A masterful recovery by Norway and Lægreid meant that Norway secured the gold in the mixed relay on the first day of the championships. But it looked gloomy for a long time. Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold missed three times and had to go through a penalty round on her first leg. Right up until the third stage, Norway was just over a minute behind the lead. Things were to turn around suddenly with lightning-fast shooting and driving from Lægreid, which enabled Johannes Thingnes Bø to go out alone at the top of the anchor leg. Thingnes Bø put the heart in many people’s throats when he had to use three extra shots on his first prone shooting and was penalized afterwards. – It is simply miserable. Johannes has a bom almost in the white. Boom left, boom right, said news’s biathlon expert Ola Lunde. But the World Cup leader recovered, skated well standing up and went out at the same time as Italy. In the final round, the Norwegian was superior and secured the gold for Norway. Italy took the silver, while France took the bronze. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB Difficult start What initially looked very promising with a full house for Tandrevold, was to suddenly end up being a difficult first leg for Norway. Three misses on it meant that the Fossum girl eventually had to go to the penalty round. – It is not that Norway is out of it, but Norway has a difficult path towards a new WC gold in the mixed relay, said news’s radio commentator Andreas Stabrun Smith. Norway’s biathlon coach Patrick Oberegger understood little of his pupil’s shooting during the race. – She started very well with two hits. I am most annoyed that she fires shots three, four and five at the same time. I haven’t seen that from Ingrid for a long time. That she doesn’t move to flash four or five, I think that’s a bit strange. Tandrevold was almost a minute behind at the first exchange with Marte Olsbu Røiseland. – It was no fun. It was not the starting point the others were hoping for and definitely not the start I had wanted to have. It was crazy, said Tandrevold to news. Røiseland has been plagued by illness before the championship, but showed a good side on his stage. There were two extra shots and an exchange 50 seconds behind France. Photo: LISA LEUTNER / Reuters Enormous pick-up Easy, smooth like its predecessors, a dot-free lying series – and at a high pace. – A great series, exclaimed Stabrun Smith. The gap to Italy, who were then in the lead, had been reduced to 28 seconds. And good was to become much better for Norway and Lægreid, who did an enormous stage. On standing skates, the boy from Bærum skated flawlessly, lightning fast and took the lead together with Italy. Thingnes Bø did an exciting job on the last stage with three barriers, but saved himself again.
ttn-69
Crazy drama when Norway secured the WC gold – Thingnes Bø is punished after shooting – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
