There were four different winners - and plenty happy athletes - at the last BMW IBU World Cup week in Antholz-Anterselva as the teams enter a two-week phase of rest and final preparations before the BMW IBU World Championships 2024 opens in Nove Mesto na Morave with the Mixed Relay on 07 February 2024. Biathlon also got its first medallists at the Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024 in South Korea.

Haecki-Gross’s first-ever World Cup win

Lena Haecki-Gross won her first-ever World Cup competition in the Short Individual and backed it up with third place in the Mass Start. With her second place from the Pursuit in Hochfilzen, she holds a complete set of podium finishes in 2023/2024 and will be among the red-hot favorites in Nove Mesto.

With second place in the Short Individual and a win in the Maas Start, Julia Simon was the most successful athlete in Antholz. She moved to fourth place in the Total Score standings, just 57 points behind the still-leader Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold.

Vanessa Voigt - celebrating her first-ever World Cup win with her Single Mixed Relay partner Justus Strelow - shot 60/60 (no reloads in the relay) and was the best shooter of the week.

Dorothea Wierer returned to the World Cup after two World Cup-weeks- absence with 14th place in the Short Individual and second place in the Mixed Relays.

Dale-Skjevdal breaks Boedium hold in the Total Score

Unsurprisingly, Norwegians dominated men’s competitions. JT Boe won in the Short Individual and - after uncharacteristically stumbling in the opening lap - fifth in the Mass Star. He retained his lead atop the Total Score standings, but he now feels Johannes Dale-Skjevdal (4th and 2nd) breathing down his neck in the second place, 92 points behind.

Tarjei Boe had another fabulous week with second and sixth place; he is just six points behind Dale-Skjevdal. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen mixed it up with the leading trio, winning in the Mass Start and finishing sixth in the Short Individual.

Otto Invenius had a personal breakthrough as he clinched 11th place in the Short Individual and 10th in the Mass Start, his first-ever Top 10 World Cup result.

But then the luckiest person in Antholz was perhaps Danilo Riethmueller, who, heading to training, got a last-minute-eight-in-the morning call from his Sports Director Felix Bitterling on the day of the Short Individual, turned around his car, and sped to Italy. He arrived just in time to ski an introduction lap with the tracks in Antholz, shot 19/20, and finished 7th in his first-ever World Cup showing.

First medals for biathletes in Gangwon

Biathlon programme at the Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024 opened with the competitions in the Individual and Singlex Mixed relay. Six countries won the medals with France’s Antonin Guy capturing two Golds.

Photos: IBU/Thibaut, Nordic Focu