Amandine Mengin of France and Gaetan Paturel won the final Sprint of the season at the IBU Cup in Lake Placid. Paula Botet claimed both the Total Score and Sprint Score titles. Paturel won the Sprint Score title.

Clean shooting brings Mengin her first IBU Cup win of the season

Mengin, who started the season in the World Cup, had been searching for her first IBU Cup win of the winter, and a perfect 10/10 in the final Sprint of the season brought her victory in 21:50.0. Samuela Comola of Italy, with 9/10, finished second, 3.2 seconds behind. Gro Randby of Norway, despite two misses, finished third, 13.4 seconds behind Mengin.

Paula Botet of France, despite finishing only 44th today, secured the Sprint Score title and (with Mass Start 60 scheduled for Friday) also clinched the IBU Cup Total Score title thanks to her phenomenal results in Trimester 1.

Paturel wins in grand style

Entering today’s Sprint in a tight battle for the Sprint and Total Score titles with his teammate Damien Levet, Paturel delivered his best performance of the season, hitting all 10 targets and winning in 29:00.1. Norwegians Ole Suhrke and Sverre Dahlen Aspenes, both with two misses, finished second and third. Suhrke crossed the line just 0.1 seconds behind Paturel, while Aspenes was 11 seconds behind the winner. Levet finished 19th today.

Paturel won the Sprint Score title and expanded his Total Score lead to 86 points over Levet before Friday's Mass Start 60, the last individual competition of the season.

Photo: Federica Vanzetta / IBU Photo Pool