Suvi Minkkinen’s hard condition is worth it – Venla Lehtonen’s incredible rise

Biathlon the world cup weekend in Germany’s Oberhof culminated on Sunday in the women’s pursuit. Finland’s dreams of success were fulfilled when Suvi Minkkinen finished second in the competition.

Minkkinen started chasing just from second place, the Swedish superstar who eventually took the win by Elvira Öberg after.

About Swedish siblings Hanna Öberg was third in the competition ahead of France Julia Simonia.

“A really good race. I’m kind of proud of how I managed to build it. Before I left, I had the feeling that I was probably going too hard,” Minkkinen recalled after the race.

Known as a rock-hard skier, Öberg dominated the competition alone at the top and, like Minkkinen, only missed one shot. It was the only one for the Finn during the entire Oberhof race weekend.

Finland, which only started in 53rd place Venla Lehtonen shot all four places clean and moved up an incredible 35 places. He fought for 18th place in the final stretch.

Inka Hämäläinen the day was more difficult. He missed Four and dropped to 54th.

Particularly however, Öberg did not run far during the race. Minkkinen and Simon were constantly about 15–20 seconds away from the Swede.

“Elvira opened that one window for the victory, but I shot past from the same spot. There weren’t really any other opportunities to increase the ranking. I think there was a good shot in the last round, but I’m happy with the second place,” Minkkinen said.

“A great week in every way, and a great start to the year.”

Minkkinen skied the first four laps together with the Frenchman Simon, but beat him in the mouth at the last shooting position. Suomalaištahti dropped all the boards quickly, when Simon fell into two penalty rounds.

“Julia is not the easiest resistance to such a situation. I am indeed glad that I was able to turn it around for myself,” Minkkinen stated.

The World Cup in the overall situation, Minkkinen already came second. He is only 50 points behind France Lou Jeanmonnot’n after.

In addition, Minkkinen leads the pursuit cup.

The Finn, who has already scored one win and five prize places, has already earned 98,650 euros from individual competitions during the season. In addition, a total of 11,500 euros have come out of the messages, so Minkkinen’s total pot is already 110,150 euros.

From Oberhof, Minkkinen took two second places and anchored Finland in fourth place in the women’s relay. In the sprint race and the pursuit, he finished second behind Öberg, but in the anchor leg of the relay he defeated the Swede in style.

“It was really fun to compete. It certainly gave me a little confidence boost on the skiing side as well. My head is already starting to believe that I can compete equally against the best skiers,” said Minkkinen.

“A great week in every way, and a really great start to the year. You can start the next one with a good feeling.”

Biathlon circus changing cities within Germany next week.

The women will compete next time in Ruhpolding already on Wednesday, when the women’s relay is on the program.