That one darned shooting: Italy's biathletes are struggling

The first women's relay of the 2023/24 Biathlon World Cup took place on Wednesday in Östersund, Sweden. And it was a season to forget for Dorothea Wierer and her teammates.

29 November 2023

From: fop

It was solely due to one shooting that Italy was unable to compete for the top positions in the snow-covered Östersund, namely Samuela Comola's standing shot. In the end, the Azzurre finished eighth.

Everything had started so well. The 22-year-old starting runner Rebecca Passler led her team to the front of the field with an outstanding performance. With zero shooting errors, she handed over to Dorothea Wierer, who had to reload once but still finished fourth in a promising position. Then came Comola.

Vittozzi is lying in bed

The 25-year-old from Aostan, who made a significant contribution to the Italian relay team's World Cup triumph in February, initially got off lightly with two spare rounds, but after the following shooting she had to go into the penalty loop twice. The race was over. The almost flawless Hannah Auchentaller finally gained one position and crossed the finish line in eighth place.

The young woman from Antholz was brought into the squad as the final runner a few hours before the race Lisa Vittozzi, who was victorious at the weekend was canceled for a short time due to a slight flu-like infection.

Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold led Norway to victory. © ANSA / Pontus Lundahl

At the front, a heart-stopping Scandinavian final developed for the day's victory. In the last shooting, Ingrid Landmark held out Tandrevold Norway the better nerves while Sweden Local hero Hanna Öberg lost first place with a penalty. However, she was able to withstand the attack of the newly strong German and keep third-placed Franziska Preuss at bay. Switzerland surprisingly came fourth behind the DSV athletes.

The World Cup program in Östersund will take place on Thursday (from 15.20:XNUMX p.m. in SportNews-Ticker) continued with the men's relay.