Biathlon: a final fatal shot for Lena Haecki-Gross
The pursuit race at the World Biathlon Championships in Lenzerheide (Switzerland) took place in glorious sunshine in the canton of Graubünden on Sunday. Switzerland’s Lena Haecki-Gross (16/20), who started in fourth place, thrilled the Swiss public, but finished in fifth place.
After finishing fourth, just one second and four tenths off the podium in the sprint on Friday, the 29-year-old biathlete promised that she would “not give up”. She kept her word in the pursuit. The Swiss was particularly unleashed in Sunday’s race.
From the first downhill shot, she took advantage of a mistake by Justine Braisaz-Bouchet to take the lead. She then consolidated her lead with another ultra-fast shot on the second run in this position.
Spurred on by an enthusiastic crowd, the native of Engelberg (Switzerland) went into the third shot in the lead alongside Germany’s Franziska Preuss. It was here that the home girl released her first ball. Coming out in second place, she was on her own for the final shot behind the untouchable German.
However, on this last shot, Lena Haecki-Gross cracked, making three errors. Her hopes of bringing the first Swiss biathlon medal in the history of the World Championships were dashed. It was a final shot that left her with regrets.
“The standing shots were very trying”.Lena Haecki-Gross at SRF
“The standing shots were very tough. My body wasn’t relaxed enough, and as I tend to tense up too much in general, I wanted to relax,” she tells SRF. That made me slow down a bit. It’s really hard, but I’m proud of myself.
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