Tereza Voborníková started the relay in Anterselva very well. She didn’t need a single spare cartridge at the range and passed in contact with the best eight. “I’m very happy with the shooting, even though the beginning of the section killed me quite a bit, because there was a completely senseless pace,” she told ČT.
France led the home team Italy, the elite eight were tied within twenty seconds. Jessica Jislová also sent all five shots to the target lying down and moved to sixth place. She fell a rung down the rack where she had recharged once. “We clicked on the shooting range against the unpredictable wind. I’m suffering from rib pains, but somehow I pushed them out of my head,” said the Czech biathlete.
Thanks to Chevalier-Bouchet, the lead of the French increased to more than half a minute on the second leg, with the Italians and Germans chasing after them at the head of the chasers. In the third part, the Swedish relay team H. Öbergová reached the top, on the other hand, the debutant Auchentallerová sent the home quartet to a penalty round.
Markéta Davidová ran into the section with a loss of fifty seconds for the podium position. She ran excellently, but with three mistakes on the lie-down and stand-up, she repeatedly came under the threat of a penalty round. “It’s quite a shame for me, I definitely shouldn’t shoot like that. I feel that it was me who messed it up for the girls today,” said Davidová. In the end, however, she sent all the spare bullets into the target and left the shooting range in eighth place, handing over seventh place to Lucia Charvátová just before Canada.
The Swedish finisher E. Öberg took over the baton only twelve seconds behind the French Simon, so the fight for the triumph could have been even more exciting. But the leading woman of the World Cup showed an unerring shot and it was clear.
Even without its biggest star, Herrmann-Wick, Germany defended the bronze medal against the chasing relays of home Italy and, unexpectedly, Austria, which benefited from excellent shooting. Norway’s hopes of a podium were buried by two penalty rounds after the final stand.
Unfortunately, Charvátová followed in Davidová’s footsteps, when she only cleared the target lying down with the use of three spare bullets. Although she still held the seventh place thanks to her excellent work on her skis, she did not deny herself two penalty laps during the stand-up, and from them she returned to the track in tenth place. It was thus the worst relay position of the season for Czech women.
| Biathlon Women’s World Cup in Anterselva – women’s 4×6 km relay |
|---|
| 1. France (Jeanmonnot, A. Chevalier-Bouchet, Ch. Chevalier, Simon) 1:07:21.3 (0+2) |
| 2. Sweden (Perssonová, Magnussonová, H. Öbergová, E. Öbergová) +45.2 (0+8) |
| 3. Germany (Voigt, Schneider, Hettich-Walz, Kebinger) +1:16.9 (0+10) |
| 4. Italy (Passler, Wierer, Auchentaller, Vittozzi) +1:30.4 (1+6) |
| 5. Austria (Zdoucová, Gandlerová, Juppeová, Schwaigerová) +1:56.1 (0+3) |
| 6. Norway (Femsteineviková, Lienová, Röiselandová, Tandrevoldová) +2:35.4 (3+9) |
| 7. Switzerland (A. Gasparinová, E. Gasparinová, Meierová, Häckiová-Grossová) +3:13.2 (0+7) |
| 8. Canada (Lunder, Moser, Peifer, Dixon) +3:42.1 (0+6) |
| …….. |
| 10. Czechia (Voborníková, Jislová, Davidová, Charvátová) +4:12.7 (2+13) |
