Otto Invenius was today’s big Finnish name in Holmenkollen. The 22-year-old struck with the best performance of his career in the sprint after flawless shooting. Johannes Thingnes Bø did as in all the sprint races of the season and won.
Otto Invenius is a novice at World Cup level, but in the few competitions he has done before, he has shown promising paces. Two weeks ago he was 23rd in Nove Mesto, but he improved that position considerably in Holmenkollen.
In the last sprint of the season, Invenius showed that he has the potential to make really good efforts. He shot full and finished in twelfth place.
– What a race by Invenius, definitely today’s Finnish effort. It’s fun to see it starting to come off. Here there is something to build on, says Yle Sporten’s commentator Magnus Eklöv.
The 22-year-old now also has a fine starting position in the start of the hunt, which will be decided on Saturday. He has less than fifteen seconds up to eighth place.
Bø won all sprint events this season
There was never any major battle for the victory in the sprint. Johannes Thingnes Bø was back in good old form after his corona illness and took a superior victory. Bø defeated runner-up Martin Ponsiluoma by 24 seconds.
– I did not feel the disease. I am happy that everything worked and that I can drive the last races, says Bø in his victory interview.
Today’s victory means that Bø has won all sprint events in the World Cup this season. In addition, there was a WC gold medal in the sprint.
– Spriten is my favorite distance, but eight victories is crazy, he says.
Besides Invenius, there was also a world cup for Tero Seppälä and Olli Hiidensalo. Seppälä bombed two Skotts and finished in 22nd plats, Medan Hiidensalo med nollskytte went in 37th plats.
With today’s results, Finland also secured five starting spots for the next World Cup season, when the team finishes in tenth place in the Nations Cup.
Result, sprint:
1. Johannes Thingnes Bø NOR 25.13.0 (0)
2. Martin Ponsiluoma SWE ´23,9 (0)
3. Benedikt Doll GER +28.9 (0)
4. Andrejs Rastorgujevs LAT +46.5 (1)
5. Sturla Holm Lægreid NOR +48.0 (0)
6. Johannes Kühn GER +55.9 (0)
—————-
12. Otto Invenius FIN +1.14,9 (0)
22. Tero Seppälä FIN +1.33.4 (2)
37. Olli Hiidensalo FIN +1.56,4 (0)
48. Jaakko Ranta FIN +2.22,3 (0)
67. Tuomas Harjula FIN +2.54,6 (0)
