For the first time in many years, only the distant shadow of the new retiree Kaisa M-k-inen, hovered over the 2020 Finnish Summer Biathlon Championships held last weekend in Hollola, in the southern region of the country. In sweltering heat, Tero Seppel, completed the sprint/mass-start double ahead of Heiki Laitinen and then Tuomas Harjula, disqualified from the sprint after an excellent 10/10, with a good margin of lead, despite two mistakes on the first day and six the next day.
On the women’s front, favourite Marie Eder, who lives in Austria and had to remain confined when she arrived in the country, sank in the sprint (4/10) finished in third place, 50 seconds behind Venle Lehtonen, crowned Finnish champion with a 9/10. The next day, the 32-year-old biathlete, winner of two World Cups in 2017 in Holmenkollen, recovered to win, despite a bad 14/20 and a broken break, with more than a minute of margin over Nastasia Kinnunen, silver the day before.