Biathlon World Cup – Annecy
Results – women’s 7.5 km sprint:
Slovak biathlete Paulína Bátovská Fialková took fifth place in Thursday’s women’s 7.5 km sprint in Annecy – Le Grand-Bornand, France.
The thirty-three-year-old competitor demonstrated a clean shooting and reached the finish line in 19:41.1 minutes. She was 16.2 seconds behind the winner Hanna Öberg from Sweden.
Lou Jeanmonnot from France finished second (+3.3 s), followed by Italians Dorothea Wierer (+11.4 s) and Lisa Vittozzi (+14.9 s).
Bátovská Fialková did not do too well in the SP so far, in individual competitions she was the highest 34th in the opening sprint in Östersund. She was mostly disappointed by the shooting, but that didn’t happen again at Le Grand-Bornand.
She ran on the track in sunny weather and with favorable conditions with number nine, quickly knocked down all five targets on the layup and had the best time for a long time.
Only Vittozzi, who started in 48th place and beat her by only a second, surpassed him. Bátovská Fialková also whitewashed the handstand and even after it she had the best time of 13:52.5 seconds. Strengthened by the successful shooting part, she sprinted to the finish line.
In the end, she cut the tape well under 20 minutes, which she was very happy about. However, she was followed by almost the entire starting field, so she had to wait for what would be enough in the end.
Perfect race
“Finally I managed to have a perfect race, from start to finish. I managed to score the two zeros I dreamed of. Today will be a perfect day for me, no matter what the result is. It’s a very strong track.
Before the start, we talked with the girls that it’s about age, that we are more comfortable with the power tracks than the hilly ones,” said Bátovská Fialková on the RTVS broadcast, when she still didn’t know where she would place.
VIDEO: Paulína Bátovská Fialková is happy with the 5th place in Annecy
Bátovská Fialková had a record of 0+0 in the sprint after six years. Her performance in Annecy was also successful last year, when she took third place in the race with a mass start.
Thanks to Thursday’s fifth place, she moved thirty places to 36th in the overall ranking. She jumped to the 18th position in the sprint standings.
Vittozzi showed a quality finish
Vittozzi managed the handstand cleanly, but she was half a second slower than the Slovak. Jeanmonnotová lowered the stand very quickly and at the intermediate time she was already 9.6 seconds ahead of Bátovská Fialková, who was also overtaken by H. Öbergová by 3.9 seconds.
And after the second clear shooting, the other Italian Wiererová also reached the second place. The fate of the race was thus decided only in the final round.
Vittozzi showed a high-quality finish in the last lap and was 1.3 seconds faster than the Slovakian representative at the finish line, but even that was not enough for the victory, as Öberg, Jeanmonnot and Wierer shared the podium.
Mária Remeňová sa will present in a fighter jet
Not a single one of the other three Slovenians scored points, but Mária Remeňová, who missed one target and reached the finish line with a deficit of +1:47.9 minutes, took 46th place and will present herself in the chase.
Ema Kapustová had a clear shooting, but also a very slow running time (86th best, note), so she finished just behind the promotion in 61st place (+2:12.6 min).
Zuzana Remeňová finished with two errors in the 86th position (+3:06.0).
Overall World Ranking
After 6 of 25 competes:
Sprint order
After 3 out of 8 competitions:
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