Norwegians dominated the last races in the Vysočina Arena again
The World Cup event in Nové Město na Moravě culminated with mass races. Tiril Eckhoff of Norway took the gold in the 12.5km women’s mass race 25 seconds ahead of Hanna Oeberg of Sweden. Franziska Preuss of Germany took the bronze. Markéta Davidová, the only Czech in the pack, made five mistakes and finished 20th. Johannes Thingnes Boe was victorious thanks to the fact that his last shooting was flawless. This meant that the Norwegian took his fifth victory in the six races that took place in NMNM. Emilien Jacquelin of France finished second and Arnd Pfeifer of Germany took the bronze. Czechs – Ondřej Moravec and Michal Krčmář – were 19th and 20th, respectively.
The way Markéta Davidová started into the race was promising indeed; after two clean shootings, she held a position somewhere between 4th and 7th places. The second shooting took her 28 seconds only. However, shooting in the standing position turned out to be critical, and she had to run 4 penalty loops. She also had a problem with slow skis. “I shall not comment on it as it could happen that I say something I might regret later,” she said in an interview for the Czech Television.
The winner, Tiril Eckhoff, started to build her lead after the second shooting that got her on the leading position. Her first and final mistake at the last shooting did not change it. The silver medallist, Hanna Oeberg lost 25 seconds, and the third, Franziska Preuss of Germany 32 second. Both of them missed a target at the first shooting, but then their shooting was flawless.
Ondřej Moravec and Michal Krčmář had very similar positions to Markéta Davidová. Both of them made three mistakes in shooting. Ondřej Moravec, who is the older of the two, excelled at the first prone position shooting, but missed one target at every subsequent shooting. “I could not concentrate the way it was necessary to run a good race. My shooting was not perfected,” the most experienced member of the Czech national team sighed. Krčmář lost sight of the best after he made two mistakes in the first shooting and one mistake in the third. The fact that he missed all targets in the last shooting brought him his position among the best 20.
It was a fifth triumph of Johannes Boe in this season! He missed one target in each of the first three shootings, but he run so fast that he could keep the head of the race in his sight. The last standing position shooting – fast and precise – got him back to the battle for the gold. Though Emilien Jacquelin of France tried to do what he could, the Norwegian was 15 seconds faster, and revenged for his loss at the pursuit at the World Championships in Anterselva. In NMNM, Johannes Thingnes Boe was not beaten in the last six races!
These two races cocluded the four-day long programme of the Nové Město na Moravě World Cup event. Czechs performed really well, especially in the first racing days, and they said goodbye to the legend of Czech Biathlon, Michal Šlesingr. The whole four days of the 7th round of the 2019/2020 World Cup were characteristic by difficult conditions; the weather changed every day, which was difficult both for racers and their supporting teams. Organizers managed all the obstacles in an excellent way, and Nové Město na Moravě hosted yet another top event. We believe that next time, the fans will be able to enjoy in in the stands and along the track!
Author: Tomáš Hermann, Lada Smržová
Photo: Michal Jilka
