Sara Andersson of Sweden and Gaetan Paturel of France are the winner of the Sprint at the IBU Cup in Sjusjoen, Norway. For both, it was a first-ever individual win in the IBU Cup.

Fast shooting and speedy second lap bring Andersson a win

Andersson was 12th after the first shooting, but a very fast second lap and clean, rapid shooting in the standing brought her a career-first win in the IBU Cup in 21:19.6. Repeating what she did for the win is her plan for tomorrow’s Pursuit, where she will be chased by Celia Henaff of France, who missed one shot in the standing and finished second, just three seconds behind Andersson. Ragna Fostad of Norway, who has joined the IBU Cup for the first time in her career last week in Sjusjoen, finished third with no misses, 11.2 seconds behind the winner.

Paula Botet of France, although only 15th in today’s Sprint, kept her lead in the Total Score standings with 920 points, 110 more than Sophie Chauveau in second place.

Paturel’s premiere win

With one miss on the shooting range and the second-fastest ski time of the day, Paturel took the lead after the first shoot and brought it home in 24:09.3. He had to wait almost until the very last athlete before he was able to let his guard down, as Franz Schaser of Germany, with bib 87, challenged for the win. The German cleared all 10 targets and finished second, 6.3 seconds behind Paturel, for his first IBU Cup podium. Martin Nevland of Norway, with 10/10, completed the podium, 26.3 seconds behind the winner.

Photo: M. Nordnes / IBU Photo Pool