Aristide Begue and Elisabeth Hoegberg Win Second IBU Cup Sprints

Clean-shooting Aristide Begue of France won the second men’s sprint in 25:39.0, taking his second medal at IBU Cup 1 in Idre. In the afternoon, home team favorite Elisabeth Hoegberg won in the women’s sprint with one penalty in 23:13.3, bringing Sweden its second Gold medal.

Men’s sprint

In the men’s competition, Germany’s Dominic Reiter took second place, 22.0 seconds back, while his teammate Justus Strelow finished third, 28.3 seconds behind. Both matched Begue on the shooting range.

Russia’s Alexander Povarnitsyn, despite two penalties missed a podium spot only by 3 seconds, while another German, Roman Rees, finished fifth with the same shooting result, 2 seconds later. Norwegian junior Sivert Guttorm Bakken, fastest on the tracks finished sixth, 39.5 seconds behind despite three misses.

Perfect Start

The second competition day started with the men’s sprint; strong gusty wind resulted in many penalties on the shooting range. As in the first sprint, only four athletes managed to shoot clean, while some of the strong competitors had 4 to5 penalties. After the prone stage, Begue was only 13th but with one more perfect stage, he left the stadium in first, with a 3.7 second lead over early bib 4 Strelow. He easily kept his position until the finish line, admitting that he really likes to compete in Idre.

All About Shooting

Late start number 83 Reiter was only 32nd in the first sprint, but today was perfect; a great last loop helped him finish second, taking his first individual medal at an IBU Cup. His teammate junior Strelow had the best time on the shooting range; the young German was in second position after standing but could not hold it until the finish, nevertheless taking his first senior medal in his second-ever IBU Cup competition. “It was all about the shooting today. It was very hard on the track and I pushed very hard on the last lap but lost my second place to Dominic. Still, I am very happy with my podium spot.”

Women’s Sprint

Later in the day, Nadine Horchler of Germany finished behind second Hoegberg; with one prone penalty, 45.9 seconds back. Third place went to one of four clean-shooters Nadiia Bielkina of Ukraine, 53.2 seconds back.

Russia’s Anastasiia Morozova, third in the first sprint, today missed the podium by less than 2 seconds; she finished fourth, with two penalties, 55.7 seconds back. Fifth place went to Luise Kummer of Germany with one miss, 1:02.2 behind, while Norway’s Ragnhild Femsteinevik took sixth place with two penalties, 1:03.7 back.

Different Story

In the first women’s sprint on Thursday, where her teammate Ingela Andersson took the win, Hoegberg finished only 38th. Today was completely a different story; with the fastest time on the track, she took the lead from the start, leaving the standing stage with one penalty and a 26.1-second advantage over the clean-shooting Ukrainian. After the finish, she admitted that it was very hard on the soft track, but at the same time, conditions were the same for everyone.

Climbed Up

Horchler with one prone penalty left the stadium only 29th with almost a 50 second gap to the leader. Showing good speed during the whole competition, the German slowly climbed up in the standings, making it to fourth position after a clean standing stage. By the next split, she moved to third, overtaking Bielkina in the last meters and finishing in second. Unlike Horchler, the Ukrainian could not hold her speed on the last loop but still made it to the podium.