Biathlon World Cup
After the botched pursuit, the Austrian biathlon team at the World Championships in Oberhof is counting on the second week. First and foremost Lisa Hauser, who competes as the defending champion on the final day of the title fights in the mass start. The first opportunity to make amends for the sprints and chase races with 13th and 27th places for the Tyrolean is the individual race over 15 km on Wednesday (2.30 p.m., live on ORF1). Already on Tuesday (2.30 p.m., live on ORF1) the men around David Komatz and Simon Eder will be competing in their individual over 20 km.
“I went to Oberhof with a different goal, but fortunately there are still a few races left,” said Hauser, who two years ago won silver at the World Championships after the completely messed-up pursuit with seven shooting errors and a huge deficit (+3 :23.4 minutes). “It was really a screwed up race. Now it’s time to analyze the mistakes and do better by Wednesday,” added a disappointed Hauser.
There is a need for improvement not only for the two-time winner of the season, Simon Eder and Co., but also for the ÖSV service people due to obviously not perfect ski equipment. In the pursuit, the Austrians were particularly weak on the cross-country ski run and seemed to have made the wrong choice of material.
Gust in another league
While the Austrian team, which had a promising start with fourth place in the mixed relay, experienced disappointments at the weekend, Norway’s men, led by Johannes Thingnes Bö, can’t stop celebrating. The five-time Olympic champion has won gold in all three previous World Championship races. The now 15-times world champion will have four more chances until Sunday with singles, single mixed, relay and mass start. It is quite possible that he will win seven medals like his compatriot Marte Olsbu Röiseland in 2020, but all of them in gold would be a novelty.
“I enjoy every race. But there is always the opportunity to do something better – and that motivates us. We want gold in the men’s relay, it will be very difficult in the single mixed, just like in the individual or mass start. I’ll tackle the second week like everyone else,” said Bö. Even his fiercest rival over the course of the season and compatriot Sturla Holm Laegreid admitted: “Johannes is an alien, he’s in a different league.”