Third win in a row for Tora Berger

Over 14.000 wanted to see the first women's race of this World Cup week in Antholz today. 96 biathletes started under slightly cloudy skies. Of the top runners, only Magdalena Neuner was missing. The five-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion had to miss the event due to a cold, but could be back in the mass start on Sunday.

Tora Berger, one of the top favorites, won. The Norwegian won the sprint in Antholz two years ago and celebrated her ninth World Cup victory today. Second place went to Slovakian Anastasiya Kuzmina, the sister of yesterday's men's sprint winner Anton Shipulin. After Hochfilzen and Pokljuka, she climbed onto the podium in a sprint race for the third time this season. Third place went to the experienced Russian Olga Zaitseva. The best German, Andrea Henkel, crossed the finish line in fourth place, 41,0 seconds behind Berger. Henkel missed out on a podium finish with two penalties at the shooting range. The Swiss Sandra Gasparin came fifth and equaled her best placement in the World Cup to date. A year ago she also took 5th place in the individual race in Antholz.

The Russian national team offered a very strong team performance, which, in addition to Zaitseva, also placed Natalia Guseva (7th), Anna Bogaliy-Titovets (8th) and Ekaterina Yurlova (10th) in the top ten.

The leader in the Sprint World Cup, the Finn Kaisa Mäkäräinen, had to be content with 22nd place today, but was able to save first place with a 12 point lead over Kuzmina. Mäkäräinen also remains in the lead in the overall World Cup standings, with a 39-point lead over the Swede Helena Eckholm, 19th today and 63 points ahead of Andrea Henkel.

Things didn't go quite as planned for the Italians. The best of the “Azzurre” was Michela Ponza from Val Gardena in 24th place, 1.30,3:40 minutes behind (one shooting error). Katja Haller from Ridnaun was 2.03,0th (+2/69 errors), Karin Oberhofer from Feldthurns was 2.52,8th (+4/78) and Roberta Fiandino was 3.17,4th (+2/XNUMX).

Tomorrow, Saturday, the women will be in action in the 13.00x4 km relay at 6 p.m., while the men will take part in the 15.30 km mass start from 15:XNUMX p.m. The Antholz Biathlon World Cup week ends on Sunday with the mass start of the women and the men's relay.

Results list 7,5 km sprint, women - Antholz (January 21, 2011)

1. Tora Berger (NOR) 20.08,1 (0 shooting errors) 2. Anastasiya Kuzmina (SVK) +29,1 (1) 3. Olga Zaitseva (RUS) +36,4 (1) 4. Andrea Henkel (GER) +41,8 (2) 5. Selina Gasparin (SVI) +45,6 (0) 6. Teja Gregorin (SLO) +51,9 (1) 7. Natalia Guseva (RUS) +53,6 (0) 8. Anna Bogaliy-Titovets (RUS) +58,3 (1) 9. Eveli Saue (EST) +58,4 (0) 10. Ekaterina Yurlova (RUS) +1.09,2 (1)

24. Michela Ponza (ITA/St. Christina) +1.30,3 (1) 40. Katja Haller (ITA/Ridnaun) +2.03,0 (2) 69. Karin Oberhofer (ITA/Feldthurns) +2.52,8 (4) 78. Roberta Fiandino (ITA)+3.17,4 (2)

Voters to race Tora Berger, winner I am very happy about this victory that I was able to celebrate here today. I had a little problems in the second shooting, but luckily I made no mistakes. Yesterday I was very happy about Lars' third place. Things are going well for us at the moment. I don't know exactly why that is.

Anastasiya Kuzmina, second Anton set the bar very high for me yesterday. That's why I was under a little pressure today. I hesitated a little too long when shooting standing, which is why I made the mistake. Yesterday I was very happy about Anton's victory, which I saw on TV. We didn't celebrate together because we're on different teams. But I'm sure there was a bit of celebration in the Russian team. I want to win in the next races, just like every other athlete.

Olga Zaitseva, third I'm very happy that I made it onto the podium in Antholz too. The conditions today were very difficult. Like Anastasya, I too hesitated for too long and therefore made the mistake. The Russian team was very strong today, but that corresponds exactly to our preparation so that we can now get better and better in the second half of the season. By the way, I really enjoy being here in Antholz.

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Third win in a row for Tora Berger

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