Öberg took a penalty minute at the shooting range, but made up for it on the cross-country ski run and relegated her flawless teammate Persson to second place by 10.3 seconds. Bronze went to Italy’s Lisa Vittozi, with one penalty, 28.0 seconds back. For the 27-year-old Öberg it was her second medal in the Oberhof after silver in the sprint. In singles, the Swede was crowned world champion for the second time after 2019. A year earlier she had won Olympic gold over the same distance in Pyeongchang.
From an Austrian point of view, only Zdouc was able to convince at the shooting range. The Carinthian missed the bull’s eye only once and finished 14th, 3:19.2 minutes behind. The Carinthian missed the top ten by almost 18 seconds. Anna Gandler showed a strong running performance, who came in 24th place about 35 seconds behind Zdouc as the second best ÖSV athlete. The Tyrolean missed a top result with three penalties when shooting.
“Nice result” for Zdouc
“I was a bit afraid of the race today because the course is so hard. But I had a great pull on the skis in the first two laps. After the first shooting I already thought what’s going on today. Then there was a stroke of luck. But I can’t blame myself for making a mistake in the individual,” said Zdouc in an ORF interview, “it’s cool to be in front of such strong runners. It’s a nice result that gives me confidence for the rest of the season and I can finish the individual competitions with satisfaction.”
Gandler was annoyed by the many mistakes at the shooting range. “I’m relatively accurate in Oberhof, I just can’t say where the mistakes were. That annoys me brutally, three mistakes are just too much for me,” said the 22-year-old, who was able to catch up with the Norwegian top runner Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold for long stretches. “I’m very proud that I was able to keep up a bit, but you don’t stand a chance with the mistakes.”
Hauser botched prone shooting
Lisa Hauser experienced a competition to forget. After a mistake in the first prone shooting, the Tyrolean completely botched the first standing exercise with three missed shots and finally finished 5:03.1 minutes behind the winner outside the top 30. After all, the mass start world champion, who wants to defend her title in this discipline on Sunday (3:10 p.m. live on ORF1), remained flawless in the other two shooting exercises.
“It’s hard to accept that it doesn’t want to go that way. If you walk away with three penalties on the second shooting, you know the race is over. I thought it would be smart to shoot at the back of the range because of the wind, but I would have had a better flow in the middle. Except for the mixed relay, it’s a messed up World Championship for me,” said a disappointed Hauser, who took the flawless second half of the race as a model for the other races: “I have to see that I regain my self-confidence on the shooting range.”
Tamara Steiner underlined her reputation as a good shooter with only two penalties and came 43rd in the standings, 6:08.3 minutes behind. Anna Juppe was in the fight with five penalties and in the end 7:30.1 minutes behind the top positions had no chance and could only be found in 57th place in the end. Already on Thursday (3.10 p.m. live on ORF1) the single mixed relay will continue in Oberhof.
Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof
Wednesday:
