Bö took the yellow vest back, Seppälä 41:s

Norway's Johannes Thingnes Bö took an overwhelming victory in the sprint race and gets to wear the cup leader's yellow vest again in the next race. Bö was joined on the podium by Sweden's Sebastian Samuelsson and Martin Ponsiluoma, who continued the Swedes' great opening weekend with their successes.

Bö completed the race without penalty rounds and with his strong skiing increased the winning margin to 44.1 seconds.

– I could have shot faster in the upright position, that was the only thing that wasn't perfect. But if you hit five in the vertical, time doesn't matter as much. This was close to a perfect race, Bö said.

Last season was challenging for Samuelsson, so he is naturally happy about a good opening weekend. He fired one miss.

- After yesterday I was satisfied and relaxed because the skiing was so good, Samuelsson said about the most important part of the normal competition.

Ponsiluoma also had to go around one penalty round after the taste.

- When I shot past one lying down, I got a little nervous, but I still managed to have a good race, says Ponsiluoma.

Seppälä satisfied with his physical condition, missed shot upset Hiidensalo

Tero Seppälä and Olli Hiidensalo were the best of the Finns consecutively in places 41 and 42. Seppälä cleared the mark with one missed shot, but had to go through two penalty rounds after the vertical position.

- My physical condition is quite good, I did two laps today with a decent pace. The shooting is still a bit slow, it's not quite at the level it should be at the World Cups, Seppälä said and confidently looked ahead.

Hiidensalo shot past one from the upright.

- Skiing felt just fine, smooth going. The shooting was good as a result, but lying down had a small taste of backup. It was really difficult to stand. I got a little sick when the last one passed. With such slow shooting, I would have hoped for zero. Not a bad opening, Hiidensalo said.

See all results: biathlonresults.com
Photo: Manzoni/IBU