IBU-cup: Kalkenberg and Botn took the wins to Norway – Joni Mustonen's 11th

Norway's Johan-Olav Botn took the IBU Cup men's sprint race victory in Kontiolahti despite his two misses. With his fierce skiing, Botn narrowly beat Germany's Philipp Horn, who shot one penalty, and his compatriot Mats Oeverby, who shot cleanly.

The trio were within five seconds in the final results.

"I was really angry that I missed two shots. On the penalty lap, I psyched myself to go full throttle for the rest of the way," said Botn, who also won Thursday's normal race.

Mustonen: By far the best in Kontiolahti

Joni Mustonen, who competed on his home team, shot zeros from the prone position and one penalty from the upright position. The man was satisfied with his performance and 11th place.

"I hoped and in a certain way expected this kind of competition after how the summer and autumn trainings have gone. Now it could be squeezed out. This was by far the best performance I've done in a race in Kontiolahti. Did I have some kind of home field fear - maybe that troll has now been removed from my back."

Mustonen was able to squeeze everything out of himself.

"Yes, I felt really bad throughout the last round. Under the wall climb, I decided that the head will be under the armpit and we will load everything that goes into the wall climb. I got a really good finish tuned and I'm really satisfied that at the end of the episode I was able to take myself to the other side of the limit."

Of the other Finns, Jonni Mukkala (3 missed shots) was 22nd, Heikki Laitinen (2 missed shots) 23rd, Arttu Heikkinen ( 1 missed shot) 30th, Jimi Klemettinen (1 missed shot) 41st and cleanly shot Lauri Peltoniemi 52nd.

Women win for Norway

The women's competition was won by Norway's Emilie Kalkenberg. A year ago, in the sprint opening of the World Cup season in Kontiolahti, the Norwegian skied to 15th place.

"Today was a good race. At normal distance my shooting was bad. I focused on shooting today and took my time. In the end, it was worth spending time on vertical shooting and being fast on the course," said the Norwegian, who finished seventh on Thursday with four missed shots.

The second in the day's race had also shot Sweden's Sara Andersson 23 seconds behind Kalkenberg. Third was France's Oceane Michelo, who went around one round of penalties.

The best of the Finns was Daria Virolainen, who shot one penalty, in 29th place. Venla Lehtonen (2 missed shots) was 47th, Heidi Kuuttinen (1 missed shot) 55th, Seela Peuralahti (3 missed shots) 78th, Sofia Joronen (1 missed shot) 81st and Emilia Irvankoski ( 5 passing shots) 86:s.

On Sunday in the IBU Cup, mixed relays will be skied. The mixed relay (2 x N + 2 x M) starts at 12 o'clock and the mixed doubles relay (N + M) at 15:00.