Martin Fourcade – who else! The 29-year-old Frenchman will continue to set the standard in biathlon at the end of the season. The dominator of the past years won the 10 km sprint at the much discussed World Cup finale in the Russian Tyumen and snatched the small crystal ball from the Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Bö in the Sprint World Cup.
“I am very satisfied and proud. Of course I was lucky that I won by only two points,” said Fourcade on ZDF. However, it was a bit hasty that he celebrated himself as another triumphator in the overall World Cup in an exuberance of emotions and described this as “something very special”.
However, there are hardly any doubts about this any more. Before the two final races on Saturday (12.5km pursuit) and Sunday (15km mass start) Fourcade has a comfortable 82 points lead over his hottest rival Bö. For the once again outstanding Olympic champion it would be the seventh triumph in the overall World Cup in series.
Fourcade has also been unbeatable in the Sprint World Cup since winter 2011/12. In Tyumen, he won without a shooting error, 33.2 seconds ahead of his compatriot Simon Desthieux and the Swede Fredrik Lindström. Bö would have taken twelfth place in the discipline ranking. However, the 24-year-old showed nerves of steel and had to make do with 14th place after two shooting mistakes. A meagre two points were finally missing after eight sprints this winter.
Erik Lesser missed the podium by five seconds and finished fifth as best German without a shooting error. I wouldn’t have thought I’d go off like that in round three,” said Lesser on ZDF after his break-in in the final round.
Arnd Peiffer finished eighth in the last sprint of the winter and improved to third place behind Fourcade and Bö in the Sprint World Cup. Johanes Kühn finished twelfth, Simon Schempp 17th. Space. Benedikt Doll had to settle for 22nd place, Roman Rees for 46th place. Space.
Before the World Cup finale, there had been much criticism of the decision of the International Biathlon Union to maintain the venue in view of the ongoing doping discussions at the Russian Tyumen. The teams from Canada, the Czech Republic, the USA and the Ukraine are completely absent in Siberia, and a few athletes from Sweden and Slovenia are also waving away.
On Friday the women’s sprint continues over 7.5 km. The Germans around Laura Dahlmeier have no chance to win the small crystal ball. Only in the mass start World Cup, which takes place on Sunday, Dahlmeier has very good opportunities.