Double victory for Sweden in the women’s 15 km individual race in Oberhof: Hanna Öberg won the world title ahead of Linn Persson and Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi. Denise Herrmann-Wick had to admit defeat after a total of four shooting errors.
In glorious sunny weather in Oberhof, Herrmann-Wick, the great German hope for a medal, started the competition as the 31st starter. The 34-year-old, who had previously won gold in the sprint and silver in the pursuit, of course also wanted to show her outstanding condition in the 15-kilometer individual competition.
After a rather restrained first lap, the German came relatively effortlessly to the first prone stage, which she did with great concentration and confidently without any mistakes. This gave her a real advantage over many of her competitors, because in contrast to the German, almost all other co-favorites made a mistake in the first shooting.
Only Vittozzi starts without errors
Only Lisa Vittozzi got away without a penalty in the first and second shooting, the World Cup leader Julia Simon had – for comparison – already accumulated two penalty minutes. Herrmann-Wick earned these two minutes in the first standing stage. If the first three shots were still well on target, she missed the last two.
The way was now clear for the time being for the competition. In addition to Vittozzi, who also shot clean in the third shooting, her compatriot Dorothea Wierer, with just one penalty after three target practice sessions, also moved up the field – for her, however, the competition ended in the second standing stage: three penalties left her hopelessly falling behind.
Herrmann-Wick – two penalties in standing hurt
From there, Denise Herrmann-Wick looked for something like connection again from the third shooting. Ihrt cleaned again in the second prone, moving up to eighth.
At the front, Lisa Vittozzi faltered on the final stage when the very last shot went wide. Suddenly, she had the greatest chance of gold that hardly anyone had had in mind before: Linn Persson from Sweden had made the final stop without making any mistakes. And there, too, her nerves held. The fourth flawless attack brought her the lead – and suddenly the very big chance for the gold medal.
Persson suddenly on course for gold – with Oeberg breathing down his neck
But she had her compatriot Hanna Öberg on her back, who had continuously improved after a first incorrect shooting in the prone position. After the last standing stage she was only 14 seconds behind Persson. On the last lap, Öberg delivered an unleashed race and took Persson second by second. At the finish she was ten seconds ahead – it was the gold medal.
Sophia Schneider best German
Herrmann-Wick’s fight back finally came to an end in the second standing stage. Again, the German dominator made two mistakes – she temporarily fell back to 18th place. “Of course, I’m very annoyed about the mistakes,” said Herrmann-Wick at the finish. Apparently they didn’t come as a complete surprise: “I noticed as soon as I zeroed in that it wasn’t going to be easy for me today,” she said.
The best German was Sophia Schneider in twelfth place. Like Herrmann-Wick, the 25-year-old from Traunstein missed a total of four targets, but this time she delivered a better mileage than her experienced teammate. “I felt good today and this difficult route suits me too,” said Schneider on the ARD microphone.