Neuner Gets First Podium of Season

Third went to Magdalena Neuner of Germany, who scored her first podium appearance of the season while finishing 1:02.6 back, with two penalties. The next five women were separated by 27.1 seconds and only eighth place Nadezhde Skardino of Belarus shooting clean. Just behind Neuner was Darya Domracheva of Belarus who missed the third spot by 1.9 seconds. Following her were Germany’s Kati Wilhelm, 1:12 back and Sandrine Bailly of France, 1:19.6 back; both with a single shooting penalty. Simone Hauswald gave Germany three spots in the top eight with her seventh place, 1:28.9 back with two standing penalties. Skardino grabbed the final spot in the flower ceremony, 1:31.6 back.

Bad Weather

The weather forecasts for Saturday have called for snow and cold all week, and they were correct. However, conditions were far worse than expected. Travel up to the Pokljuka plateau was an adventure as the 61 turns and 13% grade on a snow covered road made travel very slow. Yet in the stadium and on the tracks, it was worse than on the roads. The snow varied from moderate to heavy with strong cutting winds. At times, the shooting lane markers wobbled violently as the athletes battled to hit the targets, especially in standing. Out on the tracks, the snow continued to get deeper slowing down all but the strongest skiers. US Coach Per Nilsson described the conditions, “It is about as bad as you can get with new snow and minus 13 degrees. No one will be moving very fast today.”

Sleptsova Tired and Fortunate

Sleptsova asserted herself early by coming into the prone stage with a fast ski time and then having no trouble with the wind or snow, quickly dropped the five targets. She repeated the process in standing and was virtually unopposed after that. The tough conditions took a lot out of the slight winner. She commented, “My impression after the competition is that I am very tired.  It was a very hard competition today.”

Although her considerable biathlon skills were the biggest factor in the win, she felt lucky and happy that she withstood the challenging conditions. “I think good fortune was with me today. In these hard conditions, it is as Abba said, ‘the winner takes it all.’”

Neuner skied fast, but the two penalties kept her from overtaking the 23-year-old Russian. Despite the missed targets, the ever-smiling Neuner was extremely happy with her effort and the emotional boost it provided to the German Team. “Two missed targets were okay for this weather and conditions. I am happy with my race. It is the first (individual) podium for the German team this season; I also made the Olympic qualification. It was important for the team as we have not had such good results and now we are getting better.”

Neuner Surprised

After the two trips around the penalty loop, the final result did surprise her. “I thought okay, two missed targets; maybe I will be between 10 and 20. The trainer (on the tracks) said I was third and then second; I was very surprised (at the finish).

Bogaliy-Titovets started 99^th in the field of 113, and after the prone miss, shot clean in standing and slipped in between Neuner and Sleptsova. she was concerned that the one missed shot might spoil her day, commenting, “When I missed the target in the first shooting stage, I thought, ‘Oh, no, not again.’ In my past two IBU cup races, I could not shoot clean, either. But I did not worry about it, tried to keep my concentration for the next shooting stage, and it was okay.”

Work

The Russian women matched the 1-2 finish of the Swedish duo of Jonsson and Olofsson-Zidek in the 15K Individual on Thursday. Bogaliy-Titovets said the reason she and Sleptsova finished on top today was simply, “work, work, work.”

Their chances of repeating in tomorrow’s Pursuit, according to Sleptsova, as she looked out the window as the heavy snow, depend on one thing, “I hope it stops snowing.”