Biathlon: Second place for Suvi Minkkinen and Tero Seppälä

Finland Suvi Minkkinen and Tero Seppälä won the Biathlon World Cup in Nove Mesto on Saturday after a huge drama in the mixed doubles relay.

Germany reached the finish line first, but the team was disqualified after the race. Finland won, France second and Norway third.

The pair relay win was Minkkinen and Seppälä’s second in the World Cup. The first victory came last season in Oberhof, Germany.

“We were quite happy with the second place as well, so it’s a bit of a strange feeling when it turned into a win,” Minkkinen commented in the Biathlon Union’s press release on Saturday.

Skied the opening section in Germany Marlene Fichtner violated the safety rules in his second prone shooting, which caused the team to be disqualified. He did not put his gun on his back according to safety rules.

Fichtner broke down in tears when the rejection was announced at the ski stadium.

“An athlete never likes it when the games end like this. According to the rules, of course, it goes like this. It’s nice when the victory came. But the feelings are a bit mixed,” Minkkinen said.

Finland the star duo were among the absolute favorites of the competition in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.

Seppälä single-handedly lifted Finland to the top spot in the middle of the race, when he left France and Ukraine about ten seconds behind in the vertical shooting.

Finland’s lead lasted until the last ski lap. Seppälä fought fiercely for victory over Germany Leonhard Pfundia against, but finally yielded to the German.

However, it didn’t matter because of the discus.

“I am satisfied with that performance. I was able to perform well in the shooting and keep up the pace on the ski track,” Seppälä said.

There were about 25,000 spectators at the biathlon sanctuary in the Czech Republic on Saturday.

“There is pressure when you lead a race in front of such a sea of ​​spectators,” he continued.

From the top spot nevertheless, the Finns’ shooting style was not particularly wild. One spare cartridge was used in each of the eight shooting positions.

“Good and aggressive work from the beginning. Of course I had to use one spare cartridge at each position, but the shootings were fast. We took the necessary risks, which are needed in this competition format. We controlled our own performance and the entire competition,” Minkkinen analyzed.

The Finnish duo will receive 15,000 euros in prize money for their win.

Minkkinen and Seppälä were already in a strong mood in the pair relay last season.

They won the pair relay both in the World Cup and in a tough invitational competition in Stockholm. There was also one third place in the World Cup.

To the dismay of the Finns, the mixed relay is the only distance contested in the World Cup that is not part of the Olympic program.

Nine Mestossa a longer mixed relay was also contested on Saturday, which was won by Italy.

Finnish team Inka Hämäläinen, Venla Lehtonen, Tuomas Harjula and Otto Invenius. finished ninth.