Stroemsheim and Steiner claim IBU Cup Short Individuals in Arber

IBU Cup

20 Jan 2021

Stroemsheim and Steiner claim IBU Cup Short Individuals in Arber

The second IBU Cup kicked off today with the men’s 15 km and women’s 12.5 km short individuals in Arber. With only one penalty, Norway’s Endre Stroemsheim finished first with 41.33.7. In the women's competition, Austria’s clean-shooting Tamara Steiner claimed her first-ever IBU Cup podium taking the win in 36.56.8.

Men's individual

Two misses today for Germany's Philipp Nawrath who claimed second place, 30.8 seconds back. Also two penalties for Norwegian Aleksander Fjeld Andersen resulting in his 3rd place, 35.3 seconds behind his teammate.

Russia’s Said Karimulla Khalili put up a fight for the podium, but one miss in the second standing bout placed the Russian fourth today, 43.7 seconds behind Stroemsheim. The 18-year old New-Zealander Campbell Wright, still competing in the youth category finished fifth, with one penalty, 44.1 seconds back. Ukraine's Bogdan Tsymbal finished sixth, with one penalty, 58.4 seconds back.

Nawrath's final bout decides the winner

The temperature rose slightly above zero during the competition. The conditions should have given an advantage to the early starters, but despite the odds, the winner started with bib 65 today. Although having admitted the difficulties regarding the course conditions, Stroemsheim still managed to take the win just in front of the local favourite Nawrath.

With the German dominating the competition from the first prone, it seemed almost impossible that the win would be taken away from him. Shooting excellently until the last bout, Nawrath missed two in the last standing stage giving Stroemsheim the possibility to take the lead. Similarly to Nawrath, Stroemsheim also cleared all the targets until the very last shooting round. Feeling the pressure to shoot clean, Stroemsheim missed his last shot of day, but it was enough for the Norwegian to leave the range in the lead and to keep it until the very end.

"The conditions were really tough. I didn’t feel so strong on the course so I had to focus on the range and it worked out perfectly. At my last shooting I knew that I would be in the lead if I shoot clean and also if I have one mistake."

The fight for the 3rd and 4th place offered quite an excitement as A. F. Andersen did not shine during the first part of the competition. One penalty from the first prone, Andersen placed as far as 42 after the first shooting. Shooting clear in the second and third, earning another penalty from the last shooting, the Norwegian managed to take back 39 places by the end of the competition placing 3rd today. Hoping for the podium, Russia's Said Karimulla Khalili was definitely on the hunt for a top place today. Shooting clean until the fourth round, Khalili was 3rd when he entered the last standing bout. One penalty from the final shooting resulted in Khalili loosing his podium to the Norwegian.

Women's individual

The home team's Anna Weidel finished second, with one penalty, 12.3 seconds behind Steiner. Ukraine’s Ekaterina Bekh finished third also with one penalty, 38.5 seconds back.

With one penalty and 40.8 back, fourth place was claimed by Sweden's Anna Magnusson. Lena Repinc from Team Slovenia earns one penalty and finishes 44.7 back. Germany's Stefanie Scherer also misses once and finishes sixth, 49.7 behind Steiner.

A surprise even for Steiner

Starting in sunshine, the women’s winner was not clear until the final shooting stage. Wearing bib number 19, Steiner had to wait for a long time for the final result to be confirmed. Setting clean shooting as her target before the competition, Steiner fulfilled her goal completely. In fourth position after the second prone stage with the German Weidel-Scherer duo were holding the top to spots, Steiner got her chance when both of the Germans earned one penalty each. The Austrian then claimed the win, with Weidel in second.

Steiner was thrilled with the victory. “It is my first podium and I am really happy. My goal was to shoot clean and I reached my goal. I wanted today maybe top 15 place, I really didn’t expect the first place.”

Bekh, with one penalty in the first standing and leaving 17th after the second prone stage, moved up to third position by the end of the final shooting bout. Bekh, after Norway’s Emilie Aagheim Kalkenberg lost her podium opportunity when in her last standing stage, shot clean in the final standing to secure third place.

Germany's Stefanie Scherer, second entering the last standing stage, earned one penalty dropping her straight to sixth place, 49.7 seconds back.. With Scherer’s not so perfect last shooting, Sweden’s Anna Magnusson shot clean, to move up to fourth place, 40.8 seconds back. Surprisingly, after leaving the final standing stage in seventh, Slovenia’s Lena Repinic found the strength, with very good course time, to finish fifth, 44.87 seconds back.