(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Hanna Oeberg of Sweden claimed her first proper World Cup victory in Sunday's biathlon season-ender at the Holmenkollen ski centre while Dorothea Wierer became the first athlete from Italy to claim the overall trophy.
Oeberg won the 12.5-kilometres mass start with two penalty laps in 35 minutes 56.2 seconds, 1.3 seconds from Norway's Tirl Eckhoff. American Clare Egan got her first career podium in third place, 10.4 seconds back.
Oeberg is the 15km world and Olympic champion. The world title last week at home in Ostersund also counted for the World Cup but she had never won a regular World Cup race before. Sunday's win also gave her the mass start discipline title.
The mass start world champion Wierer could afford five penalty laps as she retained her World Cup lead by coming 12th. No Italian man or woman had claimed the trophy before.
Her main challenger, team- and room-mate Lisa Vittozzi, missed five targets early on, and her recovery to 11th place was to no avail.
Slovakia's Anastasiya Kuzmina, a three-time Olympic champion, also had a mathematical chance but with six penalty laps she finished 10th in the last career race. She bid farewell with a paper crown on her head and was doused in champagne by her team.
The men's 15km mass start concludes the season later Sunday, with Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe seeking a record-extending 16th season victory.
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