Hoegberg and Zobel win the IBU Cup Individuals

The Obertilliach IBU Cup kicked off with the women’s 15km individual competition where perfect conditions laid the ground for good shooting. Sweden’s Elisabeh Hoegberg turned the competition in her favour by closing all 20 targets and covering the 15 km in 43.44.4 for the win. On the men’s side it was David Zobel's time to shine. After just missing the podium during the previous IBU Cup competitions, Zobel of Germany finally cashed in with the 20 km individual win, missing once in the first standing, but managed to pull off a full recovery, claiming the win in 50:36.9. 

Women's individual

Germany’s Franziska Hildebrand earned one standing penalty finishing second, 5.7 seconds back. Marthe Krakstad Johansen of Norway completed the individual with a clean record. Finishing 35.7 seconds back, she claimed the last spot of the podium. 

"I was smiling on the last shooting"

With four shooting rounds and every miss adding a minute to the time, the individual competition is ruthless; the chances are the best for those who manage to close all 20 targets. While all of the top spot contenders managed to clean the first prone with ease, the mistakes started to crawl in in the first standing bout for some. While Hildebrand had one penalty from the first standing, Anastasiia Goreeva, Valentina Semerenko and Hoegerg all cleaned going to one-two-three, respectively. Johansen, also clean, was in fifth while Hildebrand, with her one penalty 11th. 

Goreeva had the chance for a very good competition entering the second prone as the leader. However, one added penalty minute dropped her to seventh position. At the same time, Valentina Semerenko kept her steady hand closing all five targets taking the lead after the second prone stage. Hoegberg, also clean, left the range 17.5 seconds behind the Ukrainian. Correcting her previous mistake, Hildebrand closed the targets in the second prone leaving third, 44 seconds behind Semerenko. Johansen continued her clean shooting climbing up a spot by the end of the second prone. 

With everything still possible, the last standing stage was bound to make things interesting. While Semerenko collected one penalty, Hoegberg, Hildebrand and Johansen cleaned, pushing the Ukrainian to the fourth place. Hoegberg left the range with a 17.8 second lead over Hildebrand. Now the question was if she can keep up the pace and keep her lead knowing that Hildebrand showed the best skiing time of the day. Despite losing time on the last loop, her advantage was big enough to cross the finish line as the winner. 

Johansen keeps the steady hand

While Hildebrand and Hoegberg were fighting for the top spot, Johansen had her own fight to finish. Fifth when entering the final standing, she relied on her shooting and hoped that the others will miss. As Sweden’s Sara Andersson, after climbing to fourth, crumbled completely in the final shooting earning three extra minutes while Semerenko missed once, Johansen saw her chance for the podium. Clearing the second standing, she finished the competition in third.

Semerenko, unable to recover from her penalty minute, finished fourth, 44,1 seconds back. Russia’s Evgeniya Burtasova claimed fifth place, with one penalty, 1:03 back. Anastasiia Goreeva, with two penalties, finished sixth, 1:29.4 back. 

Men's individual

With Zobel taking the win, the question was who will claim two other spots of the podium. Italy’s Dominik Windisch, with two penalties took second place, 9.1 seconds behind. Two penalties also for Russia’s Maxim Tsvetkov put him in third place, 23.3 seconds back. 

First win in years

The slow-starting winner to be not in top 10 after the first prone. Despite closing all five targets, Zobel admitted others were faster than him. 18th after the first standing, the hope of a good competition started slowly fading away. One of the biggest favourites of the day, Dominik Windisch cleared the first standing, taking the lead, Zobel missed once allowing sixteen other athletes to come in between the two. Haavard Gutuboe Bogetveit managed to keep the score zero as well in the first standing stage, moving to second [position Germany’s Justus Strelow was third. 

Keeping the same order, the top three arrived at the second prone stage with high hopes. Bogetveit and Windisch both earned one penalty minute, Strelow cleaned jumping into the leading position. Zobel managed to close all five prone targets as well climbing up to ninth position. 

Although things seemed to be going in the right direction for Strelow, his two standing penalties in the last standing ruined his chances for the highest podium spot. Windisch, knowing that Strelow had missed twice, sensed the possibility for the lead. Luck was not on his side today. With another penalty minute, Windisch was up to just before the final loop. Zobel however managed to clean once again, finding himself in the lead, 12.9 seconds ahead the Italian. Keeping the speed, Zobel crossed the finish line for his first win since the 2018/19 season. 

Babikov vs Tsvetkov

The fight for the last podium spot was between Russia’s Anton Babikov and Maxim Tsvetkov. While Babikov was fourth after the first shooting, his teammate Tsvetkov placed first. But neither managed to keep up the clean shooting earning a penalty from the first standing. While Tsvetkov placed eighth, Babikov found himself on the 12th position.

Both Russians continued on the same tempo earning yet another penalty in the second prone. The additional penalty minute pushed Babikov to 16th position; Tsvetkov was 12th. Stepping up the game in the final standing, both managed to close all five targets. With an 8-second advantage over Babikov, Tsvetkov placed third.

Babikov had to settle with fourth place, finishing 45.8 seconds back. Erlend Bjoentegaard of Norway with three penalties finished fifth, 48.2 seconds behind. Lukas Fratzscher of Germany finished in sixth, with two penalties and 48.7 seconds back. 

IBU Cup Obertilliach Individuals

Photos: Jasmin Walter / IBU