by Hanna Oeberg won her second sprint in a row, with flawless shooting and the fourth fastest skiing time.
Our model, which will simulate all the races of the IBU Biathlon world cup saw Hanna Oeberg as the main favourite before the race. Our second favourite Marte Olsbu Roeiseland finished in fourth, while the model’s third favourite Anais Chevalier-Bouchet was second some 10 seconds behind Hanna Oeberg.
This win also made Hanna Oeberg the new favourite in the 2020-21 season simulation.
Elvira Oeberg took the last podium place with one miss in the standing shooting and only the 65th fastest shooting time of the day. That she is able to shoot somewhat slowly and still beat the likes of Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and Denise Herrmann, when they have the same number of misses as she did, speaks volumes of the progress Elvira Oeberg has made this season.
Hanna Oeberg put down a mature performance on the standing shooting. The winds were swerling a bit and she took some time before she started shooting.
Roeiseland had the best skiing time of the day, less than a second ahead of Elvira Oeberg, but an uncharacteristically slow standing shooting time of 37 seconds, the 89th fastest of the day, saw her miss out on a top three placing.
I was surprised to see Anais Chevalier-Bouchet ranked as our third most likely winner before the race. She did however deliver the goods in stunning fashion, with the tied fifth fastest shooting time of the day, the sixth fastest skiing time and she hit all the ten targets.
Below is a video of the press conference with the top three ladies:
Denise Herrmann shot well, hitting nine of ten, but skied a bit slower than usual, only producing the eleventh fastest skiing time and finishing in fifth place.
Marketa Davidova was faster on the tracks than Herrmann, but slower on the range. Hitting nine of ten was good enough for sixth.
Dzinara Alimbekava did very well again to finish seventh only a couple of seconds from fifth.
Tiril Eckhoff had the best race of the year so far, finishing eight after having missed two targets.
Both the Italian superstars, Dorothea Wierer and Lisa Vittozzi, disappointed a bit. Vittozzi missed one and ended in 21st while Wierer missed two and finished 28th.
The race highlights from the IBU are underneath:
