Biathlon newcomer Anamarija Lampic finally presented herself from her best side again at the World Cup in Nove Mesto. On the other hand, the Slovenian experienced her personal Waterloo at the shooting range. She racked up a record-breaking number of penalties in both the pursuit and mixed relay.
When it came to running, Anamarija Lampic couldn’t beat anyone in the pursuit of Nove Mesto. In the end, the Slovenian recorded a net running time of 24:54 minutes and was therefore faster than Denise Herrmann-Wick, Marte Olsbu Røiseland, Hanna Öberg and other top stars. The fact that she only finished 50th in the end was due to her shaking hands at the shooting range.
In the end, the 27-year-old had a total of eight penalties. In the prone position, the happy nature missed three discs, in the standing position the other five. “Eight f*** penalties!” Lampic then wrote in an Instagram post about her little debacle. “I won’t talk about it,” added the Slovenian, who described five of the eight penalties as “own errors”.
Coach Ricco Groß didn’t want to judge his protégé so harshly afterwards. “It was only her second pursuit and she made a lot of mistakes. It’s just a completely new feeling for her to be on the shooting range with so many opponents at the same time,” the German defended the former cross-country skier.
Lampic experienced a very similar scenario a day later in the mixed relay. Here, too, she came to the shooting range together with other runners. And while she went through in prone with just one spare and suddenly found herself in the lead group due to her running strength, the 27-year-old experienced another little Waterloo in standing.
Lampic not only missed her first five attempts, but missed each of her three spares. The result was five penalties – an extremely rare spectacle in a relay.
“The standing beat me today. I’m disappointed that I didn’t hit even one shot out of eight. I have to forget that as soon as possible. I hope that the others don’t take offense at me,” said the Slovenian afterwards her personal shooting disaster.