Beijing Winter Olympics: biathlon, Hofer, from 14th to 4th: gold to Fillon Maillet

The blue recovers position after position but ends up at the foot of the podium after a long and exhausting sprint to the Russian Latypov

by our correspondent Paolo Marabini

February 13
– Beijingi (China)–

A great Lukas Hofer made Italy dream of biathlon, missing for 15 “8 the podium in the 12.5 km chase that in Zhangjiakou saw the triumph of the French Quentin Fillon Mallet and the unexpected collapse of the favorite, the Norwegian Johannes Boe , who started out being able to manage a 25 ”advantage over the transalpine but paid for a day to forget shooting.

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what a comeback!

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The 32-year-old from South Tyrol was extraordinary, starting from 14th place in the sprint at 1’19 “2 from Johannes Boe, and in the end, with an immaculate test in the four stops at the shooting range, he climbed 10 positions, however, putting an amazing comeback in his pocket and bringing home the best result of his career, in which the two bronze medals won in Sochi and PyeongChang with the mixed relay show off, as well as the individual bronze at the 2011 World Cup in the mass start.

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the ranking

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The gold went to Frenchman Quentin Fillon Mallet, already winner of the 20 km individual opening, who was also able to leverage precision at the shooting range and in the end left the oldest of the Boe brothers, Tarjei, at 28 ”6. bronze the day before in the sprint. Third was the Russian Eduard Latypov, trailing 35 “3, while Johannes Boe paid for the disastrous shooting day: but despite the seven errors, he managed to finish fifth again, even at 2’13” 7.

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