Biathlon, Windisch retires: no Milan Cortina Olympics

The Italy of biathlon loses the man of the wind: Windisch. Dominik, known as Domme for all, has announced his retirement at 32, at the end of this weekend’s World Cup races in Oslo-Holmenkollen. He announced it at a press conference today, at the head of the Olympic season that was stingy with him: his best result at the recent Beijing Games was in fact the 5th place in the Mass Start, the race that had earned him the world title. 2019. “I’m very happy – he said on the Olympic track -, I wanted to finish this race well but unfortunately I crashed in the first lap, due to a contact with a Canadian athlete. He broke the shotgun a bit too but luckily it didn’t affect my shot, but every shot I made I felt something was wrong. I managed to close well, especially the last series and I could have finished even better. I did a fairly solid Olympics in terms of results, unfortunately the medal was missing but as personal races I did well, always fighting with the best ”.

What businesses

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He was the first blue to get on the podium at the Korean Games in PyeongChang 2018, his career peak with the world title, packaged immediately after the identical triumph of Wierer, a sort of sister of the biathlon. A masterpiece in a few hours: taking advantage of the almost extreme conditions and the wind that is already in his surname. Dominik was seen as the classic ugly duckling with an iron will who, by dint of trying and trying again, found himself leaving the rear of the youth rankings and the absolute World Cup, and in two years he took it all. Last to first. With Doro they had triumphed together with Canmore: same day (6 February 2016), same format, the Mass Start. “I believe in destiny. I have lived many years of career with her, we know how much work is behind her, but now together we have learned that experience is needed in these situations. We also rejoiced together at the 2020 World Cup in Anterselva: unforgettable. I have suffered ups and downs, but I have always fought, I have never been disheartened. The joy of world gold was the greatest confirmation after a great Olympics “. Just as unforgettable was Domme’s prodigious bronze for the medal of the 2018 Olympic relay: Windisch overtook the German rival Arnd Peiffer before the last corner at the entrance to the stadium, with whom he had climbed on the podium of the sprint (he bronze and the golden panzer) and was no longer overtaken. The appeal of the Germans for alleged obstacle to ours was useless.

The figures

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Dominik Windisch was born in Brunico (Bz) on 6 October 1989 but grew up in Rasun di Sopra. He is competing for the Army. He boasts 3 Olympic bronzes (1 individual in the Sprint, two in the mixed relays in Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018), none like him at the Italian Games together with Dorothea Wierer (2 podiums in the relay and one individual). At the World Championships he obtained 2 podiums in 2019: after the bronze in the mixed relay in Ostersund, Sweden, on Sunday 17 March 2019 in the Mass Start he became the third blue world champion after Andreas Zingerle in 1993 and Willy Pallhuber in 1997. In 2020 at the World Championships at home he won silver with the mixed relay. In the World Cup he was 14th in the general classification in 2017 and obtained 4 victories (1 individual in Canome in the Mass Start) for a total of 14 podiums (3 alone).

The love

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Julia Poernbacher is the girl who changed Domme’s life. She is the veterinary medicine student who attends the University of Budapest. She is the very excited fan who immediately bewitched Domme’s heart. The girlfriend who throbs when her boyfriend Dominik Windisch shoots and she doesn’t dare to see him in action: so she gets her friends to tell her all the shots after her. Julia wears a bronze ring on her finger since in September 2019, after the 2018 Games doubled in bronze, Domme asked her to marry. Because the beautiful Julia is also a talisman: she was love at first sight, at an award ceremony. A spark that shot irresistibly. And, if you believe the case, a week after meeting her Domme won her first World Cup race in Canmore, Canada: it was February 6, 2016. “After each race we reflect together, talk a little about the race and then talk our. Her secret is that she never gives up, she always looks ahead, even after a disappointment: he is never disappointed, on the contrary he draws new strength “. A guy who thinks calmly in a thrilling sport. And how is he at home? “He loves talking about my world, as a veterinarian, he likes art, he likes to draw: he relaxes like this.” In the house they built before the wedding, scheduled for September 16. Now it’s time to put to enjoy a little private life, starting a family and putting into practice his plans as an ex.He could be a coach.

The announcement

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His farewell: “I will remain in the sporting world anyway. Yes, I would like to be a coach. I stop at the right time, I talked about it with the Army, the coaches and I thank Fisi and Coni who supported me. This season I gave everything, I tried and if you don’t give everything you can’t stay at a high level. I didn’t want to stop throwing myself away. When I made the last zero at the mass Start polygon in Beijing, I understood that it would be the end of the Olympic course, yes I thought about it in Milan-Cortina 2026 but I’m happy to finish like this. I risked not being able to give 100% for another 4 years. You always need the highest motivations for an Olympics, and if you are not convinced it is right to be more useful in another role. This is the right time to leave, this is my level and I have achieved all the goals, even the coaches say it is the right choice. It’s time to change your life, do something new, put other ideas into practice and do the same things well that I did as an athlete. The best memory? There are many special moments, not only the medals, but also the emotions of a child for a 3rd place on a bike in Malles. Great emotions even with the relays because the pressure is higher and if you make it there is more satisfaction. The worst memory? Even the worst races are useful. After Beijing, I got Covid, which physically knocked me out. If I hadn’t decided to retire to say goodbye to the world, I would have stopped right away. I will say goodbye to my world in Val Martello ”. We will miss Domme.