Normally we get surprise results at the beginning of the season not in Oberhof when the established stars have risen to the top, but not in 2025! In atrocious conditions we had three new faces on the podium! The wind and rain were horrible in Oberhof today but that didn’t bother some people.
Results
Paula Botet was the winner today! A quite remarkable performance in the conditions she hit 10/10 and won the race by 31.1 seconds! Incredible! She spent the first trimester on the IBU Cup getting some terrific results and in her first World Cup race for nearly 2 years she wins. Her previous WC best was 21st so it’s a serious step up putting even more pressure on the others in the French team.
Taking second place was Maren Kirkeeide. It is her first World Cup podium after a 5th and 11th place in Annecy she was finally able to make the leap. She missed 1 shot in the prone and was the third fastest on the skis.
Third place went to Milena Todorova. She is the first Bulgarian woman to make the podium in over 20 years! She also missed just 1 target on her standing shoot and had the 10th fastest course time. In her first season back after becoming a mother it is a fantastic result for her.
Hits
Oceane Michelon took her PB in 6th and it was her first flower ceremony too. Sonja Leinamo shot clean in 8th for a big PB bringing it down from 27th. Michela Carrara got her PB in 16th and was top Italian. Inka Hamalainen continued Finland’s good results with her PB in 30th. Judita Traubaite earned a PB in 41st. Sandra Bulina also got a PB in 52nd as did Daryna Chalyk in 56th on her WC debut.
There were also World Cup debuts for Ilaria Scattolo in 67th, Estere Volfa in 76th and Stefani Yolova in 87th.
Misses
The weather was the big miss and hampered a lot of races today. The Swedish women all had a tough time on the range with 29 misses between the 6 athletes. It wasn’t a great day for World Cup leader Franziska Preuss either, with 3 misses she was 28th losing points to Lou Jeanmonnot who was 7th.
Extra bullets
Good news Ingrid Tandrevold is back racing after surgery to correct her heart issues. She was 15th today. Anastasiya Kuzmina returned to the World Cup finishing 31st.
The bad news in that Lisa Vittozzi will not be racing this season to make sure her back problems are solved before her home Olympics in 2026.
Pruess retains the yellow bib and red sprint bib. There is a great battle brewing for the blue bib with Jeanne Richard keeping it ahead of Selina Grotian and Oceane Michelon!
Follow biathlon23 on Facebook, Instagram and X!
