In the last race: Wierer becomes a tragic figure

It was a memorable mass start at the end of the 2020/21 women's biathlon season. And a race that bordered on regularity. The strong wind ensured that there was a real bug festival in Östersund. The 210 athletes fired a total of 30 missed shots - that's an average of seven (!) penalty laps per biathlete. The Frenchwoman Julia Simon alone, who had led the mass start ranking before the competition, missed 20 times with 15 shots.

Dorothea Wierer initially defied the adverse conditions outstandingly and was one of the few top athletes on course for a podium for a long time. While her competitors shot a bunch of penalty loops in strong and shifting winds, the racer got off relatively lightly and only missed three targets in the first three shooting sessions. As a result, Wierer took second place for the final and all-important shooting. But her tactics didn't work there, which ultimately became her downfall. Over two minutes at the shooting range In contrast to her competitors, who simply shot away and accepted the penalties, Wierer initially did nothing. She waited, waited and waited - apparently for better wind conditions in order to avoid mistakes as much as possible. So she spent a whopping two minutes and 15 seconds on the shooting range. To make matters worse, she also missed three times. For comparison: a penalty lap usually means a time penalty of around half a minute. From second position, Wierer was pushed back to 26th place. It's a shame, because the racer also put in a good competition on Sunday.

Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold won her first World Cup victory. © APA/afp / ANDERS WIKLUND

The Norwegian Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, on the other hand, achieved several feats in a single race: She took victory despite five shooting errors, something that has never happened so often in biathlon. This victory was also her first triumph in the World Cup. And: She also won the small crystal ball in the mass start.

Second place on Sunday went to Belarusian Dzinara Alimbekava (six penalties), third place went to Franziska Preuß (also six penalties). Lisa Vittozzi, meanwhile, ended up in 20th place. In the overall ranking, the Norwegian Tiril Eckhoff was already confirmed as the winner before the race. Wierer took 5th place in the final ranking and also won the small crystal ball in the individual. The result in detail Pos Name Country Time Error 1. Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold NOR 34.53,1 min 5 2. Dzinara Alimbekava BLR +6,9 sec 6 3. Franziska Preuss GER +11,1 6 4. Lena Häcki SUI +15,0 7 5. Uliana Kaisheva RUS +20,1 5 6. Hanna Sola BLR +24,9 8 7. Tyril Eckhoff NOR +29,2 8 8. Svetlana Mironova RUS +33,3 5 9. Janina Hettich GER +35,2 4 10. Emilie Agheim Kalkenberg NOR +45,5 5 20. Lisa Vittozzi ITA +1.27,7 min 6 26. Dorothea Wierer ITA/Niederrasen +2.37,7 6

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In the last race: Wierer becomes a tragic figure

For a long time, Dorothea Wierer was on course for a podium finish at the last World Cup race of the season in Östersund. But in incredibly difficult conditions, the speedster gambled away at the shooting range.

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