France’s Marie Dorin Habert ended the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships on a high by claiming her third gold medal in the women’s 12.5 kilometres mass start event in Oslo.
The 29-year-old had already won 15km individual and mixed relay crowns, and looked to break away from her rivals after the opening prone stage today.
She was able to shoot quickly and cleanly to emerge from the station as the sole leader, with Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, Finland’s Kaisa Mäkäräinen and Russia’s Ekaterina Yurlova among those aiming to chase her down.
Dorin Habert cleaned the next prone and standing stations to continue to grow her lead, with the Frenchman then underlining her class by hitting each of the targets at the final standing round.
It gave her a comfortable advantage heading into the finish, where she crossed the line in a winning time of 35min 28.5sec.
Dahlmeier claimed the silver medal after ending 7.3 seconds adrift of the race winner, having held off a strong challenge from Mäkäräinen, who finished as the bronze medallist in 35:36.6.
“It is hard to find words to describe my feelings,” said Dorin Habert.
“I think today was very hard, I never thought I could have perfect shooting in the mass start, as I always had some mistakes during the season.”
The home crowd were given something to cheer in the men’s event with Johannes Thingnes Bø edging out France’s Martin Fourcade at the end of the 15km route.
Bø had trailed Fourcade, who has won four world titles in Oslo, heading into the closing stages but was able to overhaul his rival to claim the win in 37:05.1.
Fourcade finished 2.8 seconds down to win the silver medal, while home favourite Ole Einar Björndalen completed the podium in 37:11.8.
It gave Björndalen his fourth medal in what is likely to be his final World Championships, with the 42-year-old due to end his career having secured 20 world and eight Olympic crowns.
- By Michael Pavitt
- Republished with permission insidethegames.biz