Dhe former world champion Benedikt Doll clinched his third podium finish of the winter at the biathlon season finale in Oslo. A week after his individual World Cup victory in Sweden, the 32-year-old shot clean again and finished third in the sprint on Thursday.
Norway’s superstar Johannes Thingnes Bö secured his 17th win of the season after his compulsory break due to the corona and thus set a new victory record. The 29-year-old’s previous record came from the 2018/2019 season, when he was at the top 16 times. In addition, the five-time Oberhof World Champion is the first ski hunter to win all sprint races in a season.
Despite a penalty loop, Bö, who was already the overall World Cup winner and who previously missed two individual races due to the infection, relegated the clean-shooting Swede Martin Ponsiluoma to second place with 23.9 seconds. After ten kilometers, Doll was 28.9 seconds behind. He is therefore promising in the pursuit on Saturday (12.45 p.m. / ARD and Eurosport). The German team result was rounded off by error-free Johannes Kühn in sixth (+ 55.9 seconds) and Philipp Nawrath (1 error/+ 1:05.9 minutes) in ninth.
“I felt really good today. Above all, the shooting is really crazy that it works so well now, ”said Doll on ARD. Only his gap of almost 49 seconds as the second fastest to high-flyer Bö puzzled him.