World Cup in Canmore

Biathlon: Gandler sixth again in Vittozzi’s victory

Lisa Vittozzi

(Bild: GEPA)

The women's biathlon World Cup will be decided in the last race of the season! Lisa Vittozzi now has the best cards, the Italian, who is in top form, slipped into the leader's yellow jersey with her victory in the pursuit in Canmore (Canada), which had previously been worn by Norway's Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (19th). Anna Gandler maintained her position at the top of the world rankings, the 23-year-old Tyrolean successfully defending her sixth place from the sprint. 

With a flawless last shooting, Gandler still managed the decisive advance (+1:13.4 min.) despite three misses, which led her to the Flower Ceremony for the third time in a row behind four French women. She was 54 seconds off third place (Justine Braisaz-Bouchet). Lisa Hauser finished 17th, Lea Rothschopf shone with a zero at the shooting range, but crashed in the final lap and finished 29th.

"In the end, it was a really cool race thanks to the good position!"
"That was a tough competition and almost my whole body hurts at the moment. The mistakes at the shooting range hurt a bit, because it was the last shot twice," said Gandler, talking about sloppy mistakes. "In the end, it was also a really cool race thanks to the good position."

The season will be concluded on Sunday with the two mass start races. Vittozzi, who had already won the sprint, has a 61-point lead over Tandrevold, so any place better than 13th is enough. On Saturday, the Italian snatched the small crystal globe for the discipline classification from Julia Simon.

J.-T. Bö wins overall World Cup
With a victory in the pursuit in Canmore later that evening, Johannes Thingnes Bö secured victory in the overall World Cup for the fifth time. Bö had started the 12.5 km pursuit from the sprint with a lead of more than a minute over the field, but after two shooting errors by the favorite, Emilien Jacquelin stood next to the Norwegian in the third shooting.

However, the Frenchman then incurred two penalties and only finished fourth behind the Swede Sebastian Samuelsson (+11.2 sec.) and his compatriot Eric Perrot (+11.6). Bö secured the big globe with his 84th World Cup victory, leaving him ahead of only his compatriot Ole Einar Björndalen (95). Simon Eder was the best Austrian in 20th place.