Christiansen Doubles Up, Dominates Blink; Michelon, Elvira Oeberg Take Women’s Titles
Biathlon returned this weekend at the Blinkfestivalen in Sandnes, Norway. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen doubled up with his seventh and eighth career wins, taking both the super sprint and mass start in Sandnes with Oceane Michelon’s star shining brightly. On the women’s side, the Olympic Mass Start Champion first blazed to victory in the women’s shooting duel Friday, later winning the super sprint with 19-of-20 shooting over teammate Julia Simon. Saturday’s women’s mass start found Elvira Oeberg taking the win, again over Simon.
Christiansen, who won a bunch sprint with Eric Perrot, Emilien Claude and Oscar Lombardot was worried about his French rivals in the super sprint. “I had to fight for it today. It was a struggle in the last round. I was a little afraid they would use tactics against me.”
Two wins for the Bear Cub
After his second win, the Norwegian veteran was his typical entertaining self, crossing the finish after a powerful final sprint with a finger pointing at each side of his helmet, then commenting, “Vetle actually means bear cub. So, it is a bear that has survived one winter, if you are going to study old Norwegian history… So, I was a bull today, but come winter I'll find the bear in me!”
Ensuring the biggest names lined up for the super sprint, Christiansen Sturla Holm Laegreid, Johannes Dale-Skjevdal, Martin Uldal, Johan-Olav Smoerdal Botn, Einar Hedegart and Perrot as well as Simon, Michelon, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Karoline Offigstad Knotten, Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, Marthe Krakstad Johansen, and Elvira Oeberg received wild card entries into that competition.
Shooting Duel Finale: Sivert Bjoerndalen Tops Michelon
Friday opened with the shooting duel. The French women dominated with all five moving to the final while last year’s champion Uldal and Laegreid led the men. Michelon after dominating the semifinal, went 5-for 5 very quickly to take the women’s title. A surprise came as Sivert Bjoerndalen (Ole Einar’s nephew) beat Laegreid with five very fast shots, setting up the super finale with Michelon. The Norwegian responded with an even faster five perfect shots, finishing before the French Olympic Champion closed her third target. Michelon called Bjoerndalen’s victory, “Brilliant; I just have to say, ‘Bravo!’ This was hard; my legs were shaking.”
Second win for Michelon
A couple of hours after the shooting duel, Michelon and Simon went head-to-head in the super sprint. Both cleaned the first prone, Simon fell 9 seconds back with a single penalty in the second bout, rebounding by the first standing. In the standing stages, Michelon dominated, hitting 9-of-10 securing victory over Simon, while Johansen finished third. However, Michelon went to 15-for-15 while Simon missed twice.
Michelon, pleased with her two wins admitted her shape was, “Really good; better than I was thinking. It was a really good. I am really happy. I was focused on my job, to follow all my bullets. I did that and am really happy about that.”
Christiansen Sprints to Victory
Perrot, Christiansen and Claude battled through the whole competition until the last standing and last loop. The trio all cleaned the last standing going into the last loop together. Coming down the final straightaway, Christiansen found an extra gear, getting a 13:44.7 win, .4 and .6 seconds in front of Perrot and Claude.
All of the big names made it through the Saturday qualifying rounds, setting up highly competitive mass starts.
Elvira Skis to Mass Start Victory
Michelon and Karolin Offigstad Knotten after the first prone until Elvira and Simon moved into the leading positions. Elvira cleaned the first standing while Simon had a penalty. The Swedish star slowly closed her last five targets, sealing the win; Simon shot fast moving from fourth to second at the finish, 12.6 seconds back, with Knotten third.
After two second places, Simon revealed that she got some answers in the competitions, "There were some problems on the shooting range…but November is a long time away…I need to train more. It is easy to shoot in training but much harder in competition!”
Vetle Powers to Mass Start Title
The men’s mass start renewed the French/Norwegian rivalry. Christiansen cleaned the first prone, immediately taking the lead, holding it through the second prone stage. The Norwegian missed a shot in the first standing, leaving second. Perrot cleaned, trailing by six seconds. The Norwegian and his French rival both missed a shot in the last standing with Perrot leading by one second. Christiansen pushed hard up the bridge before the finish, powering to his second win of the weekend, one second before Perrot, with Sturla Holm Laegreid third, five seconds back.
Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni, Nordic Focus
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