Today, January 18, biathletes held their last starts in Rupolding. First, women went to the start of the race.
The weather conditions, unlike Oberhof, were acceptable, and there was no such frost or cold. Moreover, strong and gusty wind was not observed at the shooting range. So we were waiting for an interesting confrontation in the fight for victory.
The owner of the leader’s yellow bib, Lou Jeanmonnot, continues to show great results. The Frenchwoman, after losing the sprint race, seems determined to win. Lu calmly closed all the targets on three lines of fire. In the last shooting, the Frenchwoman missed, but, in the end, she managed to hold the 1st step. For her, this is already the third victory of the season, and the gold in the pursuit race in Ruhpolding is historic for the entire French team. Jeanmontno retained the overall lead. What’s more, she increased her lead over her nearest rival, Suvi Minkkinen. Currently, there are 136 points between them in favor of the Frenchwoman.
Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. For the last places on the podium, there was an intense struggle until the last firing line. At once, seven athletes had a chance to win medals.
Sprint winner Hannah Eberg eventually managed to pull herself together to clear 5 out of 5 targets in 20.2 seconds and head into the distance in current 2nd position. The Swede, after a total of three mistakes based on the results of the first two firing ranges, successfully conducted standing shooting. Thanks to this, the winner of the day before yesterday won a silver award. Hanna tried to catch up and fight for the gold medal. However, it was noticeable that she had almost no strength left.
Well, the top three was closed by another Frenchwoman, Camilla Benet. For her, this is already the second personal podium in her career at the stages of the World Cup. She, having the 10th starting number, managed to become one of the two athletes who managed to shoot perfectly, knocking out 20 out of 20 targets. Thanks to this, Camilla was able to keep her position and finish 3rd.
The flower ceremony included a Norwegian, a Swiss and a French woman.
Maren Kirkeide had a relatively successful race. Having the 9th number at the start, she made one mistake in total. In general, Maren completed the last shooting in 19.5 seconds, trying to grab the awards. Kirkeide went to the final round in 4th place. And no matter how the Norwegian tried to get close to Bene in the context of the fight for a medal, she did not succeed. As a result, the 4th position.
In turn, Amy Baserga significantly improved her result compared to the sprint race. Even with two mistakes on each of the standing shoots, the Swiss was able to move up in position and in the end became 5th, winning 17 positions.
But Ocean Michlon can add today’s race to his credit. The French woman became the 1st in terms of ski movement and was able to win the most positions. She, having the 32nd starting number, was also not ideal on the firing lines. Osean, having made two mistakes in total, was forced to look at an additional 300 meters of the distance. However, even this did not worsen her situation. Moreover, Michlon won 26 positions and managed to show a good result, finishing 6th.
Suvi Minkkinen, the owner of the red bib of the pursuit competition, continues to maintain her leadership. The Finn made two mistakes in the first prone shooting and ended up taking 9th place.
Ukrainian national team
Khrystyna Dmytrenko is the only representative of the Ukrainian national team who managed to qualify for the pursuit. And what a successful race she demonstrated!
Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. Khrystyna Dmytrenko The Ukrainian woman became one of the two biathletes who managed to complete all four firing ranges perfectly. Although the Ukrainian showed only the 45th result in the course, losing almost 1.5 minutes in this component, but, in the end, she managed to win 19 positions. Therefore, Khrystyna ended up in the final 34th place, gaining several points towards the overall standings.
world cup Rupolding (Germany). Women’s pursuit race
- 1. Lou Jeanmonnot (France) (0+0+0+1) 29:26.6
- 2. Hanna Eberg (Sweden) (1+2+0+0) +10.5
- 3. Camille Benet (France) (0+0+0+0) +12.9
- 34. Khrystyna Dmytrenko (Ukraine) (0+0+0+0) +2:10.8
Men
A little later, the men took their final start in Rupolding. Oh, and an interesting race was waiting for us! After all, many athletes had the opportunity to stand on the podium today. What’s more, the competition lasted until the last firing line, where as many as 10 athletes had a chance to grab the awards!
First the shooting was conducted by the race leaders: Eric Perrault and Sebastian Samuelsson.
If the Frenchman made one mistake, but shot back in 19.2 seconds, then the Swede went for two penalty laps at once, which worsened his situation.
Outright chaos was present on the firing line, and many athletes failed, but the Norwegians coped best with their nerves: Johannes Dale-Sevdal and Vetle Shostad Christiansen. Both went into the final lap immediately behind Perrault, who eventually managed to stay in the lead after the penalty lap.
We were waiting for an incredible outcome in the fight for victory. Johannes-Dahle quickly caught up with his French opponent on the track and made an acceleration a few meters before the finish line, which Eric was unable to sustain. So Shevdal ran for his fourth career gold medal at the World Cup stages. It is worth noting that his previous victory was also based on the results of the pursuit in Ruhpolding in 2024.
In turn, Perrault, thanks to the silver award, returns the 2nd place overall. He is currently 82 points behind. However, in the standings of pursuits, the Frenchman became 1st, having an advantage over Giacomel of 11 points.
Well, for the last place on the podium there was a rather tense struggle. While the attention of TV directors was focused on the duo of leaders, something simply incredible was happening behind them! Vetle Shostad Christiansen, who was 3rd after the last shootout, not only failed to keep his place, but ended up outside the top six, in 7th position. Rivals not only caught up, but also surpassed him. At first it was done by Tommaso Giacomel and Sturla Legrade, but at the final checkpoint their result was attacked by the restless Swedes and today’s surprisingly fast Fabien Claude. What happened next, the main cameras did not record, but on the finish line behind Tommaso and Fabien, Martin emerged, who just saw, finally, such a long-awaited award. And it was he, who was 13th after the last shooting, who won the bronze medal in a fierce confrontation.
Fabien Claude showed the best breakthrough in his turn. The Frenchman not only won 33 positions in the end, but could also be on the podium. And that’s all, despite two rounds of fines in total. The result is the 4th position. And it is worth noting that he became the best in terms of ski movement.
Tommaso Giacomeli simply did not have the strength to resist, and the Italian, who took 2nd place in the sprint, finished 5th. He was also not infallible and made a total of five mistakes.
But the sprint winner Sebastian Samuelsson failed to defend his starting position. The Swede was among the leaders until the last shot, but two mistakes dropped him to 11th place. Despite this, the Swede tried to intervene and fight and compete with rivals for the 3rd position. But in the end, he managed to become only 6th.
Ukrainian national team
Only two representatives of the Ukrainian national team – the team leaders – went to the start of the race.
Vitaly Mandzin started the race quite well. In prone shooting, he knocked out 5 out of 5 targets and managed to win several positions. In the future, the Ukrainian made a mistake, to which he added another one as a result of the third firing range. The final shooting was perfect in his performance. Vitaliy demonstrated the 13th result during the course, losing 50 seconds in this component. As a result, the 31st position.
Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. Vitaly Mandzin In his turn, Dmytro Pidruchnyy started the race in a great way. According to the results of the first two shootings, he was infallible. But on the third and fourth firing ranges, he missed once. As a result, Dmytro became 17th in terms of speed over the distance, with a loss of 53 seconds to the Frenchman Fabien Claude. The result is the 39th position and a gain of 20 positions compared to the start.
world cup Rupolding (Germany). Men’s Pursuit Race
- 1. Johannes Dale-Sevdal (Norway) (0+0+1+0) 30:23.9
- 2. Eric Perrault (France) (2+0+0+1) +4.9
- 3. Martin Ponsiluoma (Sweden) (2+0+1+1) +7.5
- …
- 31. Vitaly Mandzin (Ukraine) (0+1+1+0) +1:18.3
- 39. Dmytro Pidruchny (Ukraine) (0+0+1+1) +1:42.9
The biathletes will have a few days’ rest until the final stage before the Olympic Games in Italy. Already this Thursday, athletes will compete in Nove Mesto. Follow the updates on our website so you don’t miss anything.
Evgenia ANTONOVA
Source: sport.ua