Norway's Stian Eckhoff and Uschi Disl of Germany have won the season-opening World Cup biathlon event in Ostersund, Sweden.
In the men's 10-kilometer sprint competition, Eckhoff finished in 23.07.06 with no misses in the shooting portion. Raphael Poireé of France was second, 4.8 seconds back with Latvia's Ilmars Bricis third, 16.5 seconds off the winner.
In the women's 7.5 kilometer event, Disl, a 35-year-old veteran, finished in 22:00.1. Tadeja Brankovic of Slovenia was second 6.8 seconds back with Katrin Apel of Germany third (22:13.3). The top three women also shot clean.
The men's and women's pursuit races are Sunday with the relays scheduled for Tuesday.
Biathlon combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting from a variety of positions. Athletes must ski penalty laps for misses in the shooting portion.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.