In Kontiolahti

Austria’s biathletes badly embarrassed in the sprint

One week before the home World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria's biathlon men completely missed out in the sprint in Kontiolahti. 

David Komatz finished the 10 km race on Friday as the best of the weak ÖSV starters in 42nd place and thus outside the points. Simon Eder (90th) recorded four misses and was just as out of contention as Felix Leitner (56th), Patrick Jakob (74th) and Fredrik Mühlbacher (82nd). The winner was Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin.

Komatz came through the first sprint decision of the season in slightly sub-zero temperatures without a penalty loop, but lagged behind in terms of time on the cross-country course. Experienced skier Eder - 13th in the 15 km individual race on Tuesday - completely failed the standing shooting and missed four penalty loops.

Jacquelin, who shot flawlessly, won by almost 20 seconds ahead of the Swede Sebastian Samuelsson (1 penalty) and the German Philipp Nawrath. Johannes Thingnes Bö was the best Norwegian in fifth place. The women's and men's sprint events are scheduled for next Friday in Hochfilzen, followed by the pursuit and relay events on Saturday and Sunday respectively.