Gandler in 19th place

Lisa Hauser sprint eighth in Kontiolahti

After finishing sixth individually at the Biathlon World Cup in Kontiolahti on Saturday, Tyrolean Lisa Hauser achieved another top ten finish with eighth place in the sprint. 

Like some of the top ten athletes, the 30-year-old made no mistakes at the shooting range, and Marketa Davidova was also flawless. Hauser was 29.6 seconds behind the Czech, who won after 7.5 km, and 17.7 seconds behind the Finnish surprise third-placed Suvi Minkkinen. Second place went to Sweden's Elvira Öberg (+8.8) despite two misses.

"To get another top ten result today, especially with zero misses at the shooting range, is of course very good for me," said Hauser, who is now seventh in the overall World Cup. "It wasn't easy today, because there was also a bit of wind at the shooting range, so I'm all the more pleased that it worked so well again." She is therefore also qualified for the mass start competition scheduled for Sunday (5.10 pm), as is Simon Eder from Salzburg in the men's event (2.30 pm).

Anna Gandler's performance was pleasing, the Tyrolean finished in 19th place after a "standing penalty round" 54.2 seconds behind the winner. Dunja Zdouc finished 39th (1 miss/+1:20.9) just inside the World Cup points. Lea Rothschopf (55th/1st/1:52.4) and Kristina Oberthaler (98th/2nd/+3:59.3) can also start preparing for the next races. The next World Cup venue is Hochfilzen in Tyrol next week.

For the usually strong French women, Oceane Michelon in tenth place was just enough for a top ten place, while the individual winner Lou Jeanmonnot, who went into the competition as World Cup leader, was only 17th. With Karoline Offigstad Knotten (0/+15.3) in fifth place behind Germany's Franziska Preuss (1/+12.0), the Norwegians only had one athlete in the top 15, while Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (1/+1:14.3) finished in 32nd place.