The 27-year-old Johannes Kühn made a big surprise with four clean shootings. The German, who was also known as a fast skier at a young age, but has an only 70% hit rate average at the shooting range, was beaten by Martin Fourcade by only 4.2 seconds. "It was just a bit a pity because it was so close, but 2nd place with 0 mistakes is great. I did not feel so good, but it got better from lap to lap", he said. More than four seconds Kühn lost in a crash after his first shooting with Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen (NOR, Fischer skis, bindings and boots), who headed for the mat on the right side of the German. "Vetle went down in my skis, then I got hooked on his calf and could not solve myself immediately, which annoyed me for a while." Jakov Fak (SLO, Fischer skis and bindings) finished fourth. Sixth went to Serhiy Semenov (UKR, Fischer skis and bindings). Johannes Thingnes Bø (NOR, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) scored three penalty minutes under perfect conditions, so that he was not able to finish better than seventh place despite his fastest ski time. Lars Helge Birkeland (NOR, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) finished tenth.
Women's individual competition brought more surprises in the leading positions after favorites such as Doro Wierer (ITA) and Kaisa Mäkäräinen (FIN, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) moved further behind. The victory went to 28-year-old Yulia Dzhima, who was one of five zero-shooters, for the first time in her life. Second place went to Monika Hojnisz, barely six seconds behind, despite a penalty minute. Paulina Fialkova (SVK, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) also showed a very good race, but narrowly missed the podium with two penalties. Hanna Öberg (SWE, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) was eighth ahead of Lisa Theresa Hauser (AUT, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) and Franziska Preuß (GER, Fischer skis, bindings and boots).
