The winners and losers of the Biathlon World Cup

Gewinner Johannes Thingnes Bö: It was his world championship. The Norwegian superstar couldn't help it that the gold series ended after 5 wins. In the men's relay, his colleagues blew it. When total triumph was no longer possible, concentration waned somewhat in the mass start. His standing shooting in the relay in just 15,9 seconds will also be remembered. Until now it was not thought possible that this was possible.

Johannes Thingnes Boe is out of this world. © ANSA / RONALD WITTEK

The Azzurri: Italy's biathletes were successful all winter long, and they also delivered at the World Championships. Two medals were the desired goal, with 4 medals and the sensational women's relay gold, expectations were far exceeded. This relay success is without a doubt one of the great moments in the history of biathlon in Italy.

Hannah Auchentaller: Because she won an individual competition in the IBU Cup in Pokljuka on January 13th, she was allowed to compete in the World Cup in Antholz. There she got a World Cup ticket at the very last moment. In Oberhof she was only scheduled to start in the individual competition over 15 km. But then everything turned out differently and now, at the age of 21, she is the relay world champion. Only sport writes such stories.

Dorothea Wierer: It's unbelievable how she can always deliver her best performance, especially in the relays. Even for her, who has already won so much, winning the women's relay was a very emotional moment.

Lisa Vittozzi: This time she was in the Wierer role, so to speak. She takes 4 medals with her from Oberhof, and she only missed the World Championship title in the individual competition by millimeters.

Lisa Vittozzi won 4 medals. © ANSA / RONALD WITTEK

Hanna Öberg: The Swede started the World Cup season with a win, but after that there was no podium finish. She saved everything for the World Championships, where she was the most successful athlete with two world titles, one silver and one bronze.

Denise Herrmann-Wick: She was under enormous pressure, but withstood it, won the sprint straight away and sang along with the fans to the unofficial World Cup anthem “The train has no brakes”. It wasn't enough to win another gold, also because Lisa Vittozzi was too strong in the relay.

The audience: The atmosphere was fantastic in the “Lotto Thüringen Arena am Rennsteig”. The German athletes were of course cheered on a little louder, but everyone else was also supported. That's how it should be in sports.

loser Benedict Doll: He was the hosts' World Cup hope for the men, but shot his team out of the medal ranks at the start of the mixed relay. Then he also messed up the sprint and had poor material in the individual competition.

Elvira Öberg : The successes that her sister Hanna celebrated were actually more likely to be attributed to her. But unfortunately she wasn't completely fit and even had to miss a few races and brought home bronze in the women's relay as her only medal from this World Cup.

Rebecca Passler: She didn't do a bad job in her World Cup debut and is by no means one of the losers of this World Cup. But she wasn't there for the historic relay triumph because she lost the relay place she thought was safe to Hannah Auchentaller.

The weather: There was even sunshine at this World Cup, but unfortunately mostly it was typical Oberhof weather, and that means fog, wind, rain. The weather was worst on the two weekends, exactly when most of the races took place and the most spectators were there.

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The winners and losers of the Biathlon World Cup

The 2023 Biathlon World Cup is history, and like every World Cup, it has winners and losers. The “Azzurri” are among the winners, the weather is among the losers.

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