IBU World Cup Nové Město, Czech Republic Mass Starts
Sunday’s mass start races wrapped up the first stretch of IBU World Cup race calendar. And with it, on the men’s side, Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway has dominated the win column. Sunday marked his sixth victory of the season as he won the 15-kilometer mass start race in Nové Město, Czech Republic in a time of 37:25.2 minutes. Bø shot clean on Sunday as he takes the World Cup lead into the holiday break and celebrates his 36th career World Cup win and a clean sweep of races in Nové Město.
In second place was France’s Quentin Maillet Fillon finishing 46.5 seconds back after amassing two penalties. Evgeniy Garanichev from Russia placed third (+54.1) after shooting clean.
Christian Gow of Canada was the only North American to qualify for the mass start. Gow placed 28th (+4:51.8) with three shooting penalties during his race and sits 26th overall on the World Cup.
In the women’s 12.5 k mass start, Slovenia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina took her first won of the season as she crossed the line in 35:34.4 minutes. Kuzmina suffered two penalties during her race. It was Kuzmina’s 11th World Cup win. Teammate Paulina Fialkova placed second (+12.1) with two penalties. Anais Chevalier of France finished in third (+13.3) with three penalties.
Clare Egan for the U.S. was the only North American to qualify for the mass start after Saturday’s pursuit race. Egan placed 14th finishing 1:22.3 minutes back with three penalties. It was Egan’s fourth individual top-20 of the season. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer leads the overall World Cup with 381 points, Egan heads into the holiday break ranked 22nd with 127 points.
The IBU World Cup starts up after the holidays on Jan. 10 in Oberhof, Germany.
