Lisa Vittozzi from Italy and Jokov Fak from Slovenia have won the first City Biathlon in Dresden. The overall World Cup winner prevailed on the 11.5 km course on roller skis with four shooting stages in the newly opened Heinz Steyer Stadium despite a 10-second penalty and seven reloads as well as a broken pole on the last lap. Vittozzi finished 9.3 seconds ahead of Johanna Puff from Rosenheim, who only needed one reload. Karoline Knotten from Norway came third after a photo finish ahead of Franziska Preuß by one hundredth of a second.
The men's race was decided in the final sprint between Fak, Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe and Justus Strelow. Strelow from Schmiedeberg ran the fastest final lap, but was unable to overtake Boe on the home straight, who closed the inside lane but had to let Fak go. "You don't risk everything anymore. I've come through the summer well, on Monday we're already going to France to continue preparing for the winter there," said Strelow, who, like the winner, needed five reloads in five shooting sessions. Boe managed with two extra cartridges, but revealed unusual deficits on the 13.8 km course.
