The German biathlete David Zobel celebrated a first win of the season in the second-class IBU Cup.
German coup in the second biathlon league: David Zobel won the Ridnaun sprint. The 28-year-old referred Norwegian Sivert Bakken to second place on Wednesday morning, the American Paul Schommer finished third.
Zobel convinced both at the shooting range and in the trail. He completed the ten kilometer route in 23:43 minutes. Bakken, who recently chose European champion in the sprint, stumbled across two shooting errors. In the end, his gap was almost three seconds. Schommer finished five seconds behind after a mistake.
For Zobel it is the first racing victory of winter. The DSV Skijäger had gone into the season as a World Cup starter, in Kontiolahti he was part of the German season, which took fourth place.
Norwegian Patzen at the shooting range
After two weak individual results, he was first downgraded to the IBU Cup. In Obertilliach and Arber he each achieved a podium, followed by World Cup appearances in Ruhpolding and Antholz. At the European Championships, he was able to drive in a top 10 position in the sprint as ninth, with the season he also ended up in second place.
Quite surprising: In Ridnaun, apart from Sivert Bakken, the other Norwegians who had dominated the IBU Cup in recent months disappointed. The long-time World Cup professional Johannes Dale-Skejvdal, despite the second best term, was only fifth (3 errors), Johan-Olav Botn (2 errors) took seventh place. The IBU Cup-leading Isak Frey and his compatriot Vetle Sjastad Christiansen also finished nine and ten with three mistakes in the ranks.
Christiansen, a relay Olympic champion, started for the first time this season in the IBU Cup after he had previously participated in the European Championship. He only travels as a reservist for the Biathlon World Championship in Lenzerheide (February 12th to 23rd).