Biathlon: Italy dream, the blue triumph in the relay of Hochfilzen

The quartet composed by Lisa Vittozzi, Alexia Runggaldier, Dorothea Wierer and Federica Sanfilippo won the first female relay of the 2018/19 World Cup.

Sunday 16 December 2018 4 minutes reading time

Lisa Vittozzi, lined up at the launch, was perfect in the series on the ground, where she gave a shooting lesson to all the opponents, but then used a standing refill. On the last lap, the Azzurro increased the pace on skis and, after filling the gap with the head of the race, gave the change to Alexia Runggaldier in first position, with 4 tenths of advantage over Germany and 3 "over Slovakia. In the second half the Gardener tried not to go out in the back, trying to limit the damage thanks to the precision from the pitch. In the standing session, however, used two refills and lost the train of the best. At the second change, Italy has therefore moved into 11th place with more than a minute of separation from Slovakia. At this point came into action Dorothea Wierer, who first recovered a lot of ground on skis, and then, with a perfect test at the shooting range, has returned to the top positions. In the series standing the blue has clearly made the difference compared to rivals. Entered the polygon with 7 "of detachment from the first, came out head joined with the Swiss Elisa Gasparin and 30" on the Belarusian Sola. In the final lap, Wierer further raised the bar, passing the baton to Sanfilippo with 18 "over Switzerland and over half a minute over Sweden and France. In closing Italy has deployed Federica Sanfilippo, back from an excellent pursuit, which had to contain the comeback of Hanna Ã–berg. The Italian managed the first polygon well, where he hit all the targets. The Swedish however has recovered a lot of ground thanks to a better range time and in the second lap has raised the pace, entering the pitch with 10 "delay. Sanfilippo did not let itself be overwhelmed by pressure and found another "zero". The scandal instead made a mistake and was bypassed by Bescond, who began the final round with 12 "of detachment from the blue. In the last kilometers the Italian has not been reached and Italy has thus obtained the second success in its history in a female relay.

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