Sweden celebrates home win – South Tyroleans wobble at the shooting range

The new biathlon season began on Saturday afternoon at 12.30 p.m. with the single mixed relay, in which the two South Tyroleans Rebecca Passler and Lukas Hofer competed for Italy. However, others were able to celebrate at the end, namely the favorites.

25 November 2023

From: do

At 12.30 p.m. the men started the first round of the new biathlon season in Östersund under -9 degrees Celsius and clear skies - it was the first of a total of 70 races. Together with Rebecca Passler, Lukas Hofer wanted to celebrate a successful start and a satisfactory comeback. In the end, the duo ended up in 11th place, while the biathlon powers Sweden, Norway and France made the first announcement towards the competition.

The race for the first victory was between Sweden and Norway. Hanna Öberg for Sweden and Juni Arnekleiv for Norway went into the final shooting together – and both showed nerves. Both the Swede and the Norwegian had to fill their rifles with new cartridges after mistakes. Ultimately, Öberg's faster shooting interval made the difference, as she headed towards the goal with around 7 seconds ahead of Arnekleiv. The local hero and her colleague Sebastian Samuelsson couldn't miss this home victory and the two fell into each other's arms at the finish.

Lukas Hofer (left) celebrated his comeback today. © APA/afp / ANDERS WIKLUND

Juni Arnekleiv crossed the finish line for Norway, 13,8 seconds behind, and took second place together with Sturla Holm Lägreid. France clinched the last place on the podium (+2 seconds), with the outstanding Julia Simon having to compensate for her weaker partner Fabien Claude.

13 spares slow the South Tyroleans

From a South Tyrolean perspective, it was already clear after the first high five between Lukas Hofer and Rebecca Passler that the two would have nothing to do with the awarding of the top positions today. Both made one or two inaccuracies at the shooting range and had to reload repeatedly (13 times in total, the highest number of the entire team). What followed was just the fight for a place in the top 10. Passler made up a lot of time and a few places in the last section, but Ukraine (+1.21,3 minutes), which took 10th place, remained out of reach and that The South Tyrolean duo had to be content with 11th place (+1.38,2 minutes).

Rebecca Passler (right) pursues the eventual winner Hanna Öberg (left). © APA/afp / ANDERS WIKLUND

A little later at 14.50:XNUMX p.m. Didier Bionaz, Tommaso Giacomel, Dorothea Wierer and Lisa Vittozzi can do better, starting the mixed relay together.