Italy's mixed relay team was weak, Norway was flawless

Bronze 2019, silver 2020: The mixed relay was a medal guarantee for Italy at the last World Championships. The relay team around Lukas Hofer and Dorothea Wierer was unable to repeat this success on Wednesday. While the Azzurri crossed the finish line in 6th place, Norway defended last year's triumph in a dominant manner.

In snow-covered Pokljuka, a piece of news had already caused a stir in the team the day before the race: It concerned Dominik Windisch, whose trust had been “withdrawn” by the coaching team, so to speak. He had to give way to 20-year-old Didier Bionaz. He had distinguished himself with strong performances in Antholz and led the relay team to the first round. Because for the first time it was not the women who started in the mixed relay, but the men. Bionaz is struggling However, this move did not bear the desired fruit, on the contrary: Bionaz opened up a small gap on the first lap, also made two mistakes and lost significant ground on the subsequent loop. He came to the second shooting stage more than 30 seconds behind the leader Norwegian Sturla Holm Lægreid. Another error led to the gap initially increasing to 45 seconds before being one minute at the change.

Didier Bionaz (back) was unable to repay the coaches' trust. © APA/afp / JOE KLAMAR

Lukas Hofer already had his back to the wall. He had to take risks, set a high pace - and hope that his opponents made mistakes. Johannes Thingnes Bø and Quentin Fillion-Maillet did the Montaler this favor in the prone position, which made up valuable time. But Bø made up for the mistake at the shooting range with an incredible running performance on the deep terrain. The lead continued to grow, even though the 27-year-old had to reload again. Hofer also had to use a replacement cartridge when shooting standing. What hurt the South Tyrolean and his team more than the mistake at the shooting range was their running performance. He lost 35 seconds on the final lap alone. The result was 9th place and 1.40 minutes behind. Norway alone in the wide open Dorothea Wierer was sent into the race with this large mortgage. She held her own at the shooting range, but even the 30-year-old couldn't keep up with the leaders on the cross-country ski trail. A material question? In any case, Tiril Eckhoff managed her lead skillfully despite four errors and gave the final runner Marte Olsbu Røiseland a 40 second cushion. Behind them, Ukraine took second place (with the same shooting result as Italy, by the way), while Austria was also on course for a podium at the last change.

At the last break, Røiseland initially seemed to have everything under control, but then the overall World Cup leader's nerves began to fray. She had to reload three times while standing - and three times she hit the target. She saved her team's gold medal. Austria grabbed silver thanks to Lisa-Theresa Hauser, while Hanna Öberg kept Olena Pidhrushna's Ukraine in check and gave Sweden the bronze. Meanwhile, Lisa Vittozzi showed an excellent performance with only one mistake and a decent running form, but the gap to the top was too big. Despite only six spare rounds, Italy ended up in 6th place - around 30 seconds behind the medal positions.

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Italy's mixed relay team was weak, Norway was flawless

The Biathlon World Championships in Pokljuka (Slovenia) started on Wednesday afternoon with a Norwegian victory, a disappointment for the Azzurri and an Austrian surprise.

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