After finishing fourth in the initial mass start competition, the Austrian duo of Lisa Theresa Hauser and Felix Leitner roared back in the first standing stage of the following pursuit competition, took the lead, remaining unchallenged to take the Biathlon World Team Challenge this evening in the wet, spectator-free Chiemgau Arena. Defending champion Russia with Evgenia Burtasova and Matvey Eliseev finished second, with the Czech Republic team of Marketa Davidova and Michal Krcmar finishing third.

The WTC returned to the Chiemgau Arena for the second consecutive winter, due to Covid-19 restrictions, which also kept the massive stadium free of any spectators. Unlike last December, when the competitions were held under driving snow; today it was driving rain with the temperature well above freezing at +5C with ten teams on the start for the mass start and following pursuit competitions.

Clean-shooting Lesser/ Hettich duo dominate mass start

The German youth/veteran duo of Janina Hettich and Erik Lesser dominated the opening mass start. Hettich with 52 BMW IBU World Cup starts and zero individual podiums and Lesser with 268 starts and eleven podiums combined to close 40-of-40 targets, sweeping to a stunning 1:16 margin of victory over the Ukrainian team of Yulia Dzhima and Dmytro Pidruchnyi. Defending WTC champions Evgenia Burtasova and Matvey Eliseev rounded out the podium in third place.

The competition opened with Dzhima cleaning the first prone stage, tagging Pidruchnyi in first. However, in the men’s prone stage, Lesser went 5-for-5 took control, tagging Hettich with a 16 second lead and from that point were unchallenged, cleaning stage after stage, building an unsurmountable lead.

Germans falter; Hauser and Leitner cruise to win

The pursuit, with times back cut in half started twenty minutes after the mass start with the rain continuing to pour down. Hettich came to prone with a 16-second advantage, cleans again and was gone. Lesser cleaned while other languished with penalties. Russia and Ukraine stopped for some seconds after starting early. Then everything went upside down for the Germans as Hettich missed a standing shot after slowing on the tracks. Hauser cleaned her first standing stage, taking the lead while Leitner did the same. Lesser then missed for the first time falling 11 seconds back and it was all over. Hauser and Leitner continued to shoot well, save for a last standing miss by Leitner who still skied to an easy victory and the title, with Russia second and Czech Republic third.

Photos: IBU/Harald Deubert