Norway's Boe beats brother to win biathlon World Cup sprint

RUHPOLDING, Germany (AP) Johannes Thingnes Boe defeated older brother Tarjei Boe to lead a Norwegian sweep of the podium in the men's 10-kilometer sprint at a biathlon World Cup on Friday.

Boe finished in 21 minutes, 57.5 seconds, three seconds ahead of his sibling, and 7.6 ahead of Emil Hegle Svendsen. All three shot cleanly.

''It's not so often in biathlon when you get three athletes from the same country on the podium. It is nice to be here today with the two brothers,'' Svendsen said. ''This is the best PR we can get for the World Championships.''

The world championships is in Oslo in March.

Martin Fourcade of France missed one target and was 10.9 behind in fourth, followed by three Austrians - Sven Grossegger, Simon Eder and Dominik Landertinger - who all shot cleanly.

Fourcade leads the discipline standings after four races with 197 points, ahead of Tarjei Boe on 146, and Svendsen on 145.

Fourcade also leads the overall World Cup standings after nine competitions with 427 points, 73 more than Svendsen. Norway's Ole Einar Bjorndalen, who missed the sprint because of illness, is third on 337.

Home favorite Franziska Hildebrand edged Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic by 0.3 seconds to win the women's 7.5-kilometer sprint in 19:46.5.

''It's incredible, simply amazing to win here at home of all places,'' the German biathlete said.

Kaisa Makarainen of Finland was third, 2.3 behind. All three shot cleanly.

Dahlmeier Laura of Germany missed one target and finished fourth, ahead of Olga Podchufarova of Russia.

After four races, Hildebrand leads the discipline standings with 192 points, four ahead of Soukalova, who leads the overall World Cup standings on 413, 39 ahead of Mari Dorin Habert of France.

The World Cup was moved to Ruhpolding from Oberhof due to a lack of snow.