Jeanmonnot Anchors French Mixed Relay Triumph

Lou Jeanmonnot cleaned the final standing stage, after a perfect prone stage while her Norwegian foe Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold fell back after a spare round, sealing the French victory in the Oestersund Mixed Relay in 1:09:09.9 this afternoon. Jeanmonnot and teammates Quentin Fillon Maillet, Emilien Jacquelin and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet used just five spare rounds with the only miscue coming with Jacquelin’s penalty loop that Braisaz-Bouchet's two clean stages quickly erased.

First Time Anchor

Jeanmonnot was thrilled with the victory in her first appearance on the anchor leg of a relay. “It was really good to bring home the victory. I was stressed a lot because I never raced as the (anchor) before this. I am really about that.”

As for the deciding last standing stage, she added, “I only wanted to shoot slow and great, because I know Ingrid is really fast. To me, only five-on-five was good for me if I wanted to fight for the win.”

Norway, with seven spare rounds, finished second, 15.7 seconds back after dominating the first three legs. Italy, with a penalty and nine spares finished third, 39.7 seconds back, buoyed by Lisa Vittozzi’s strong anchor leg.

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Tarjei and JT dominate first two legs

Darkness had set in by the mixed relay’s mid-afternoon start for the new season’s first competition fully under the lights. Five teams went spare-free in the first prone with Switzerland’s Sebastian Stalder cleaning his standing stage lightning fast to take a dozen-second lead. Tarjei Boe put the hammer down in his last loop to tag his brother first, .1 seconds ahead of the Swiss team. JT put a huge gap on the field by the prone stage but used two spares, while Jacquelin used one to go out a step ahead of the Norwegian. The Norwegian cleaned standing in five shots while his rivals used spares and Jacquelin went for a penalty loop. JT tagged Karoline Offigstad Knotten with a 17.9-second lead.

BMW IBU World Cup 1 Oestersund Mixed Relay

Braisaz-Bouchet Moves Up

Knotten and Germany’s Sophia Schneider cleaned prone easily holding onto the top two spots The Norwegian faltered in standing, using all three spares; the clean-shooting Braisaz-Bouchet moved into second, seven seconds back, overhauling the Norwegian in the last loop, tagging Jeanmonnot 8.6 seconds ahead of Tandrevold.

Jeanmonnot outduels Tandrevold

Jeanmonnot cleaned prone in five fast shots, Tandrevold matched but remained three seconds back. Going into the last standing stage, Tandrevold took a slight lead into the stadium using a spare but the young French star went five-for-five very quickly. She left with a 13.3 second lead over Tandrevold that sealed the French victory.

Germany in contention for the podium much of the afternoon finished fourth, with eight spares, 55.7 seconds back. Czechia finished fifth, with nine spares, 57.4 seconds back. Sweden finished sixth, with nine spares, 2:28 back.

Photos: IBU/Per Danielsson