Biathlon veteran Lukas Hofer is the Italian mass start champion – despite seven tickets at the shooting range.
Despite his seven shooting errors, Hofer prevailed at the national championships on Sunday in windy conditions ahead of Marco Barale (3 errors, +6.9 seconds) and Elia Zeni (2 errors, +19.8 seconds).
“I struggled today, and to be honest, my biathlon wasn’t good today. Seven mistakes don’t get you very far in the World Cup, but today I ran strong and was able to make up for the mistakes,” Hofer commented on his performance at “Fondo Italia”.
A strenuous season is coming to an end for the 36-year-old. “Now I’m going to recover well, I have to regain my strength. I have a few projects ahead of me and I’m someone who always looks forward. There will be two nice months waiting for me in which I’ll have fun, and then it’ll start again because the energy is always there,” said Hofer.
The South Tyrolean finished the World Cup winter in 14th position. At the age of 36, Hofer made it onto the podium in an individual biathlon for the first time in January, celebrating a milestone in his long career.
Comola is Italian biathlon champion
In the women’s category, Samuela Comola was crowned Italian champion in the mass start on Sunday. The 27-year-old only made one mistake and finished ahead of Hannah Auchentaller (4 mistakes/+38.5 seconds) and Rebecca Passler (5 mistakes/+46.8 seconds).
“I thought for a long time about the last shot on the last shooting lane because I really wanted to get a perfect result, and then I missed it. I had to smile because I’ve missed the last shot many times this year and I definitely have to work on that in the course of my career,” Comola reacted to her victory in the mass start on “Fondo Italia”.
