Lukas Hofer and the darned last shot

Lukas Hofer is a model of consistency this season. In the World Championship sprint on the Pokljuka, the Montaler was once again among the best, but in a very close race he ended up in 13th place. His dream of a top placement was dashed at the last shot.

Hofer was strong from the start on the Slovenian plateau with start number 2. He mastered the prone shooting without any problems and made no mistakes. Even in the standing position, he initially did a great job: the Puster player cleared the first targets quickly and precisely, and when everything was already pointing to a “zero”, the last shot went wrong. As a result, Hofer had to go into the penalty loop and a top position was lost.

At the finish, Hofer was 47 seconds behind - who knows what would have been possible if the 31-year-old hadn't had to complete a 25-second penalty lap. But at least the starting position for the pursuit on Sunday remains good. No Norwegian on the podium The podium, however, has a surprising composition. So far, at least one Norwegian has been on the podium in every World Cup race, but not in the first World Cup race. The new world champion is the Swede Martin Ponsiluoma, who got through without making any mistakes. Curious: So far, a third place at the end of November was his best result this season. Now the biathlete from Östersund is following in the footsteps of Alexander Loginov, who won the world title in Antholz last year.

Surprise world champion Martin Ponsiluoma. © APA/afp / JOE KLAMAR

French athletes can be found in second and third place: Simon Desthieux also got through without a mistake and lost 2 seconds, while world pursuit champion Emilien Jacquelin took bronze. Only behind them were the Norwegians: Johannes Dahle crossed the finish line in fourth place, 3 seconds behind bronze, and Johannes Thingnes Bø also crossed the final line almost at the same time.

With Dominik Windisch, a second South Tyrolean was at the start: The speedster had to go into the penalty loop three times and appears in 3th place in the final ranking. This puts him in the pursuit on Sunday. The Italians Didier Bionaz (34st) and Thomas Bormolini (21th) also delivered a decent race.

On Saturday it will be the women's sprint on the Pokljuka (14.30 p.m.), before the men's (13.15 p.m.) and women's pursuits (15.30 p.m.) take place on Sunday.

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Lukas Hofer and the darned last shot

The biathletes' world championship on the Pokljuka is really picking up speed: On Friday the men's sprint took place - with Lukas Hofer, whose last shot was his undoing.

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