Andrei Rastorgujev | Photo: Andrei Rastorgujev’s profile on the “X” website
Latvian biathlete Andrejs Rastorgujevs took 11th place in the 15-kilometer competition with a joint start at the Biathlon World Cup in Oslo on Saturday.
The victory was celebrated by the Norwegian Sturla Holm Lægreid, who finished in 37 minutes and 52 seconds with one penalty lap. Rastorgujev earned one penalty lap each in the first and third shooting, ranking 11th and losing 55.7 seconds to Legreid.
The second with two penalty laps was the German Benedikts Doll, who lost 6.4 seconds to the winner, and the third was the Swedish Jespers Nelin, who lost 9.9 seconds to the winner with one shooting error. For Nelin, it is the first World Cup podium in his career. The highest achievement so far was the sixth place in the pursuit last season in Kontiolahti. Frenchman Fabien Claude (+15.3) finished fourth, another French biathlete Emilien Jaquelin (+17.7) finished fifth, and German Philipp Navrath (+18.6) finished sixth.
Norway’s Tarje Bä was seventh, earning all three penalty laps in the final shoot-out while in the lead. his brother Johannes Tingnes Bae finished 14th in the competition of 30 athletes with six penalty laps. The leader of the discipline after three of the four competitions of the season with 174 points is the Norwegian Johannes Dahl-Sevdahl, 166 points for his compatriot Vetlem Shostad Kristiansen and 162 points for JTBe.
Rastorgujev takes 13th place with 90 points.
In the overall ranking of the World Cup in the sum of all disciplines, the first six places are occupied by Norwegians. Johannes Tingnes Bä is the first with 878 points, Tarjei Bä takes the second place with 819 points, and Johannes Dahl-Sevdal has 769 points.
Rastorgujev is 18th with 350 points, and Birkentāls is 56th with 33 points. Rastorgujevs, who less than two weeks ago became the world vice-champion in the 15-kilometer race with a joint start, won sixth place in the 20-kilometer individual race on Friday, Renārs Birkentāls and Edgars Mise ranked 45th and 69th, respectively, without entering the race with a joint start.
This season, two races with a common start were held in the World Cup stages, in which Rastorgujev finished in tenth and 12th place, respectively. On Sunday, the World Cup stage will be concluded with the mixed relays.
After this stage, biathletes will go to North America, where they will play the final two World Cup stages of the season in the USA and Canada.
