With Auchentaller and Braunhofer: Mixed relay team impresses

The World Cup weekend in Pokljuka (Slovenia) ended with a strong result for Italy. Hannah Auchentaller, Patrick Braunhofer, Michela Carrara, and Tommaso Giacomel finished fifth in the mixed relay. Sweden took the win.

March 16, 2025

From: leo

The race didn't get off to a great start for the Azzurri, as after three reloads, Auchentaller was already half a minute behind. In the standing stage, the 23-year-old kept the damage to a minimum and handed over 40 seconds behind Michela Carrara. Carrara continued her form of the past few weeks, bringing Italy up to fourth place – tied with France. Carrara missed a target in both the standing and prone positions, but she quickly worked through the hits and delivered a strong final round.

Patrick Braunhofer took over and had the difficult task of facing top athletes like Eric Perrot (France) and Martin Ponsiluoma (Sweden). He succeeded thanks to a strong prone shooting performance, but the 26-year-old lost valuable time in the second round due to two errors in the standing position.

Giacomel runs out of steam

He handed the race over to Tommaso Giacomel, who was battling for fourth place with Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Germany, 1.16 minute 4 behind. The Trentino native missed twice in the standing position, but quickly reloaded and dueled with David Komatz on the final lap. He ultimately had to yield to the Austrian, but his fifth place was still respectable.

Sebastian Samuelsson led Sweden to victory. © APA/afp / JURE MAKOVEC

At the front, Sweden, France, and Norway engaged in a thrilling three-way battle. At the final exchange, Quentin Fillon-Maillet was still slightly ahead of Sebastian Samuelsson, but the Swede made the decisive difference with a fantastic prone shooting performance. Ponsiluoma, Hanna Öberg, and Anna-Karin Heijdenberg shared his joy. France, with Jeanne Richard, Oceane Michelon, Eric Perrot, and Fillon-Maillet, finished second, followed by Norway with Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, Mari Kirkeeide, Isak Frey, and Johannes Dale-Skjevdal.

Mixed relay in Pokljuka, the result: