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Reuters
23-02-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Strong shooting gives Oeberg mass start gold at world championships
LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Sweden's Elvira Oeberg hit a sensational series of five final shots to snatch the gold medal in a thrilling finale to the 12.5km mass start on Sunday, the final women's race of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships. France's Oceane Michelon took the silver after a frenetic final push came up short, finishing just under 10 seconds behind Oeberg, with Maren Kirkeeide of Norway taking the bronze. Unseasonably warm temperatures influenced both the shooting and skiing conditions, affecting the flight of the .22 calibre bullets and demanding more energy on the 150m penalty loops that were incurred by each miss. Lena Haecki-Gross brought the home crowd to their feet by emerging in the lead from a chaotic first shoot that saw 23 of the 30 racers miss at least one shot, with Germany's Franziska Preuss and Jeanne Richard of France hot on her heels. Preuss's accurate shooting kept her in with a chance but her skis appeared sluggish on the choppy, wet snow, and she struggled to hold off the chasing pack, opening the door for Oeberg's final burst. The 25-year-old Oeberg arrived at the final shoot just behind Preuss and Lou Jeanmonnot of France and showed nerves of steel to hit all five targets, allowing the Swede to power away from the range in pole position. The drama increased as misses by Preuss and Jeanmonnot saw them eclipsed by the rest of the contenders, with Michelon and Kirkeeide seizing the opportunity, and though the French racer managed to halve Oeberg's lead over the final lap, a tremendous final climb ensured that Oeberg would cross the line first. Such was the tension in the Swedish camp that Oeberg was not handed a Swedish flag on the final straight to cross the line with; instead, that honour went to her sister Hanna, who flew it high as she crossed the line in last place. That Hanna finished almost six minutes behind Elvira following an early fall that broke her rifle and ruined her race made no difference, the sisters embracing in tears to celebrate Elvira's first individual world championship gold. "It feels completely unbelievable, I didn't think it was going to be possible today," Elvira told broadcaster SVT. "I hit my shots and the others missed, and I went out on the final lap thinking, this might do it... this is what you dream of."
Reuters
22-02-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Sure-fire Simon steers France to women's relay gold
LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Julia Simon anchored a triumphant final leg as France powered to victory in the women's 4x6km relay at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships on Saturday, hitting a perfect 10 of 10 shots to claim the gold. Maren Kirkeeide of Norway stormed through the field and shot clean on the last leg to grab silver for Norway, while Elvira Oeberg secured the bronze for Sweden after a nerve-jangling final shoot, holding off a strong challenge from Germany and Austria. Such was the French lead entering the final lap that Simon could spend most of it saluting the crowd, and still they finished more than a minute ahead of the Norwegians, with the Swedes a further 40 seconds back. With warm temperatures and loose, heavy snow making the skiing tough, accuracy on the shooting range was all the more important. Racers were granted three extra shots at each shoot before having to complete penalty loops to atone for any further misses. The French team took control early with Lou Jeanmonnot handing over a 32-second lead to Oceane Michelon and they never looked back, with Simon even taking the time to bow to the crowd after her final shot before speeding around the last lap. The only blemish on Simon's last circuit came when part of a hoarding collapsing as fans sought to give her high fives, but nothing could curtail the French joy as she stopped for a final bow before crossing the line in a time of 1:07:26.5. Norway's Kirkeeide kept her cool and made the most of uncharacteristic misses by Swede Oeberg in the prone shooting by overtaking her and securing second, but the Swede used her strong skiing to bounce back and grab third spot for her team.
Express Tribune
17-02-2025
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Thingnes Boe claims pursuit gold
LENZERHEIDE, SWITZERLAND: Norway's He won the slalom gold clocking aggregate time of 1min 54.02sece held off the challenge of American Campbell Wright to win gold in a thrilling men's 12.5km pursuit at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships on Sunday. Thingnes Boe, who won the sprint gold on Saturday, completed the course in 32 minutes 26.9 seconds to claim a record-extending 22nd individual world gold, 8.6 seconds ahead of Wright. Eric Perrot of France, who like the American hit 19 of his 20 shots, took the bronze medal. The 31-year-old Norwegian winner, who has said he will retire at the end of the season, had two misses in the shooting but managed to stay ahead of Wright, despite seeming to slow down considerably over the final 800 metres. It was Thingnes Boe's third pursuit gold in a row at the World Championships, while New-Zealand-born Wright, who switched to competing for the U.S. in 2023, picked up his second silver medal in two days after another fine performance in the sprint. Earlier in the afternoon, Franziska Preuss displayed nerves of steel to gold for Germany in the women's 10km pursuit at the International Biathlon Union World Championships, with Sweden's Elvira Oeberg taking silver and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet of France bronze. Preuss hit all 20 shots to win in a time of 26 minutes 58.9 seconds, 39.1 seconds ahead of Oeberg, who passed Braisaz-Bouchet late on the final lap to snatch silver by 1.9 seconds after a frenetic sprint to the line. Preuss, runner-up to Braisaz-Bouchet in the sprint, opened up a big lead before the final shoot and calmly rattled off her last five standing shots to turn the final two kilometres into a victory lap as she claimed her first individual world gold.
Reuters
14-02-2025
- Climate
- Reuters
Braisaz-Bouchet secures sprint gold for France at World Championships
LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland, Feb 14 (Reuters) - France's Justine Braisaz-Bouchet powered to victory in the women's 7.5km sprint at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships on Friday, making light of tough weather conditions to claim the gold medal in a time of 22:08.7. A silver medallist last year, Braisaz-Bouchet went one better by hitting nine of her 10 shots and storming through the course after the second shoot to beat Germany's Franziska Preuss by a margin of 9.8 seconds, with Finland's Suvi Minkkinen picking up the bronze, two-tenths of a second behind Preuss. With conditions made difficult by blustery winds that sent snow swirling across the shooting range, many of the competitors found themselves having to complete time-consuming penalty loops for missing the target, with Minkkinen the only one of the top three to shoot clean. There may have been no repeat of France's 2024 women's sprint success, where they swept the top four positions, but the 28-year-old Braisaz-Bouchet set the tone for the French team by winning the first individual medal of the 2025 event. The IBU World Championships continue until February 23, with the men's 10km sprint event set to take place on Saturday.
