“Trembling in my entire body”

Gasparin was so excited with the win that she could not calm down. “We are so small and to have a World Cup win is so important, especially after the World Championships where we were always so close to the medals. It means a lot to us…I was so nervous watching Niklas. I am still trembling in my entire body, but at the same time, I trusted that he could do it.”

“Last shot…legs starting to shake”

Hartweg added some drama, coming to the final standing with a generous lead but needing two spare rounds to seal the win. “It would have been too perfect to shoot zero the whole race, so it was mandatory for the last shooting to have some mistakes. I tried to shoot fast. If you shoot fast, you don’t have time to think. When you start reloading, everything slows down. On the last shot, I think you saw the legs were starting to shake. It is quite tough, you ski all out at the top, come, have along break and shoot standing. Th legs were shaking; it was not easy, but we got the bullets in and now we are here. We won the race, so what can I say?”

“So, so happy”

Sweden with Jesper Nelin and Johanna Skottheim were the top team on the range with four spares in second place, 5.4 seconds back. Finland with Tero Seppala and Suvi Minkkinen finished third, with nine spares, 12.1 seconds back. Minkkinen was rooting for her teammate in his anchor leg when he moved from 7th to 5th to 3rd . “I said now Tero make the standing of your life! Then he looked really hungry when he went to the last loop! I am so, so happy with the ending of the race.”

France with ten spares finished fourth, 19.9 seconds back, followed by the USA with six spares, 21.2 seconds back and Germany with eight spares, 23.3 seconds back in sixth place.