Perfect World Cup dress rehearsal for Sturla Holm Laegreid: The Norwegian celebrated his second World Cup victory this season in the pursuit of Antholz and remains in the yellow jersey. The German biathletes, on the other hand, were unable to regain their self-confidence before the World Championships.
Laegreid showed a perfect race on Sunday (January 26, 2025) and won after a flawless performance on the shooting range ahead of compatriot Tarjei Bö (1 mistake/+ 18.9 seconds) and the Italian local hero Tommaso Giacomel (2/+ 24.0). For Bö it was a great farewell to Antholz after his sprint victory. Like his brother Johannes Thingnes, the 36-year-old is ending his career after this season.
DSV athletes again made too many mistakes
The German biathletes all started outside the top 10 and were unable to intervene in the fight for the podium. Philipp Horn (3 errors/+ 2:07.9 minutes) was the best German in eleventh place and thus defended his position from the sprint.
“I’m definitely not dissatisfied, even if it’s annoying that I couldn’t get the zero at the last shooting” said Horn afterwards on ZDF. Now the “Recreation in the foreground“, before the highlight of the season comes with the World Championships in Lenzerheide (Switzerland) from February 12th.
Philipp Nawrath came 21st with three mistakes, Johannes Kühn (1) and David Zobel (2) finished in 27th and 33rd place. Justus Strelow, who was actually strong at the shooting range, couldn’t cope at all this time and came 39th after five mistakes.
Horn and Nawrath begin promising
From a German perspective, everything had to be right that day in order to attack again after the mixed results in the sprint and relay. Horn in eleventh place, 40 seconds behind, and Nawrath in 15th place (+52 seconds) still had the best starting position on paper. Kühn (+ 1:44 minutes), Strelow (+ 1:54) and Zobel (+ 2:00), on the other hand, had to hope for major mistakes from the competition around Bö and Laegreid, who started the race almost at the same time as Giacomel.
The trio remained at the top after an initial error-free shooting session. Horn and Nawrath, who had missed the relay the day before due to poor health, also managed to do this. Both – like Kühn and Zobel – were able to make up a few places straight away. Strelow fell back after two mistakes. The second shooting also initially went promisingly for Horn and Nawrath before the last shot missed its target. Kühn and Zobel did better with five direct hits.
Thrilling fight for the day’s victory
At the front, Laegreid and Bö had meanwhile gained a small lead. However, Johannes Thingnes Bö, together with Giacomel behind him, gained a lot of steam and closed the gap by the third shooting. Then the dominator of the past few years made two mistakes. Giacomel now took the lead ahead of Laegreid and Tarjei Bö. Horn, Nawrath and Zobel also had to make at least one penalty and fell behind. Kühn, on the other hand, continued his flawless series at the shooting range and had already gained 19 places in 20th place.
It was already clear: the day’s victory was decided in the final standing shooting. Giacomel came to the shooting range first, cheered on by the Italian fans, but like Tarjei Bö, made his first mistake. Laegreid took advantage of the moment and ran towards victory with another flawless series. Horn missed another target again, but remained in the top 10. On the final lap, however, he had to give way to the Swiss Niklas Hartweg.