Olympic sprint: Sensational fourth place for Karin Oberhofer

Karin Oberhofer is the big surprise in the biathletes' first medal decision. Only a few people were aware of the South Tyrolean before the race, especially since her best individual World Cup result was seventh place (2013 in Oslo) and she has never taken a top place at a major event. Oberhofer proved her critics wrong from the start and offered a flawless performance both on the 7,5 kilometer long cross-country ski trail and at the shooting range. After the prone stage, she went into the remaining two rounds in eleventh place. She then hit all the targets while standing and started the final sprint. Oberhofer finished in second place after a total time of 3:26,1 minutes.

Only the eventual gold medalist Anastasiya Kuzmina (21:06,8) from Slovakia was initially faster. A little later, Oberhofer was pushed off the podium by the Russian Olga Vilukhina and Vita Semerenko from the Ukraine. In the end, the local biathlete was only around six seconds away from an Olympic medal.

Dorothea Wierer in sixth place

A podium finish was also within reach for Dorothea Wierer for a long time. Like Oberhofer, the 23-year-old Rasner showed a flawless performance at the shooting range and left the three medal winners trembling for their precious metal until a few hundred meters from the finish. She started the final lap with the third-best time, but lost time there and ultimately crossed the finish line in sixth place. Wierer was 21,3 seconds behind.

The third South Tyrolean in the group, Michela Ponza, missed out on a top placement. Although she made no shooting errors, she was still 1:40,2 minutes behind on the cross-country ski trail. The experienced Val Gardena native had to make do with 38th place. Nicole Gontier from the Aosta Valley took 54th place.

Sochi 2014 - Women's Biathlon Sprint (7,5 km):

1. Anastasiya Kuzmina (RUS) 21:06,8 minutes/0 shooting errors 2. Olga Vilukhina (RUS) +19,9/0 3. Vita Semerenko (UKR) +21,7/0 4. Karin Oberhofer (ITA/Feldthurns) +27,9/0 5. Anais Bescond (FRA) +29,9/1 6. Dorothea Wierer (ITA/turf) +30,6/0 7. Weronika Nowakowska/Ziemniak (POL) +31,4/0 8. Elisa Gasparin (SUI) +31,4/0 9. Darya Domracheva (BLR) +31,8/1 10. Tora Berger (NOR) +33,8/1

38. Michela Ponza (ITA/St. Christina) +1:40,2/0 54. Nicole Gontier (ITA) +2:19,5/4

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Olympic sprint: Sensational fourth place for Karin Oberhofer

The 28-year-old from Feldthurns ran the race of her life in the first biathlon competition at the Olympic Games. She took fourth place in the sprint race (7,5 km) behind the three medalists Anastasiya Kuzmina, Olga Vilukhina and Vita Semerenko. Dorothea Wierer also came in sixth.

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