Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek won from Helena Jonsson this time around as Sweden delighted in its second one-two finish in three women’s biathlon World Cup races on Friday.
Olofsson, 26, hit all 10 targets in the shooting range and covered the 7.5-kilometres cross-country sprint race course in 23 minutes 10.8 seconds for her first season victory and 10th overall.
The reigning World Cup champion Jonsson was 11.1 seconds behind with perfect shooting as well in driving snowfall. Third-placed Russian Olga Zaitseva had one penalty loop to trail by 49.7 seconds.
Jonsson won from Olofsson-Zidek last week in the season-opening 15km event as the Swedish women made a strong statement two months ahead of the Vancouver Olympics.
“This is not early-season form but the base form. We will make sure to keep it up and we want to fight for medals in Vancouver,” said Swedish coach Wolfgang Pichler.
Jonsson leads the World with 157 points from Olofsson-Zidek, who has 146 points.
A men’s sprint was scheduled for later on Friday.
