Krčmář was four seconds away from a medal in the mass start race in Östersund

From left, Norwegian biathlete Johannes Dale and Michal Krčmář from the Czech Republic in the mass start race at the World Cup in Östersund, February 12, 2023.

Östersund ( Sweden) – Michal Krčmář finished fourth in the mass start race of the Biathlon World Cup in Östersund. With one mistake from the final event, he was four seconds away from a medal. Even so, he recorded his best result in the current WC season, so far his highest was the fifth place from the January sprint in Pokljuka. His representative colleague Markéta Davidová finished eleventh. She paid for two errors on the range that she committed in the first standing item.

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in Östersund four seconds from the medal” />

in Östersund four seconds from the medal” />

Krčmář continued his great performance from Saturday's relay, which he handed over after the opening section in first place, and was in the foreground from the start. In a race with a mass start, in which this season's Norwegian sovereign Johannes Thingnes Bö and his brother Tarjei did not enter, he came to the final event after three zeroes in the group fighting for second to fifth place.

He made one mistake just like everyone else in this quartet. He left the penalty round in sixth place, more than half a minute behind Nor Vetle's Sjaastad Christiansen, who was the only one to hit all the targets and win. In the final circuit, Krčmář overtook Nor Aleksandr Fjeld Andersen and Swiss Sebastian Stalder, but was no longer able to catch up with Nor Johannes Dale and Frenchman Eric Perrot.

In an interview on the association's Facebook page, he evaluated his today's result completely positively. “I'm definitely satisfied, even if there's a little worm there. In the last round, the medal was close, but I left everything there, I didn't have anything else to do, so I'm satisfied,” praised Olympic silver medalist Krčmář from Pyeongchang.

In today's race, he flashed with the third running time. “It was fantastic. The skis went great, I was able to hit the slopes. So a big thank you goes to the service staff today,” he noted. He took advantage of the favorable conditions when shooting. “The shooting range was merciful, it was readable, it was good. But on the fourth set I already felt tired and it was not easy,” he added.

Davidová had a chance for the podium in the third category. Her first two shots were successful. From the second stage, she finished fifth with a loss of eight seconds to the leader of France, Julia Simonová. The fifth also came to the third shoot, but made two mistakes and fell ten places. “Another item was wrong,” lamented Davidová on Czech television, who made two mistakes during the final stand in the endurance race.

This time she was flawless in the last event and returned to the fight for the top ten. In the ninth place finish, however, it was not enough for Norwegian Ingrid Landmark Tandrevoldová and French Chloé Chevalierová. “I fought until the finish line. It's a shame, it could have been in the top ten, it was a short distance,” regretted Davidová. Even the eleventh place is her best result in this discipline in the current SP season.

Thursday's triumph in the endurance race was followed up by the Italian Dorothea Wiererová, who was also flawless in four events today. She was in the foreground the whole race and then took advantage of Simonová's hesitation, who missed the last shot and had to go for a penalty lap. Because of this, the leading woman of the SP finished third, the French compatriot Lou Jeanmonnot came in front of her.

The Biathlon World Cup will conclude next week with a stop in Oslo. From Thursday to Sunday, there are sprints, chasers and races with a mass start.

SP in biathlon in Östersund – races with a mass start:

Men (15 km) : 1. Christiansen 35:17.0 (0 tr. circuits), 2. Dale (both Nor.) -9.1 (1), 3. Perrot (Fr.) -12.3 (1), 4. Krčmář (Czech Republic) -16.2 (1), 5. Stalder (Switzerland) -17.7 (1), 6. Andersen (Norway) -28.1 (1).