Biathlon: Sondre Slettemark, the fall on the Hochfilzen track
On Thursday evening, when the numbers were drawn for the men’s sprint at the Biathlon World Cup in Hochfilzen (Austria), Sondre Slettemark hit the jackpot. Inheriting the No. 1, the 20-year-old Greenlander had the chance to open the race.
For a biathlete from a small Federation like Greenland, it was the assurance of being shown on television around the world for several minutes. But the dream turned into a nightmare on the dangerous U-turn of the Austrian track.
Sondre Slettemark, Ukaleq ‘s younger brother who made a name for himself at the 2022 Olympics by not missing a single target throughout the competition, broke his neck in the very first kilometre.
“I don’t really know how I managed to do that… he laughs as he looks back on the episode for Nordic Magazine. It must have been that I came into the bend with too much speed and misjudged the angle at which I entered it.”
A cane given by Johannes Lukas, the Swedish coach
Fortunately, he didn’t damage his rifle in the fall, but he did break a stick. “I was able to get another one just afterwards [on the climb] from a very kind Swedish trainer”, he explains. It was Johannes Lukas who gave him a spare stick.
As a result, the Greenlander was able to finish his race as if nothing had happened, taking 99th place in the final (8/10).

Sondre Slettemark took part in the first two stages of the IBU Cup at the start of the winter, finishing twenty-first in the opening sprint at Idre Fjäll (Sweden). “My performances aren’t as good as this time last year [he finished in the top 10 in the IBU Cup, editor’s note], although I’m very satisfied with my shooting so far,” he says.
Next week, the Greenlander will return to the IBU Cup in Obertilliach (Austria) before taking part in the World Cup in Oberhof (Germany) at the beginning of January. After that, Sondre Slettemark will focus on his preparation for the Junior World Championships in Östersund (Sweden).
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