In the Canmore mass start

Anna Gandler achieves best ÖSV individual result

Anna Gandler(Bild: GEPA)

In the last biathlon race of the season with Austrian participation in Canmore, Tyrolean Anna Gandler achieved the best ÖSV individual result of the winter with fifth place in the mass start across all genders. 

After 12.5 km she was 25.6 seconds behind the French winner Lou Jeanmonnot after one shooting error, Gandler's previous top results were sixth places. Janina Hettich-Walz (GER/+11.9/1) and Gilonne Guigonnat (FRA/+15.8/1) finished second and third respectively.

Gandler worked her way up to sixth place with flawless performances in the prone shooting and maintained this position despite a penalty round in the first standing shooting. When all of the shooters in the last round of the shooting range also missed, she went into the final phase in fourth place, but was overtaken by the famously fast skier Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. The Frenchwoman had four misses, but was only 22.1 seconds behind Jaenmonnot. However, Gandler also showed that she is now able to keep up well on the run.

Lou Jeanmonnot(Bild: THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Jeanmonnot worked her way up to second place in the overall World Cup with her fourth win of the season, ahead of Norway's Ingrid Landmark Trandrevold, who only finished eighth on the day, but Lisa Vitozzi was no longer able to catch up at the front. The Italian settled for 21st place in the 30-strong field with five misses, which left her 23 points ahead of Jeanmonnot in the final standings. Gandler moved up to 19th place overall after a good final World Cup stage, while her closest compatriot Lisa Hauser finished the season in 33rd place.

No Austrians qualified for the men's race. Bö only missed the last of his 20 shots, but he was able to cope with the one penalty. The now five-time overall World Cup winner took his 85th World Cup victory and eighth this season. He has also won three World Championship titles this winter. His compatriot Johannes Dale-Skjevdal (+44.5 sec./2) and the Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin (+1:07.2 min./3) finished in second place. Dale-Skjevdal was beaten by three points in the mass start World Cup despite finishing second in the final race.