Lisa Vittozzi (Italy) won her first individual biathlon world title after winning the 15km individual start at the World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave (Czech Republic). With her victory, the Italian skier broke the perfect streak of Julia Simon (France), who won three gold medals in three starts in the first week of the championship.
The French biathlon competitor looked like a sure winner today until her last shot. In it, she missed her second target (16th of the competition) and it was this mistake that deprived her of her fourth gold medal. Lisa Vittozzi, who was three minutes ahead of Julia Simon on the course, was faultless in her four visits to the finish line and deservedly won the gold medal with a time of 40:02.9 min.
The silver went to Janina Hettich-Walz (Germany), who also broke her 20 targets and finished 20.5 sec behind Lisa Vittozzi. Julia Simon did not leave empty-handed today, however, as she managed to fight for the bronze medal with a delay time of 29.6 sec.
At the foot of the podium remained the young German biathlete Selina Grotian, who was also flawless at the finish line, but lost more than a minute to Lisa Vittozzi over the distance. The final pass from Selina Grotian by the champion is 1:01.1 min, and 5.1 sec behind her finished her compatriot Vanessa Voigt, who also knocked down all her targets.
The World Biathlon Championship continues tomorrow with the men’s individual start of 20km. The next start for the ladies will be on Sunday, when the mass start will take place over 12.5km. Before that, on Saturday will be the classic relay of 4×6, and on Thursday will be the single mixed relay.
