The final relays of the season were raced today in Oestersund under sunny skies. It was the women’s relay first followed by the men.
The first leg for the women was pretty tight with no major issues for any of the teams. In the lead after the two shoots were Italy with the clean shooting Rebecca Passler. She was followed out of the range by Lou Jeanmonnot who had used a single spare. Dunja Zdouc was next with Jessica Jislova, Deedra Irwin, Yuliia Dzhima and Emma Lunder close behind. By the exchange it was the fast skiing Jeanmonnot who tagged first for France with Italy second and Canada third. Juni Arnekleiv had Norway up to fourth.
On the second leg it was Chloe Chevalier versus Dorothea Wierer at the front. At the prone Chevalier used a spare but Wierer was clean making up all the time gap. In the standing it was Hanna Kebinger who shot clean to take the lead from Wierer with two spares and Chevalier with one. By the exchange Germany and Italy were neck and neck with France 6 seconds back. A strong leg from Ida Lien kept Norway in touch in fourth.
Vanessa Voigt had Samuela Comola for company and they were soon joined by Caroline Colombo and Ingrid Tandrevold. Tandrevold and Voigt cleaned the prone quickly as did Colombo but a little slower. Comola needed two spares and dropped off the leaders. At the standing the top three went head to head and Tandrevold and Voigt matched each other shot for shot cleaning all five whilst Colombo required two spares. Voigt managed to hold on to Tandrevold around the tracks and handed over at the exchange just 2 seconds behind the Norwegian.
On the final leg it was Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and Denise Herrmann-Wick with Anais Chevalier-Bouchet chasing the top two. Olsbu Roeiseland used just one spare on the prone compared to three from Herrmann-Wick and two from Chevalier-Bouchet to take an advantage into the standing. She cleaned it and the win was Norway’s! Behind her Chevalier-Bouchet was also clean and passed Herrmann-Wick to take second place for France. The German had to settle for third after using two more spares in the range.
Italy were fourth, Sweden fifth and Austria sixth. Those results meant that France win the crystal globe for the relays.
In the men’s race it was the Czechs who took the early lead after a brilliant leg from Michal Krcmar. He hit 10/10 and managed to exchange just a fingertip ahead of Norway. Endre Stroemsheim needed a spare on each shoot but made up the time on track to keep Norway in contention. Roman Rees also hit 10/10 to put Germany in third and Daniele Cappellari did the same to leave Italy in fourth.
On the second leg it was Switzerland who took over the lead with a fabulous leg from Niklas Hartweg. It was 10/10 for him on the range but by the exchange Vebjoern Soerum had passed him on the tracks after using just one spare to give Norway a lead of 13 seconds. A fantastic leg by Adam Runnalls building on Christian Gow’s first leg had Canada in third! Didier Bionaz kept Italy in fourth.
Leg three saw Johannes Dale and Serafin Wiestner going head to head. With both men needing spares it let the clean shooting Eric Perrot rocket France into the lead after the standing shoot. Also going supersonic was Martin Ponsiluoma who hit 10/10 passing everyone to exchange in equal first place alongside Johannes Dale. Switzerland were third and France fourth 13 and 14 seconds behind after Perrot suffered on track against the faster skiers.
Vetle Christiansen took over at the front and was soon able to gap Peppe Femling. He used one spare in the prone but cleaned the stand to give Norway their second win of the day! Who needs the Boe brothers and Laegreid! The other teams all struggled on the standing with Fabien Claude hitting the penalty loop. He still came out ahead of the rest to give France second spot. Benedikt Doll came from nowhere making up a 44 second deficit on Femling after the prone to overtake Sweden and give Germany third place.
Sweden were fourth, Ukraine took an excellent fifth and Austria were sixth. All of which means that Norway win the relay crystal globe.
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