Bjørndalen and Jonsson are overall World Cup biathlon winners

Ole Einar Bjørndalen wins another podium for the season. Photo: vgb.no

KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia — Helena Jonsson of Sweden won her first overall World Cup biathlon title Sunday while Ole Einar Bjorndalen of Norway posted his seventh straight podium finish after having already secured a sixth title.

Jonsson came second in the final race of the season to finish level with Olympic champion Kati Wilhelm of Germany on 952 points. But the title went to the Swede, who won four gold medals in 10 top-three finishes to Wilhelm’s three golds in eight.

Tora Berger of Norway finished third with 894 points. Simone Hauswald of Germany won the women’s 12.5-kilometre mass start race in 36 minutes 54.69 seconds. Jonsson shot clean to be 15.1 seconds behind. Andrea Henkel of Germany, who missed three targets, was 26.9 seconds back in third. Jonsson also won the mass start discipline title with 210 points from five races. Wilhelm was second with 186, followed by Hauswald with 174.

In the men’s 15-kilometre mass start race, Simon Eder shot clean to lead an Austrian 1-2 and win his first World Cup event this season. Dominik Landertinger missed one target and took a penalty loop to come second, 12.1 seconds behind.

Bjørndalen, who secured the overall title by winning Thursday’s sprint event, missed three targets but rallied to finish third, 17.0 seconds behind the winner. Landertinger won the mass start title after five races with 208 points, nine more than Bjorndalen. Christoph Sumann of Austria took third with 197 points.

Bjørndalen won seven races including three golds at the world championships in Pyeong Chang, South Korea. He also had eight more podiums in 23 races since December, and won the sprint and pursuit discipline titles. Bjørndalen topped the overall World Cup standings with 1,080 points. Tomasz Sikora of Poland was second with 870, followed by Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen with 844.

Source: The Canadian Press