Tero Seppälä was eighth in Canmore and secured Finland’s best personal ranking of the season. Biathlon World Cup ends on Sunday.
Riku Porvari,
Hinn Hirvonen
Tero Seppälä rose from 15th place in the men’s pursuit race to eighth in Finnish time late on Saturday evening. Seppälä’s ranking was the Finns’ best individual performance of the season in the Biathlon World Cup.
Seppälä shot only two penalties and missed the lead by 1:45 in the race in Canmore, Canada. The temperature in the locality rose to 15 plus degrees on Saturday evening.
– For the first time this winter, my fitness, shooting and good skis coincided on the same day. The weather was really rough and we skied in the summer heat, Seppälä stated to the Finnish Biathlon Union in the bulletin.
Sports expert Kaisa Mäkäräinen described Seppälä’s race as a really good and solid performance.
– Not really a failure in any area. Was able to keep even other guys there on the side of the track tight at times and control the game himself. A great race, Mäkäräinen characterized.
Otto Invenius it was the 31st again. Invenius shot past Four and was a good three and a half minutes behind the leader.
Bö secured the fifth overall cup win
Johannes Thingnes Bö secured the men’s World Cup overall race victory in Saturday’s pursuit race, when he once again skied to the finish line first. The second race on Saturday was Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson (+11.2) and France Eric Perrot (+11.6) third.
Bö entered the track in a historic leading position, because of the difference between Italy to Tommaso Giacomeli was a minute and almost three seconds.
The Norwegian talent maintained his lead until the end despite three missed shots and rose in race wins past the French legend Martin Fourcade. The win was Bölle’s 84th. A compatriot is now ahead of Bö Ole-Einar Björndalewhich has 95 wins.
The World Cup overall victory was Bö’s fifth. Fourcade has seven overall cup victories and Björndale has six. Bö has said that he will continue his career at least until the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Two fines and 40th place for Suvi Minkkinen
Italian Lisa Vittozzi continued her winning streak as she took victory in the women’s pursuit ahead of France Lou Jeanmonnot (+12.2). Thirdly, the main earthling Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (+19.4), who went from eighth place to place on the podium.
Suvi Minkkinen was 40th, almost three and a half minutes behind the leader. He shot a total of two penalties. Minkkinen won’t race again on Sunday.
– A couple of my own mistakes in shooting, but it wasn’t a bad shooting day. The basic bet, which left one World Cup point in the pocket. Nice to end the season and look to the future, Minkkinen assessed in the association’s press release.
Vittozzi, who missed just one shot on Saturday, passed Norway in the overall statistics of the World Cup Ingrid Landmark Tandrevoldin. Vittozzi leads the Norwegian by 62 points before Sunday’s final race. Tandrevold started Saturday’s chase only in 17th place and finally crossed the finish line in 19th place.
Vittozzi already won the normal distance Cup earlier and with his victory on Saturday also secured the victory in the pursuit Cup.
The Biathlon World Cup ends on Sunday in Canmore, Canada, with the joint start competitions. The women will be seen on the track from 7:05 p.m. and the men at 11:15 p.m. Broadcasts live on TV2 and Areena.