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Eckhoff grabs season-opening sprintStian Eckhoff produced a shot-perfect display to claim the win in the opening race of the season at Östersund on Saturday. The Norwegian dropped all ten targets to triumph in the 10km sprint ahead of serial podium-finisher Raphael Poiree and surprise package Ilmars Bricis of Latvia.
But for all the trio's eagle-eyed prowess on the range, they had a wayward Ole Einar Bjoerndalen to thank for their position as the defending World Cup champion missed three targets but finished just 31.7 seconds off the pace.
The mighty Norwegian - who pre-race told Eurosport he would be 'focussing 100% on the Turin Olympics' - had all the ski speed of last season, despite problematic preparation for the current campaign blighted by scant snowfall.
But Bjoerndalen let himself down on the range, where Eckhoff - no slouch himself over the machine-produced Swedish snow - mastered the treacherous swirling wind.
The Norwegian was only 14th fastest at the first shoot, but his fleet-footed skiing saw him set a time of 23:07.6 for the 10km course which rarely looked threatened.
Poiree came closest, but saw the six seconds he had in hand on Eckhoff from the prone shoot slip away, coming out of the standing shoot 2.3 seconds behind and losing a further 2.5 seconds over the final two kilometres.
Bricis - 16th in last season's overall standings - also suffered after coming off the range for the second time, but battled through 16.5 seconds off the pace.
Russia's Sergei Rozhkov was sixth - behind Norway's Halvard Hanevold - with France's Vincent Defrasne claiming seventh
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