Botet and Soerum take Pokljuka's second Sprint

Paula Botet of France and Vebjoern Soerum of Norway are the winners of the second round of Sprints at the IBU Cup in Pokljuka. Soerum finished third two times and won on the closing day. Botet collected one third and one fourth place and a win.

Botet’s premier IBU Cup win

Botet had a 10/10 day on the shooting range and comfortably closed the Sprint for a first-ever win in the IBU Cup in 21:22.2. Hanna Kebinger found herself in trouble after two misses in the prone, but her ski speed brought her second place and third podium of the week, 42.1 seconds back. Lisa Maria Spark of Germany, shooting clean, finished third, 46.8 seconds behind Botet. It was a carer-first IBU Cup podium for her.

“It is my first clean shooting day of the season and a first-ever win in the IBU Cup. It is kind of weird because I felt poorly the whole week. Perhaps lacking energy calmed my nerves,” said Botet. She moved to fourth place in the IBU Cup Total Score rankings after today’s win.

Camille Bened of France, shooting 10/10, finished fourth, 54.9 seconds behind her teammate. Selina Grotian was the third German in the Top 5 in fifth place. Grotian missed two shots and was 56.1 seconds behind the French winner. Tilda Johansson of Sweden, missing twice, completed the podium, 59.2 seconds behind Botet.

The IBU Cup Total Score leader Gilonne Guigonnat, 15th today, has 460 points, 58 more than Johansson, who moved to second place after today’s Sprint.

IBU Cup Pokljuka - Sprints 2

Soerum takes second Pokljuka Sprint

Vebjoern Soerum of Norway won in the second Sprint in Pokljuka. His teammate Aleksander Fjeld Andersen finished second, and Lucas Fratzscher of Germany finished third.

Soerum missed one shot in the prone, but put the pedal down on the skis, cleared all five standing targets as the second fastest in the field, and sped through the final lap to clinch his first IBU Cup win this winter in 25:03.2. Aleksander Fjeld Andersen was the only Norwegian with a perfect shooting score for his third IBU Cup podium in 2022/2023. Andersen was 7.7 seconds behind Soerum. Fratzscher, wearing bib 1, missed one shot in the prone and crossed the finish line 9.2 seconds slower than the winner from Norway.

“I am very pleased with my performance. The conditions were challenging as the gusts kept changing the direction of the wind. I saved some energy for the second half of the race, and it turned out the right strategy today," said Soerum.

The winning form from the previous days in Pokljuka eluded Sindre Fjellheim Jorde of Norway as he missed twice for fourth place, 34.7 seconds behind Soerum. Elia Zeni of Italy achieved his first-ever Top 6 finish in the IBU Cup with one miss, 50 seconds behind the winner. Fredrik Muehlbacher of Austria also missed once and finished sixth - his personal best in the IBU Cup with some margin - just 1.3 seconds behind Zeni.

The IBU Cup Total Score leader Endre Stroemsheim missed six shots and finished 24th. He holds 90 points lead over Mats Oeverby.

Photo: IBU/H. Deubert

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