Defending overall men's champion Johannes Thingnes Bø leads the standings ©Getty Images

Defending overall men's champion Johannes Thingnes Bø will be out to extend his lead before the International Biathlon Union World Cup breaks for the festive period when the season resumes with the second consecutive event in Hochfilzen this week.

Bø, the Olympic 20 kilometres individual champion, sits top of the overall standings on 296 points but has only won one race so far this campaign.

Olympic silver medallist Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden is hot on the heels of the Norwegian following an impressive start and is 47 adrift of Bø in second place.

Samuelsson has already accumulated eight points more than he managed in the entire 2019-2020 World Cup season and will hope to continue his strong form across four days of action in the Austrian resort.

Quentin Fillon Maillet of France, who won the 12.5km pursuit and was second in the sprint during the first World Cup in Hochfilzen, is third, nine points behind Samuelsson.

Marte Olsbu Røiseland will be aiming to extend her lead at the top of the women's overall standings ©Getty Images
Marte Olsbu Røiseland will be aiming to extend her lead at the top of the women's overall standings ©Getty Images

Norway’s Marte Olsbu Røiseland occupies top spot on the women's leaderboard having scored 271 points.

Røiseland will wear the yellow jersey, which denotes the overall leader, for the first time in her career when she lines up in the women's 7.5km sprint on Friday (December 19).

Kazakhstan-born Belarusian Dinara Alimbekava is second on 265 points, with Hanna Öberg of Sweden third on 259.

The World Cup in Hochfilzen begins with the men's 10km sprint tomorrow.

It will be the last before the festive break, with the season due to resume on January 4 following the conclusion of competition at the Austrian venue.