Domracheva shows off Olympic credentials with sprint biathlon victory

The Canadian has had a tough time of things of late, with rhythm and form seeming to elude him at exactly the wrong time on the snow.

And with the competition date moved due to weather and the training time being cut further, it seemed things would only go from bad to worse.

But, on a day where many World Cup favourites made mistakes or crashed out, Del Bosco showed himself to be infallible to take the win.

Winning all three of his heats, he then took on Jonas Lenherr of Switzerland and French duo Arnaud Bovolenta and Terence Tchiknavorian, pulling away despite not being the fastest out of the blocks.

Second was place to go to Bovolenta while Tchiknavorian took third, rounding off what was a bizarre few days on the snow.

"I had two horrible days of training before today, just couldn't get it dialed in," said Del Bosco.

"But I kind of put it together for qualifying, but once I was in the race, from that first run, I was feeling good.

"It's tough being out front here, you've got to protect your lines and that affects your exit speeds out of the turns, but I just kept battling and got the win. I'm super stoked.

"I was injured halfway through last season but I rode it to the end and had surgery when it was all over. So I only got back on snow three weeks ago and just got back up to speed quick. But I like doing it like that. I knew I'd be ready, and I was."

The day’s other victory went the way of Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund, making good use of her favourites’ tag to take the win in the season curtain-raiser.

Naeslund finished second in the overall World Cup standings as well as becoming world champion last year, winning her quarter-final and semi-finals in convincing fashion this time around.

And when it came to the final, she opened up an early lead to fight off the early challenges of Germany’s Heidi Zacher, and a pair of Canadians in Kelsey Serwa and Brittany Phelan.

Taking control in the middle of the course, the result was hardly in doubt, while Zacher secured her first podium in ten attempts in Val Thorens and Serwa took third.

"It was a tough day with tight heats," said Naeslund.

"You had to be on it from start to finish, otherwise someone was going to pass you. But I had good runs and made a few good moves and it took me to the win. It’s really nice to start the season out like this, and now I’ve got to just keep on going."

Sportsbeat 2017