Suvi Minkkinen was tenth in Kontiolahti and came close to her career best finish. In the main video, you can see what Minkkinen’s last shooting performance looked like from start to finish.
4.12. 18:46•Updated 4.12. 19:34
On Wednesday, the women’s individual competition was held for the first time this season at the Biathlon World Cup. Kontiolahti had a 12.5 kilometer normal distance race.
France won Lou Jeanmonnotwho shot all the spots cleanly.
Sweden, who skied in only their third World Cup competition and shot one penalty, took second place Ella Halvarsson. Earthly Elvira Öberg was third after missing two shots.
The fourth of the race was a surprise, the zeros shot Poland Natalia Sidorowicz.
Suvi Minkkinen started the competition as the first skier. The Finn started the competition very strongly by shooting zeros from the first three shooting positions.
Minkkinen was even aiming for the best ranking of his career in the individual race, but the second shot of the last vertical place still missed, which dropped his ranking.
In the final results, however, Minkkinen was a fine tenth. The best ranking of Minkkinen’s career in individual World Cup competitions is the eighth place in the normal distance.
– The big jerk came on the last shot. Fortunately, I got hold of it and finished first, Minkkinen commented after the race, satisfied with the race.
Minkkinen, who became known as a fast and accurate shooter, has invested even more in skiing this season.
– It was pretty exciting to start at the top. The last thought was that I always train alone. Of course, there were very few intervals behind, but you can’t ski harder than what your own limit is, Minkkinen said.
Other Finns participated in the race Sonja Leinamo (54:s), Inka Hämäläinen (81:s) and Venla Lehtonen.
Lehtonen fought for a place in the top 20, but two misses in the last shooting ruined the competition. In the end, he was 45th and was barely out of the points.
– Nice opening from Suvi. Ski speed has approached the bow. With one missed shot in the top ten, with zero shooting, he would have been fourth, an expert Ville Kotikumpu chewed the race.