Elusive France wins the relay in Antholz, Bulgaria does not finish
The French quartet of Lou Jeanmont, Anais Chevalier-Boucher, Chloë Chevalier and Julia Simon cruised to a very comfortable victory in the women’s 4km by 6km relay of the Biathlon World Cup held in Antholz-Anterselva (Italy).
They only need two extra rounds to take down their 40 targets, which has a huge advantage in Team Sweden’s direction. The representatives of the “Three Crowns” – Lynn Pershon, Anna Magnuson, Hanna Joberg and Elvira Joberg use eight spare cartridges, but they too were afraid of entering the penalty lap. However, these six additional shots would not allow them to fight the French women, as the final difference between the two teams was 45.2 seconds.
The third place on the podium went to the German line-up (Vanessa Voigt, Sophia Schneider, Janina Hettich-Waltz and Hanna Kebinger), which used ten spare cartridges, but also not straight penalty laps. “Bundestima” finished with a deficit of 1:16.9 minutes in the direction of the first position.
A step away from the podium were the representatives of the home team, Rebecca Pasler, Dorothea Wierer, Hanna Aukenthaler and Lisa Vitozzi, who used six extra cartridges, but also made one penalty lap. It was the work of Aukenthaler in the straight shot, and it was those 150 meters that made the difference between the Italians and the Germans in front of them. In the final, the home team finished 13.5 seconds from the podium.
The Bulgarian team consisting of Lora Hristova, Valentina Dimitrova, Daniela Kadeva and Milena Todorova is ranked 18th after being closed with a lap even before the first shot at the third post. Prior to that, six additional rounds were used by the local representatives, and Laura Hristova also completed a penalty lap on the straight.
The World Cup in Antholz ends later today with the men’s 4 by 7.5 kilometer relay, which will start at 15:30 Bulgarian time.