– How it should be possible to beat Norway is a bit difficult to understand, said news commentator Andreas Stabrun Smith before the WC relay. Because with a team of Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen, Tarjei Bø, Sturla Holm Lægreid and Johannes Thingnes Bø, you could almost write off the gold in advance. But by no means did it turn out that way. Bø with four misses Christiansen was first out for Norway and missed twice on his first shot. That meant 20th place and 22.5 seconds behind leading Germany. – It was a bad series by Vetle, concluded news expert Ola Lunde. Christiansen regained the entire lead for the second shooting, but had perhaps used a little too much effort. Because at the second shooting, two new misses awaited, and Norway had to use two new extra shots. When Tarjei Bø switched with Christiansen, Norway was a full 59.2 seconds behind leading France. – It was the fight of my life. It was brutal. As I said, once you’ve started fighting and started spending time, you have to keep doing it and preferably avoid the penalty round. It took a lot of time, I noticed, but I’m glad I managed to get them down in the end, says Christiansen. Bø started his recovery with five flashes straight down on his prone shooting, but on the second shooting the wind blew up strongly in Oberhof. Stryningen stayed for a long time to gain control of the stock in the strong wind. Then there was a miss on the first, third and fifth shooting. In the extra shots, Bø missed again, and had to go to the penalty round. When Sturla Holm Lægreid went out, they were more than a minute behind the Czech Republic and France at the front. – This time I think we should blame the conditions. This was bad luck for Norway and great luck for France, said Stabrun Smith. – That’s where I think the golden chance went Because while Norway was struggling, the French team was in super form. Emilien Jacquelin showed old greatness when he delivered a lightning-fast series of 22.5 seconds and shot a full house. Sturla Holm Lægreid responded with as many hits on her first shot, but Norway was still 1.02 minutes behind France after 19.2 kilometers. But when Jacquelin missed four times on her standing shot and had to go out in the penalty round, the opportunity opened up for Lægreid. He shot down two flashes, before the wind blew up strongly. Then Lægreid missed four shots, and had to go to the penalty round. – That’s where I think the golden opportunity went, said Ola Lunde. – Spending 20 seconds to get the blinkers down, then you could just as well go through the penalty round. It’s the time from start to finish that counts, and I ended up with a penalty round, which is crazy, but I gained 20 seconds on my stage, so I’m happy with that assessment, it could have gone much worse, says Lægreid. Bæringen delivered a heroic effort on his way to exchange with WC king Johannes Thingnes Bø. 49.5 seconds behind, Thingnes Bø was released, and he only had his sixth WC gold in mind. – But it hangs by a very thin thread, said Stabrun Smith. And when Thingnes Bø missed three times on his first shot, the thread was even thinner. Both Thingnes Bø and Quentin Fillon Maillet shot full houses in the last shooting, but it was too far for the WC king to make up for a lead of 32.9 seconds.
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Norway with a huge bang on the relay – shot away from the WC gold – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
