Third at 9 sec 4/10th with a 9/10 in shooting, the Norwegian Marte Olsbu Roeiseland pockets the small sprint globe.
And, two races from the end of the season, it takes another step towards the big globe of the general classification.
Olsbu Roeiseland's last rival in the race for the big crystal globe at the start of this final stage, Sweden's Elvira Oeberg will only start the pursuit on Saturday afternoon in 17th position, with just over 1 min 30 sec behind on the head, after three shooting faults.
Between Eckhoff, also author of a 9/10, and Olsbu Roeiseland, the Austrian Lisa Theresa Hauser inserted herself with a clear round behind the rifle, at 7 seconds.
Accompanied by her family in Oslo, Chevalier-Bouchet explained to the microphone of the L'Equipe channel that she "starts these three races with a lot of mental freshness."
"It did me really good, it's great. Afterwards, unfortunately on skis, I didn't have what it took in terms of form," she added.
Apart from the Chevalier sisters (Chloé Chevalier 10th at 1 min 10 sec 2/10th), the other French women involved all ranked beyond the top 25: Julia Simon, affected in one knee since last week, 36th at 2 min 23 sec 8/10th with three faults, Anaïs Bescond, about to end her career, 37th at 2 min 24 sec with four faults, and Olympic mass start champion Justine Braisaz-Bouchet 42nd at 2 min 34 dry with five faults.
The young Paula Botet did better with a single fault (28th) and will start 2 min 1/10th behind Eckhoff for the chase.
© 2022 AFP