Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold Wins in Sjusjøen After Dramatic Sprint Finish

Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (28) seems to be in great form ahead of the World Cup season kickoff.

The first mass start of the season took place in Sjusjøen on Sunday morning during the national opening weekend. Here, Tandrevold demonstrated her strength by securing her second victory of the weekend.

Karoline Knotten had a very fast prone series at the first shooting and went out first. Maren Kirkeeide, Emilie Kalkenberg, and Tandrevold followed 4-5 seconds behind after the first prone. Juni Arnekleiv, on the other hand, had to settle for three penalty rounds from the start.

Tandrevold continued to deliver at the second prone shooting, heading out in first place with a clear advantage of seven seconds over Kirkeeide. During the first standing shooting, Tandrevold incurred one penalty round while Kirkeeide shot cleanly. Consequently, Tandrevold lost her lead and went out just under three seconds ahead of Kirkeeide, but the Norwegian star increased her pace going into the final shooting round.

When it came to the decisive last shooting, Tandrevold had two penalty rounds while Kirkeeide missed once. This allowed Kirkeeide to head out three seconds ahead of Tandrevold, but in the course, the Norwegian biathlete proved to be the strongest, clinching victory narrowly in a sprint finish against Kirkeeide.

Italian Dorothea Wierer finished in third place, with Knotten coming in fourth.

On Saturday, Tandrevold also secured victory in the sprint event, hitting 9 out of 10 targets and winning by 12 seconds over Kalkenberg. In two weekends, the World Cup opening in Kontiolahti is on the agenda.