Emil Hegle Svendsen and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen move back in on the top of the podium at the first possible opportunity. On Sunday, Lars Berger joined the podium party too.
Emil Hegle Svendsen and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen were first and second, respectively, at the Norwegian season opener sprint races in Sjusjoen Saturday. Svendsen beat Bjoerndalen by seven seconds, which he made up on the second lap.
Svendsen was particularly content with his second series at the range, and is happy to be on track for the Olympics in Sotchi, Russia, in February.
Bjoerndalen, who has encountered trouble at the range the past few seasons, didn’t miss a target on Saturday.
“It was fun to race today. Things went smooth, and it was fun to shoot well. That meant a lot to me,” Bjoerdalen says to Norwegian TV station NRK after the Saturday race.
Then on Sunday, Bjoerndalen went all the way to the top. “I had fantastic skis, I was able to ski efficiently and conserve energy, so I had power to surge on the last lap when the field was breaking up,” Bjoerndalen said to NRK after the mass start.
However, the biggest surprise was Lars Berger (NOR), who put in a serious bid for a World Cup ticket for Östersund in a couple of weeks after finishing third in the mass start on Sunday. The veteran Madshus racer nailed every target on the last round at the range, and skied better than most to secure the last spot on the podium.
“It was like the good old days,” Berger grinned after the race, where both shooting and skiing came together for the 34-year-old.
Let the season begin.