric Perrot. With one sprint left in Canmore, Canada, Bö’s lead over Doll is now 41 points.
Perrot’s compatriot Quentin Fillon Maillet was clearly on course for victory. However, the 31-year-old did not complete a penalty loop despite a shooting error. For this he received a time penalty, which set him back a long way.
Émilien Jacquelin secured second place ahead of Johan-Olav Botn from Norway.
The other Germans also clearly missed the podium
The other Germans also clearly missed the podium after ten kilometers. As the best DSV athlete, Johannes Kühn ended up in tenth place with one shooting error. He goes into today’s pursuit race (6:50 p.m./ARD and Eurosport) 33 seconds behind.
“I almost got the optimum for myself. One fewer mistakes would of course have been better, but in principle I’m satisfied for now,” Kühn told “ARD”.
Philipp Horn missed once, but according to his own statement he was able to “live well” with 13th place. Justus Strelow made no mistakes, but had difficulties on the cross-country ski trail. He had to be content with 16th place. Danilo Riethmüller (1) started the race as the last starter and finished in 23rd place.
The standing attack caused problems for Philipp Nawrath, who fell back to 25th place after two missed shots. For Roman Rees, the competition weekend has come to an early end. After three penalty laps, he is 65th in the sprint and is not eligible to start the pursuit.