Gold madness! The women's relay team triumphs in Oberhof

The festival of Italy's biathletes in the title fights in the Thuringian Forest continues. After one silver (in the mixed relay) and two bronzes (single mixed relay and Vittozzi in the individual), there was now the fourth medal - and it shines gold for the first time. The women's relay team of Samuela Comola, Dorothea Wierer, Hannah Auchentaller and Lisa Vittozzi was unbeatable on Saturday in Oberhof. Germany and Sweden took the other medals.

Starting runner Comola did an excellent job. The 24-year-old from the Aosta Valley remained flawless at the shooting range and handed over to Dorothea Wierer in fourth place. But the gap to the leaders was only five seconds. Wierer then unpacked her entire experience. While other women at the shooting range had major problems due to the difficult wind conditions (the Norwegian Tandrevold even had to go into the penalty loop three times), the woman from Niederrasen remained almost flawless. With just one spare, Wierer led Italy to the front of the field.

Auchentaller has strong nerves Italy's lead over France was 22 seconds when they switched to Auchentaller. The 21-year-old World Cup debutant from Antholz also remained strong nerves. Auchentaller, who had previously been given preference over her friend Rebecca Passler, only needed one reloading cartridge at the shooting range and kept Italy in the top position. Germany was just behind when switching to Vittozzi - i.e. 5,6 seconds.

Here Doro Wierer (right) handed over to Hannah Auchentaller. © ANSA / RONALD WITTEK

Vittozzi then went head-to-head with Denise Herrmann-Wick for gold. At the final standing shooting stage, the big showdown took place in front of around 25.000 roaring spectators. While Vittozzi cleared all the targets in a flash, the sprint world champion from Germany took much longer and had to reload once.

This meant that Italy's victory could no longer be taken away. In the end, with tears in his eyes, Vittozzi led the Azzurre to their first, historic World Cup title in the women's relay. With a total of only two reloaders, Wierer, Auchentaller & Co. were a bench, especially at the shooting range - and this in difficult conditions.

The Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof will conclude on Sunday with the two mass starts. From an azure perspective, Vittozzi, Wierer, Comola and Tommaso Giacomel will be there.

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Gold madness! The women's relay team triumphs in Oberhof

This has never happened before: Italy's women's relay team won gold at the Biathlon World Championships. The Azzurre, with the two South Tyroleans Dorothea Wierer and Hannah Auchentaller, left everyone behind in Oberhof.

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