The biathlon men just missed the first podium place after the winter games in Pyeongchang. Benedikt Doll (2), Erik Lesser (1) and sprint Olympic champion Arnd Peiffer (2) finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the Austrian Julian Eberhard’s (2 penalty rounds) victory in the mass start over 15 km at the World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland. On the third-placed Russian Anton Schipulin (1), who had triumphed in the sprint on Thursday, Doll missed 2.6 seconds.
Peiffer (Clausthal-Zellerfeld) was in the lead until the last shooting, but then, with two penalty rounds, destroyed the hopes for his ninth World Cup victory. For Eberhard it was the fourth victory of his career, he won ahead of the five-time Olympic champion Martin Fourcade (2). The Frenchman, who had previously skipped the races in Finland due to gastrointestinal complaints, successfully defended the leader’s yellow jersey in the overall World Cup.
The German runners came into the race, both Peiffer and Lesser (Frankenhain), Doll (Breitnau) and world champion Simon Schempp (Uhingen) made no mistakes in the first reclining stroke and got stuck in the top group. Doll and Peiffer took great risks during the second lying shooting, but they were rewarded: Both shot flawlessly again and, together with the Austrian Eberhard, tore a small gap to the rest of the field.
In his quivering discipline of standing shooting, Doll then shot a ticket, Peiffer made it better: The experienced man took his time, and again the zero stood. With a 15.1-second lead over Eberhard, he set off for the last shooting. However, the sprint world champion of 2011 failed to keep his nerves there.
On Thursday the biathletes in Oslo will continue with the two sprint races (from 12.00 hrs/ARD and Eurosport) in Oslo. The penultimate World Cup of the winter will take place at Holmenkollen before the season finale in Tyumen, Russia, takes place a week later.