Biathlon World Championships, Italy silver in the mixed relay with Vittozzi, Wierer, Bionaz and Giacomel – Corriere.it

A few hours after Marta Bassino’s gold medal in the alpine skiing super-G, another medal for Italy arrives on the opening day of the Biathlon World Championships underway in Oberhof, Germany. In front of 19 thousand spectators, Lisa Vittozzi, Dorothea Wierer, Didier Bionaz and Tommaso Giacomel conquered the silver behind the elusive Norway (dragged in the last leg by an extraordinary Johannes Thingnes Boe, winner in 1 hour 04’41”9, 11”6 ahead of Italy) in the medley relay.

The Azzurri, perfect in running the match and also in shooting, were in command shoulder to shoulder with the Norwegians up to the last polygon. In the last lap, Boe ran away to take the seventh gold for his country (the fourth solo) in this format. In addition to Boe, world champions also Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and Sturla Holm Lgreid. Bronze to France at 55”9 (Julia Simon, Anais Chevalier-Bouchet, E’milien Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon Maillet). For Italy, today’s silver is the third world championship medal in this format after the silver in 2020 and the bronze in 2019. The women’s 7.5 km sprint is scheduled for Friday (2.30 pm).

Honestly I was a little scared before leaving – says Dorothea Wierer – because I didn’t feel well when I woke up this morningHowever, it went better than expected. The quartet in the medley relay was much rejuvenated with our young boys, however on this occasion they proved to be really strong and mature despite their age. Now let’s think about the next race and the individual races that will be really tough. For we have taken off a lot of weight, we will see along the way what we will be able to combine. The medley relay, on the other hand, was one of the specialties that saw Italy among the favorite teams, as Lisa Vittozzi also explains: It was complicated to start the program with the medley relay, but it was a fun race: we pushed well on the skis and personally I made two excellent series. I like the track, this time it was important to break the ice and understand how to best manage the track, I think I did a good performance. The sensations are good, I’m not yet 100% fit but I plan to get there from the sprint.