Vetle Sjästad Christiansen seized the opportunity and ran impressively to win the Östersund mass start. Johannes Kühn’s hopes for the podium were dashed at the last shooting.
Vetle Sjästad Christiansen seized the opportunity and ran impressively to win the Östersund mass start. Johannes Kühn’s hopes for the podium were dashed at the last shooting.
On Sunday (March 12th, 2023) at the last race of the World Cup weekend in Östersund, Kühn was on course for a podium finish until the last shooting. After the relay trouble on Saturday, a podium would have been balm, but Kühn didn’t make it to the finish line, made two mistakes and even had to give way to Benedikt Doll and Roman Rees in the fight for the best German.
Christiansen, who celebrated a start-finish victory, showed how the absence of the high-flyer Johannes Thingnes Bö can be optimally exploited. The Norwegian dominated the race and was the only athlete in the field of 30 to shoot clean. He won clearly, behind him his compatriot Johannes Dale and Eric Perrot from France fought for second place. Dale had the better of it, while Perrot celebrated his first World Cup podium.
Christiansen without fault and blame
In dream conditions and hardly any wind at the shooting range, 21 ski hunters started the last competition in Östersund without any mistakes. Justus Strelow cleared the discs the fastest and immediately took the lead. Doll, Rees, Kühn and Nawrath also got through without a mistake. Of the DSV sextet, only David Zobel had to go into the penalty loop once.
As expected, the Norwegians set the pace on the perfect track, especially Christiansen, who immediately showed who was the king on the track in the absence of Johannes Thingnes Bö. The Norwegian opened up a small gap and went into the second prone stage a good seven seconds ahead of the competition.
Christiansen remained in the lead with a fast, error-free series, but his pursuers were close behind him. Kühn, Doll, Strelow and Rees took advantage of the top conditions and returned ten seconds behind the Norwegian in the first chasing group. While Zobel shot clean this time, Nawrath had to make a turn and lost valuable time.
Kühn remains on course for the podium
After the third shooting, the field crumbled. Christiansen defended his top position with the next dream series. Laegredi followed him flawlessly. After scoring 15 goals in 15 attempts, Kühn from the German team was third up front. Doll and Strelow each missed a shot and fell back, as did Rees (1), Nawrath (1) and Zobel (2), all of whom had to make a turn.
Before the final standing stage, only Kühn from the German team had realistic chances of a podium, but he missed two targets and fell back significantly. The best German was Benedikt Doll (8./+33.1 seconds/1 error).
squall waived
Dominator Johannes Thingnes Bö gave up the mass start after a corona infection and thus lost his lead in the fight for the small ball in the mass start. His teammates Sturla Holm Laegreid and Vetle Sjästad Christiansen passed.