Stefanie Scherer of Germany took the IBU Cup season’s final women competition, mass start 60, finishing in 32:29.7 with a perfect shooting. In the men mass start 60, Norway’s Sivert Guttorm Bakken claimed his third win in a row in 37:09.0 with one penalty.

Women mass start 60

Behind Scherer, second place went to Russia’s Victoria Slivko with one mistake, 26.3 seconds back. Caroline Colombo of France became third despite two penalties, 37.9 seconds behind.

French junior Gilonne Guigonnat missed her first senior podium by a mere .1 second, finishing fourth with a single penalty. Germany’s Maren Hammerschmidt was fifth with two mistakes, 38.1 seconds back, while another clean shooter Polina Shevnina of Russia finished sixth, 47.7 seconds behind.

“More than great”

On a final competition day of the IBU Cup season, Raubichi stadium welcomed everyone with the sun, which was lacking here in the past days. Taking the lead after her third clean shooting stage, Scherer was one of just a few athletes who had 15/15. With great speed on the track, she came to the final standing with the advantage, calmly closed the remaining five targets and left the range while most of her rivals went to the penalty loop. on the last lap, the German was unchallenged and confidently took her second win of the season.

Unlike Scherer, Slivko missed once in the third shooting stage, leaving the stadium in fifth, 28.7 seconds behind. In the final standing, she managed to clean the targets, which saw her moving up to second position. With her closest rival 5 seconds behind, the Russian was fast enough to keep her place until the finish line.

Battle for the third

One of just three clean shooters of the day Shevnina, left in third for the last loop with a 10-second gap over Colombo. By the next split point, the fast French athlete overcame the Russian. She was battling for the last podium spot with teammate Guigonnat and Hammerschmidt, who were just behind. In the final meters, Colombo proved to be a bit faster than her rivals, taking the last women's podium spot this season.

After the flower ceremony, the winner of the women’s IBU Cup mass start score Anastasiia Porshneva of Russia was awarded with the small globe, while Swede’s Elisabeth Hoegberg took the women’s IBU Cup total score.

Men mass start 60

In the men’s competition, Lars Helge Birkeland of Norway finished second with two penalties, 20.5 seconds back. Third place went to Russia’s Vasilii Tomshin who also missed twice, 41.2 seconds behind.

Tomhsin's teammate Kirill Streltsov finished fourth with two penalties, 2.1 seconds behind his teammate. Norway’s Endre Stroemsheim missed four times to finish just fifth, which resulted in him failing to win the Men's IBU Cup Total Score by only one point! Sixth place went to Sindre Pettersen of Norway with five penalties, 1:10.8 back.

Third consecutive win

Taking the lead after the first prone stage, Bakken never relinquished his first position even despite missing once in the final standing. Coming for the last bout with a solid lead, Bakken had enough time to cover the penalty loop and leave the stadium 10.9 seconds ahead of the more experienced Birkeland. He not only kept his lead but also increased it to securely take his third consecutive win.

Matching each other on the shooting range with two penalties each, Birkeland and Tomshin left in second and third places after the final standing. Although Birkeland had no rivals behind him, the Russian had his teammate Streltsov just .4 seconds back. Nevertheless, the young Tomshin was strong enough to cross the finish in third and take his second senior podium.

As after the women’s competition, Birkeland, the winner of the Men's IBU Cup Mass Start Score was awarded a small globe, while Germany’s Lucas Fratzscher with a 1-point lead in the Men's IBU Cup Total Score, took the season’s big globe!

Photos: Evgeny Tumashov