The peloton fell apart very quickly. Justus Strehlow turned out to be the fastest shooter on the first prone, and left the shooting range alone, 7 seconds behind him were Tarjei Boe, Bonacci and Stalder, but only the Norwegian was able to get closer to the German.
And the second group was formed from representatives of France, Switzerland, the USA, and unexpectedly, Kazakhstan - Mukhin played back 10 seconds from the leaders.
Michal Krcmar decided not to shelve the loss of hope, and already at the first range he earned a penalty loop and a minute delay.
At the next shooting stage, Didier Bionaz repeated the same “feat”, but with two penalty laps. Eh, no one would have scolded Didier if he had simply completed the race smoothly, even if he lost a little to the leaders, because the Italians have a more powerful female team. But two minutes behind is the end of any ambition.
And the leaders at the finish first leg were Perrot and Strelow, another 17 seconds were lost to them by Tarjei Boe and Sebastian Stalder. Alexander Mukhin lost 25, and Bonacci, Samuelsson, Komatz, Pryma, Claude and Runnalds - from 45 seconds to a minute.
In the second leg, Philippe Navrat continued the glorious tradition of fast and accurate shooting, and left behind Quentin Fillon Maillet, and Johannes Boe who had approached them.
But on the standing, the German used three extra rounds, but still remained ahead. Johannes Boe barely avoided a penalty loop, moreover, he also lost 2 seconds on the final lap. And overall, the Boe brothers failed to realize Norway's stronger potential. And given that two of the four strongest biathletes this season ran for France, Norway's chances of winning have decreased significantly.
Thus, at the equator of the race, Germany was in the lead, France +8 seconds, Norway +29, Switzerland and Sweden +50, Austria and Belgium +1:20, Ukraine, USA and Canada +1:35.
But already at the first shooting, the ladies began to do some crazy things. With complete calm, Franziska Preuss used all the extra rounds to close the targets, but Justine Braisaz didn't have enough of them, and the Frenchwoman ran into the penalty loop. However, with such a composition, even a 40-second lag is not the end.
At the next shooting, Franziska Preuss get a penalty loop, but her pursuers were almost flawless. And during the end of the leg-3, an exciting group of diverse athletes formed.
Braisaz caught up and passed Knotten and Haecki. But Hanna Oberg turned out to be unable to maintain such a pace, and the Swede remained 4th, losing 23 seconds to the leader. Preuss passed the leg 38 seconds behind. And this is where the real contenders for medals end. The next team, Belgium, had one and a half minutes left.
On prone, Simon made 5 out of 5, but Tandrevold, looking at only one spare cartridge, fumbled for a very long time and was already losing by 24 seconds. Another 7 seconds behind was the pair Elvira Oberg - Amy Baserga, but the Swiss was not in the company of the Swede for long, Elvira is still much faster.
Julie Simone was flawless on the standing, sending all the bullets right on target, so we didn't see the fight for the gold. Ingrid Tandrevold shot slower, but who cares, Norway is in second place.
Elvira Oberg, who had a 16-second advantage before the start of shooting, spent too much time and lost third place, leaving for the last lap 10 seconds behind Amy Baserga. However, the pace of these two athletes is not comparable, so the Swede caught up with the Swiss even before the first climb and passed her. Perhaps Elvira did not predict her stamina when she rushed to pursue Tandrevold, but it almost ended sadly. Oberg barely reached the finish line, almost losing out to Baserga, but the Swedes still won bronze.
Germany and Austria are in the top 6, and Belgium in a high 8th place.
| Name | Shooting | Time | ||
| 1 |  |
France | 1+9 | 1:09:24.4 |
 |
Eric Perrot | 0+3 0+0 | ||
|
Maillet Fillon | 0+1 0+1 | ||
|
Justine Braisaz-bouchet | 1+3 0+1 | ||
|
Julia Simon | 0+0 0+0 | ||
| 2 |  |
Norway | 0+8 | +45.2 |
|
Tarjei Boe | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Johannes Boe | 0+1 0+3 | ||
|
Karoline Knotten | 0+0 0+0 | ||
|
Ingrid Tandrevold | 0+1 0+1 | ||
| 3 |  |
Sweden | 0+10 | +1:01.7 |
|
Sebastian Samuelsson | 0+2 0+3 | ||
|
Martin Ponsiluoma | 0+1 0+0 | ||
|
Hanna Oeberg | 0+2 0+0 | ||
|
Elvira Oeberg | 0+0 0+2 | ||
| 4 |  |
Switzerland | 0+3 | +1:02.9 |
|
Sebastian Stalder | 0+0 0+0 | ||
|
Niklas Hartweg | 0+1 0+0 | ||
|
Gross Haecki | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Amy Baserga | 0+0 0+0 | ||
| 5 |  |
Germany | 1+9 | +1:30.9 |
|
Justus Strelow | 0+0 0+0 | ||
|
Philipp Nawrath | 0+0 0+3 | ||
|
Franziska Preuss | 0+3 1+3 | ||
|
Vanessa Voigt | 0+0 0+0 | ||
| 6 |  |
Austria | 0+7 | +2:30.5 |
|
David Komatz | 0+3 0+1 | ||
|
Simon Eder | 0+1 0+0 | ||
|
Tamara Steiner | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Anna Gandler | 0+0 0+0 | ||
| 7 |  |
Ukraine | 0+8 | +2:48.8 |
|
Artem Pryma | 0+2 0+2 | ||
|
Dmytro Pidruchnuy | 0+0 0+1 | ||
|
Yuliia Dzhima | 0+1 0+1 | ||
|
Iryna Petrenko | 0+0 0+1 | ||
| 8 |  |
Belgium | 0+4 | +3:10.0 |
|
Florent Claude | 0+1 0+2 | ||
|
Thierry Langer | 0+0 0+1 | ||
|
Lotte Lie | 0+0 0+0 | ||
|
Maya Cloetens | 0+0 0+0 | ||
| 9 |  |
Slovenia | 1+11 | +3:22.2 |
|
Miha Dovzan | 0+1 1+3 | ||
|
Jakov Fak | 0+0 0+1 | ||
|
Polona Klemencic | 0+2 0+1 | ||
|
Anamarija Lampic | 0+0 0+3 | ||
| 10 |  |
Italy | 3+15 | +4:02.8 |
|
Didier Bionaz | 0+3 2+3 | ||
|
Tommaso Giacomel | 1+3 0+1 | ||
|
Dorothea Wierer | 0+1 0+1 | ||
|
Lisa Vittozzi | 0+0 0+3 | ||
| 11 |  |
USA | 0+6 | +4:11.9 |
|
Vincent Bonacci | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Sean Doherty | 0+2 0+1 | ||
|
Deedra Irwin | 0+1 0+0 | ||
|
Chloe Levins | 0+0 0+0 | ||
| 12 |  |
Estonia | 0+11 | +4:41.3 |
|
Rene Zahkna | 0+1 0+2 | ||
|
Kristo Siimer | 0+1 0+1 | ||
|
Tuuli Tomingas | 0+2 0+2 | ||
|
Regina Ermits | 0+1 0+1 | ||
| 13 |  |
Canada | 0+11 | +4:42.8 |
|
Adam Runnalls | 0+2 0+3 | ||
|
Christian Gow | 0+0 0+0 | ||
|
Nadia Moser | 0+1 0+2 | ||
|
Emma Lunder | 0+1 0+2 | ||
| 14 |  |
Czech Republic | 1+13 | +4:47.8 |
|
Michal Krcmar | 1+3 0+2 | ||
|
Tomas Mikyska | 0+0 0+1 | ||
|
Marketa Davidova | 0+2 0+2 | ||
|
Jessica Jislova | 0+0 0+3 | ||
| 15 |  |
Poland | 0+7 | +5:01.3 |
|
Jan Gunka | 0+1 0+1 | ||
|
Andrzej Nedza-kubiniec | 0+0 0+1 | ||
|
Anna Maka | 0+2 0+0 | ||
|
Joanna Jakiela | 0+1 0+1 | ||
| 16 |  |
Slovakia | 2+13 | +6:23.5 |
|
Tomas Sklenarik | 0+1 0+3 | ||
|
Damian Cesnek | 1+3 0+1 | ||
|
Anastasia Kuzmina | 1+3 0+1 | ||
|
Maria Remenova | 0+0 0+1 | ||
| 17 |  |
Lithuania | 0+12 | +6:36.6 |
|
Maksim Fomin | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Vytautas Strolia | 0+1 0+2 | ||
|
Lidiia Zhurauskaite | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Natalija Kocergina | 0+2 0+3 | ||
| 18 |  |
Moldova | 0+11 | +6:43.9 |
|
Mihail Usov | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Pavel Magazeev | 0+2 0+1 | ||
|
Alla Gylenko | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Aliona Ivanova | 0+3 0+1 | ||
| 19 |  |
Latvia | 1+12 | +7:07.8 |
|
Renars Birkentals | 0+2 0+1 | ||
|
Edgars Mise | 0+2 0+0 | ||
|
Baiba Bendika | 0+1 1+3 | ||
|
Annija Sabule | 0+1 0+2 | ||
| 20 |  |
Finland | 1+13 | +7:17.1 |
|
Tuomas Harjula | 0+2 0+2 | ||
|
Otto Invenius | 0+1 1+3 | ||
|
Venla Lehtonen | 0+3 0+0 | ||
|
Suvi Minkkinen | 0+1 0+1 | ||
| 21 |  |
Kazakstan | 0+9 | +7:38.0 |
|
Alexandr Mukhin | 0+0 0+0 | ||
|
Vladislav Kireyev | 0+2 0+1 | ||
|
Galina Vishnevskaya-sheporenko | 0+1 0+1 | ||
|
Polina Yegorova | 0+1 0+3 | ||
| 22 |  |
Bulgaria | 5+14 | +9:21.6 |
|
Blagoy Todev | 0+2 1+3 | ||
|
Vladimir Iliev | 0+0 2+3 | ||
|
Valentina Dimitrova | 0+0 0+3 | ||
|
Lora Hristova | 0+0 2+3 | ||
| 23 |  |
Romania | 0+4 | |
|
George Buta | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Dmitrii Shamaev | 0+0 0+0 | ||
|
Anastasia Tolmacheva | 0+0 0+2 | ||
|
Andreea Mezdrea | |||
| 24 |  |
Japan | 1+10 | |
|
Mikito Tachizaki | 0+3 0+0 | ||
|
Kiyomasa Ojima | 0+0 0+1 | ||
|
Aoi Sato | 1+3 0+3 | ||
|
Hikaru Fukuda | |||
| 25 |  |
South Korea | 2+10 | |
|
Dujin Choi | 1+3 0+1 | ||
|
Timofey Lapshin | 0+2 0+0 | ||
|
Ekaterina Avvakumova | 1+3 0+1 | ||
|
Eunjung Ko |
