Johannes Thingnes Bø secured his second victory of the season in the second sprint this winter. The Norwegian was not a class of his own and only 0.2 seconds faster than Quentin Fillon Maillet (FRA, Fischer ***) and also Simon Desthieux (FRA) and Tarjei Bø (NOR, Fischer ***) were fewer than ten seconds slower than the later winner. So it was after a penalty a relatively close victory ahead of Desthieux. "I think of my wife every day and hope that the baby will be born healthy and I'm looking forward to go home on Sunday," said Bø, who announced a few days ago, omitting the World Cups in Oberhof and Ruhpolding to spend time with the family. With 14 seconds behind Alexander Loginov finished third without shooting errors. Tarjei Bø came in sixth after two penalties. Felix Leitner (AUT, Fischer ***) finished eighth.
Earlier today, the ladies had completed their sprint, in which the perfect shooting Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold was narrowly beaten by Dorothea Wierer (ITA) and finished with 5.9 seconds behind the Italian in second place. Despite a shooting error, Svetlana Mironova celebrated her first podium finish of her life, having steadily improved in skiing in recent years, losing only 17 seconds to the fastest Justine Braisaz (FRA, Fischer ***). Paulina Fialkova (SVK, Fischer ***) surprised herself and everyone else with an excellent fourth place, which brought tears to her eyes at the award ceremony. The Slovak had crashed in Östersund nine days ago and had injured her knee. When MRI examinations revealed the injury as a meniscal defect, she tentatively decided against surgery and said she wanted to continue racing unless the pain was too severe. Hanna Öberg (SWE, Fischer ***) took fifth place ahead of Lucie Charvatova (CZE, Fischer **). Tiril Eckhoff (NOR, Fischer ***) finished eighth ahead of Valj Semerenko (UKR, Fischer ***).
* = Fischer skis
** = Fischer skis and bindings
*** = Fischer skis, bindings and boots
