Lisa Vittozzi has found her smile again. © Pierre Teyssot

“I was really angry”: Lisa Vittozzi explains her World Cup coup

First desperately sad, then overjoyed: Lisa Vittozzi's emotional world at the Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto went crazy. After winning the medal in the pursuit, she let her inner voice out in an interview with SportNews.

11. February 2024

From Nove Mesto na Morave

“Honestly?” said a visibly shaken Lisa Vittozzi after the race without being asked, “I was in a real low after the sprint. I was angry, angry.” To explain: In the first individual World Championship race, the sprint on Friday, the Azzurra had to struggle with material problems and slipped to seventh place despite a good performance. Now she's with me Silver in pursuit proper reparations were made.

Were frustration and anger ultimately the key to success? We asked Vittozzi the question in the press center of the World Cup arena. “I consciously used the race-free Saturday to gain some distance. Today I drove to the arena with a completely different feeling,” replied the 29-year-old from Sappada/Plodn (Friuli). She followed up with a determined look: “If I hadn’t believed in a medal, I wouldn’t have had to compete at all. I'm not a woman who gives up so easily." In the end it was a "perfect race".

“I would have been a fool if I had let that thing go.” Lisa Vittozzi

Vittozzi only had to worry about her ninth World Cup medal once. “The last lap was crazy. After the shooting I was already thinking about the medal, but then the trainers on the track told me that the French women were approaching me. Then I really squeezed everything out. The adrenaline helped me. I would have been an absolute fool to let that thing go.”

In the end, Vittozzi took second place behind recent gold medalist Julia Simon and ahead of her French compatriot Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. This makes Italy only the fourth country to be in the medal table at these title fights. “It was about time for someone to disrupt the French party,” concluded Vittozzi with a wink.