About a small flaw and Alberto Tomba: The Antholz Voices

The Antholz World Cup started on Thursday with Dorothea Wierer taking fourth place in the women's sprint. We collected the opinions of the three South Tyroleans on site.

23 January 2025

By: dl/nie

From Antholz – by Christoph Niederkofler and David Lechthaler

Dorothea Wierer worked with her fourth place overall satisfied: "It was good in terms of running, we had great skis. It's a shame about the fourth shot. In Antholz you always try to do everything better. You are also under a bit more pressure, the expectations are always higher. But during the race you only concentrate on yourself, there is no room for such thoughts."

After the race, Wierer was also received by FISI President Flavio Roda and ski legend Alberto Tomba. Tomba is a rare guest in Antholz, but is also a big name here. Wierer described the course profile on the new ramp before the finish line in Antholz as follows: "Tough, extremely tough. Flat, uphill, flat." She didn't waste any thought on missing out on the podium: "It's OK. You can always talk about it afterwards... It depends on the shooting range. If it's zero, then it should be OK."

Dorothea Wierer with ski legend Alberto Tomba. © Teyssot / Pierre TEYSSOT

Hannah Auchentaller was the fourth best Azzurra in 30th place, rounding off a strong team result. "I'm actually quite happy. My last few weeks weren't so easy, I'm coming back from an illness. Otherwise, the season has been good so far," explained the 23-year-old local hero.

Auchentaller has always shot flawlessly in the three sprints so far: "The one mistake in the prone shooting is a shame because it ruined my sprint rhythm and I'm no longer at 100 percent. I'm happy; it's always special and unique in front of my own audience."

"Maybe it's a low point for me right now. But I think that the time will come again when I'll clear everything out." Rebecca Passler

For Rebecca Passler (51st) things are not going as planned this year, however, after she was absent for a while due to illness at the start of the season: "I'm doing well on the skis. My form is improving. Unfortunately, I can't perform as well at the shooting range as I have in recent years. Maybe this is a low point for me at the moment. But I think that the time will come again when I will sweep everything. I'm healthy, there's nothing wrong with me physically. It was nice to run in Antholz again. It's just a different atmosphere, everyone is cheering you on even when you're warming up. It's great to run here."