Biathlon, Italy silver in men’s relay at Soldier Hollow
Biathlon, Italy d'silver in men’s relay at Soldier Hallow
A splendid Italy hits the podium again in the World Cup, for the third time this season in the men’s relay: after the two third places in Oberhof and Ruhpolding here are the Olympic snows of Soldier Hollow greeting the return of the Italian quartet on the second step of the podium after six years.
The U.S. stage in Utah could not have started better, with the quartet formed by Patrick Braunhofer, Tommaso Giacomel, Didier Bionaz and Lukas Hofer able to complete the race using only 8 reloads to win the duel for second place with Germany (Strelow/Kühn/Doll/Nawrath) behind Norway (Lægreid/T. Bø/J. Bø/Christiansen), brought back up by the Bø brothers; after an uphill start due to the three-lap penalty nabbed by Lægreid.
At the close of the third fraction, Johannes Bø was able to launch Christiansen in the lead, who thus confirmed Norway on the highest step of the podium with an overall time of 1:13’12″3 (3+5): behind him Hofer è generous in attacking three times on the final lap, to finally resist Nawrath’s overtaking attempt on the finishing straight.
Italy (0+8) second therefore at 26″5 with Germany (0+8) third at 27″3; fourth place for the hosts of the United States who could long dream of a podium finish.
High-profile race for the Azzurri: Braunhofer – first career podium for the ’South Tyrolean – at the throw è solid and while Lægreid and Brandt put the Scandinavian results in jeopardy, he came to the change zone in sixth place with only one refill used. Giacomel then interprets his own fraction to the best of his ability, in turn using only one recharge and by mid-race è ahead of everyone with a 31″2 lead over Ukraine and the remounting Norway. The protagonist of the third act è Johannes Bø who closed the gap with Bionaz in the second lap and then took off coming out of the second polygon, when the Valdostan lacked a bit’ legs. Bionaz è però good at avoiding penalty laps to launch Hofer into the wake of Germany and the United States. The Pusterese ès experience was crucial at that point to handle the situation in the best possible way, and with a charge per polygon he first secured the podium and then went on to place the second-place paw.
At 11 p.m. Italian time è the women’s sprint is scheduled.
