The biathlon World Cup season opener left Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) with one victory and a third place in Östersund (SWE), while the cross-country skiers were on the podium every day during the World Cup mini-tour in Lillehammer (NOR).
Emil Hegle Svendsen shows that he’s back on track this season, opening his World Cup season with winning the 20km individual competition in Östersund (SWE) on December 3. Svendsen was the only racer to nail every single shot at the range, and creamed his competitors. On Sunday, he was back on the podium finishing third in the pursuit.
“This venue has pretty challenging courses, with long uphills, and only a little bit of recovery on the descents. The entry to the range is fairly easy, but the conditions at the range are often challenging,” Svendsen said to Norwegian TV station NRK.
“These courses have proven to suit me well,” said Svendsen who now leads the overall biathlon World Cup.
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In the FIS cross-country mini-tour in Lillehammer, Madshus racers Pål Golberg (NOR) and Heidi Weng (NOR) opened the show with two podiums: Golberg won the men’s classic sprint and Weng was third in the women’s sprint.
On Saturday, Weng continued with another strong third place in the women’s 5km skate race, before capping her weekend with yet another third place in the women’s 10km classic pursuit.
Furthermore, Didrik Tønseth (NOR) had the fastest time in the men’s 15km pursuit on Sunday. Heidi Weng had the second fastest time in the women’s 10km pursuit. After this weekend, both Golberg and Weng is now third in the overall World Cup.
This week, the biathletes move on to the second World Cup round, which takes place in Hochpfilzen (AUT), while the cross-country skiers travel to Davos (SUI) for their next World Cup races.