At the beginning of the World Biathlon Championship in Lenzerheide, the Italian mixed relay had a place on the podium. But the Azzurri failed mainly on the shooting range, where no other nation has a bad section. Medal hope Tommaso Giacomel was broken afterwards.
The Italian mixed relay has to be satisfied with seventh place after the first of a total of twelve decisions at this year’s Biathlon World Cup. The victory went to the sovereign French who finished the finish line in front of the strong Czechs and the German team.
The Azzurri led by Hannah, Dorothea Wierer, Lukas Hofer and Tommaso Giacomel at the end 2:41 minutes were missing too one.
While also, were also close behind the leading French women, it was Hofer (3 relegates) and Giacomel (1 penalty round, 6 followers), which showed nerves at the shooting range.
Giacomel “very disappointed” after seventh place
The performance of the 24 -year -old Giacomel was particularly surprising, he had presented himself in impressive form in the weeks before the World Cup. In the mass start of Ruhpolding in mid-January, he celebrated his first World Cup victory at all, followed by two third places in the sprint and pursuer at the home races in Antholz.
“My self -confidence at the shooting range is different and I notice that the others are also a little more afraid of me,” said the announcement to the competition.
After the mixed race, the Italian was now bent. “I am very, very, very, very disappointed,” Giacomel told “Fondo Italia”: “Of course I hoped for a better result, because my teammates did a good job. Unfortunately, I was not at my level today, which is I’m sorry. “
After the first misconceptions, the “negative thoughts” would have taken over the upper hand. Now he wants to remove the race as soon as possible: “Now I shouldn’t waste too much energy on thinking about how bad I was today, because there are still many races.”