Resounding Biathlon World Championships Success For Fischer
In a brilliant final round, Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø* thundered to the finish line and was overjoyed to secure the gold in the Mass Start ahead of France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet* to end the Biathlon World Championships on an extremely high note. With these race results, the Fischer Race team’s two top medal winners solidly reinforced Fischer’s dominant leadership position in Nordic Skiing as the most successful ski, boot, and bindings brand once again at this year’s world championships.
The numbers tell a clear story. 47% of all medals were won on Fischer Speedmax 3D skis; 45% were won in Fischer Speedmax skate boots; and 71% were won with the TURNAMIC Bindings set-up. That means almost every second medal winner relied on a full Fischer set-up for their success.
The Top Performer
The races themselves offered the best possible advertising for the sport of biathlon. They were exciting and offered a few interesting storylines, like the always impressive Thingnes Bø securing multiple world champion titles despite his recent paternity break from the sport, as he packed three gold and three silver medals in his luggage for the trip home to Norway. “These were fantastic, successful world championships here in Antholz. Our servicemen did an unbelievable job in getting us skis that were excellently prepped for every race,” said Johannes Thingnes Bø, the top performer of these championships jubilantly. “It was still really tough, though, so I’m looking forward to a few days with my family to just recover.”
An Outstanding Level of Success
Quentin Fillon Maillet was equally pleased with the performance of the Speedmax 3D skis he wore on his leg of a winning French relay team, also in winning the silver in Sprint and Mass Start. Tiril Eckhoff (NOR)* had a tough go of the shooting, but the amiable Norwegian was still able to secure two championship titles in the Mixed Relay and the Relay. A gold and a silver by Norway’s Tarjei Bø*, along with German teammates Denise Herrmann* and Franziska Preuss* each taking two silvers, added to the luster of Fischer’s overall tally. Sweden’s Hanna Öberg* was finally able to reach the podium in the final event, the Mass Start. After two fourth place finishes in Individual and Pursuit, taking the bronze medal was all the more satisfying. “After coming so close, so many times in these championships, this bronze counts more than any other medal I’ve won. Winning it in the final event makes it even more special.” Among the pleasant surprises were the Sprint silver won by the USA’s Susan Dunklee*, the Sprint bronze of the Czech Republic’s Lucie Charvatova*, and Austria’s Dominik Landertinger** taking the bronze in Individual.
Fischer's pole brand One Way also had a bumper championships. It was her home course World Championships and she held up under the pressure. Italy’s Dorothea Wierer, the face of the One Way Race Team, pulled in two championship titles along with two silver medals in front of her home crowd. These championships were also a huge success for her pole supplier One Way, and not just because of Wierer’s performance. In fact, 29% of all medal winners met with success with the new Premio SLG 20 pole.
The Premio SLG 20 was only given out to athletes at the very beginning of the championships. The bright yellow design made it easy to see that this high-performance pole was immediately having success. In the very first race of the championships Dorothea Wierer and Lukas Hofer cruised to silver in the Mixed Relay, with the Czech Republic’s Michael Krcmar right behind in the bronze position. The success story continued for numerous athletes throughout the following ten days of competition for this top-flight pole, which will be on the market in fall of this year.
Front and center, of course, was Dorothea Wierer who gave the home fans plenty to cheer about with her two titles and two runner-up finishes. Wierer summed it up, saying, “The word championships at home was an epic experience for me. The fans were amazing, and I couldn’t be happier with the four medals I’ve won here.”
France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet experienced comparable success. After the silver in Sprint and the gold in Relay he was able to add another silver in the championships’ final event, the Mass Start. About that race he said, “I absolutely wanted to win a gold in an individual event. It was close, but I just couldn’t get there. I’m still really happy with my three medals for now, and will work hard on improving my shooting in the future.”
Other top One Way performers included Russia’s Alexander Loginov winning gold in Sprint and bronze in Pursuit; Germany’s Franziska Preuss racing well enough to earn silver in the Single Mixed Relay and another silver in Relay; and the USA’s Susan Dunklee was a surprise silver medal winner in Sprint.
Relay racers Karolin Horcher, Arnd Pfeiffer, and Benedikt Doll from Germany medalled, as did Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen and Johannes Dale to add to One Way’s impressive medal count.
