Motorsport | Kalle Rovanperä lost to other rally stars in the shootout

Estonian after the busy scoring period of the rally, a few of the top drivers of the World Series stopped by Otepää biathlon sanctuary, which is a familiar place from both the cross-country and biathlon World Cups.

Now it wasn’t quite so serious, though Kalle Rovanperä, Esapekka Lappi, Teemu Suninen and Pierre-Louis Loubet were certainly focused on giving their all at the event organized for the media.

In short after the sports introduction, we went to practice. Each of the drivers received a personal coach from Estonia’s most talented biathlon women.

A 23-year-old was selected as Rovanperä’s coach Hanna-Brita Kaasik, in which the Toyota star quickly found the right technique. And no time at all, when Rovanperä’s trigger finger convulsed just in time. All five puddles turned white.

However, it was only practice shooting from the prone position. Finding balance in vertical shooting was not as simple as that.

The prone shooting was handled by Suninen the fastest in the competition, who shot for the 200-meter running section well before the others. He shook off five hits and avoided the penalty round.

By the time we reached the vertical shooting, the situation had already somewhat leveled out. Lapland couldn’t quite keep up with the pace, because Suninen swore by speed and was running three penalty laps in a good lead.

“I didn’t even aim vertically. My tactic was to take care of the shooting quickly. After all, for Finnish men, shooting practice becomes part of military service,” Suninen added.

The race after that it was time to examine the boards, which looked very impressive for Rovanperä, also according to the coach.

“In biathlon, it’s really wonderful when you shoot a series formation at the target on the first try. It’s a really great performance”, says Kaasik.

At the finish, Rovanperä had to recognize his competitors as better. Aiming with resting heart rate gave a false impression of the nature of the sport.

“It becomes surprisingly much more difficult when you run a little short.”

Rovanperä already had the split ready for his fourth place. The competitive spirit of top-level professional athletes knows no sport boundaries or playful tricks.

“Ten years from now, the memories are pretty golden, that’s where the victory came from.” The same medals for everyone,” laughed Rovanperä