wins the Pursuit in Antholz

The 36-year-old Andrea Henkel from Germany, who already won silver in Thursday’s Sprint race, finished the Pursuit race on rank 1, achieving thus her 22nd World Cup gold. With a delay of only 1.6 seconds, Nadehzda Skardino from finished 2nd, while from managed to climb the lowest step of the podium in spite of three shooting errors. The best Italian athlete was who finished 20th.

For the 18,000 spectators in the Südtirol Arena Alto Adige the race was exciting from the very beginning. The Women’s Pursuit offered a series of highlights down to its end, when Andrea Henkel defeated her rivals with a perfect performance in the shooting range and a confident lead of her skis. The German biathlete, who crossed the finish after 31:04.5, achieved her 4th success in a Pursuit in Antholz and her 6th win in South Tyrol.

In the first part the race was dominated by who, after a perfect prone shooting session, started to lose confidence after the third round of shooting and in the end finished 5th. Henkel remained behind her together with Anais Bescond from France and Nadehzda Skardino frm Belarus. In the last shooting session, Henkel and Skardino kept steady nerves, Henkel very fast in the execution, Skardino a bit more long-winded, and took the lead of the race. Andrea Henkel left the shooting range first and kept the lead until the end, opposing Skardino and conquering the highest step of the podium. However for the Belorussian athlete the second rank still was the best individual result of her career. Third to cross the finish was a fantastic Tora Berger who managed to finish right behind the two in spite of three shooting errors and obtained the points to take the lead of the World Cup ranking.

Anais Bescond breaks down in the final

5th place in the pursuit went to another Norwegian athlete, , who finished before Darya Domracheva, the second in the World Cup ranking. Third overall place in the ranking goes to Kaisa Makarainen who came 9th in today’s Pursuit but who still leads the Pursuit ranking. Anais Bescond who won the Sprint race and who until the last shooting session was one of today’s favourites, threw it all away with four shooting errors in the last session, finishing 11th.

Dorothea Wierer 20th

Dorothea Wierer, who started 26th today and eventually finished in 20th place delivered a good performance. The biathlete from Rasen made two mistakes in the standing shooting sessions. Michela Ponza finished 40th, Federica Sanfilippo 42nd.

Results World Cup Antholz (Saturday 18 January 2014)

Pursuit Women, 10 km 1. Andrea Henkel (GER) 31,04.5 (0 shooting errors) 2. Nadaezhda Skardino (BLR) +1.6 (0) 3. Tora Berger (NOR) +6.6 (3) 4. Tyrill Eckhoff (NOR) +7.8 (2) 5. Darya Domracheva (BLR) +30.7 (4) 6. Teja Gregorin (SLO) +43.4 (3) 7. (GER) +46.4 (1) 8. (RUS) +1,05.8 (4) 9. Kaisa Makarainen (FIN) +1,05.8 (3) 10. Chaoping Song (CHN) +1.26,0 (0) 11. Anais Bescond (FRA) +1,30.3 (4) 12. (NOR) +1,30.4 (4) 13. Marie Laure Brunet (FRA) +1,39.8 (2)

20. Dorothea Wierer (ITA/Rasen) +2,00.,8 (2) 40. Michela Ponza (ITA/St. Christina) +4,.06.,4 (1) 42. Federica Sanfilippo (ITA/Ridnaun) +4,16.7 (3)

Comments on the race

Andrea Henkel (GER), winner: „Today each loop seemed hard not just the final one. I didn’t feel well. In the shooting range I took my time as I didn’t want to have to run unnecessary supplementary loops. My priority today was to shoot without mistakes. I could see Nadezhda come closer and closer. I just tried to keep as much edge as possible until the Huber Alm, and it worked. Tomorrow I‘ll race in the relay, then I will stay here in Antholz until Thursday when we move on to the Ridnaun training camp. I will spend the last two days before leaving for at home.“

Nadezhda Skardino (BLR), rank 2: „Today was a very hard race, although I felt better than in the last competitions. Obviously, I wanted to overtake Andrea Henkel but she is a very strong biathlete. Nevertheless, I am very happy with my second placement. Darya Domracheva and I are good friends more so than rivals. I do not fight her. She always psychs me up and makes good suggestions. There are three steps on the podium: the two of us can each have one.“

Tora Berger (NOR), rank 3: „I don’t know what happened to me in the shooting range today. I probably concentrated more on my rivals than on my own performance. I will try to be more focussed in the next race. I would have been happy about my team mate Tiril Eckhoff, but in a competition we are rivals.“

Dorothea Wierer (ITA), rank 20 and best Italian athlete: „Today I was very tired, I could almost have fallen over. I had no spring in me. Now we go back to the hotel, where I will try to regenerate as fastly as possible for tomorrow’s relay.“