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Vetle Sjastad Christiansen
Photo: Marco Bertorello / AFP
The Norwegian Olympic champion Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen has to make do with particularly spartan accommodation at the Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. The three-time world champion's bed is in the kitchen of an apartment not far from the stadium, separated only by a thin curtain. “How does it feel to be number four in the world sleeping in the kitchen?” asked teammate Johannes Thingnes Bø in an Instagram live stream on Thursday and spoke of “probably the worst room at this World Cup.” Christiansen replied with a laugh: "I don't know how it got to this point either."
The 17-time world champion Bø passed the time in the shared accommodation at lunchtime with the stream and also answered questions from fans. The 30-year-old also showed the apartment in which he lives with Christiansen and Johannes Dale-Skjevdal during the two-week World Cup in the Czech Republic. There are hardly any normal hotel rooms near the route in the rural region. In their free time, the Norwegians sometimes sit at the games console, mainly playing a Formula 1 racing simulation.
At the start of the World Cup with the Norwegian mixed relay on Wednesday, Bø somewhat surprisingly only won silver - everyone had actually expected the Norwegians to win. The victory and the first gold medal went to the French team instead. Top favorite Norway used too many spares (0+8/+45.2 seconds), bronze went to Sweden (0+10/+1:01.7 minutes). Not an ideal start to the World Cup, but still okay for the exceptional athlete Bø. “We are happy with silver,” answered five-time Olympic champion Bø when asked by a fan.
After the rest day on Thursday, the highlight of the biathletes' season continues on Friday in the Czech Republic. The women have a 7.5 kilometer sprint (5:20 p.m./TV: ARD and Eurosport), while the men's sprint doesn't continue until Saturday (5:05 p.m./TV: ARD and Eurosport).
ara/dpa