Hanna Oeberg won her second world title in the 15km individual event after triumphing in stunning fashion in Oberhof. The Swede previously won this title at her home World Championships in Ostersund in 2019. She is also the individual Olympic champion at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics, when the competition was held again on February 15.
Hanna Oeberg cruised to the title today despite the one-minute penalty she earned in her first shootout. After that, however, she was flawless in her remaining three visits to the line to beat compatriot Linn Persson, who knocked down all 20 targets, by 10.3 sec.
The bronze medal with a pass of 28.0 sec went to Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi, who knocked down her first 19 targets but missed the last one, costing her the gold. One step away from the honors was another Italian, Samuela Comola, who was 48.5 sec behind Hanna Oeberg, although she, like Linn Persson, was flawless at the finish line during the day. In addition to Samuela Comola and Linn Persson, Finland’s Suvi Minkkinen was also perfect in shooting today and ranked 8th with a pass of 2:43.9 min from the champion.
Fastest over the 15km today was World Cup overall leader and 10km Pursuit World Champion Julia Simon, who only finished 5th after making a total of three faults in her four heats. The Frenchwoman was flawless in only her second visit to the firing line during today’s competition and finished 1:21.7 min off first place.
Champion Hanna Oeberg lost 31.6 sec on the course to Julia Simon, giving a third time over the distance. Between the two, the reigning Olympic champion in the discipline, Denise Herrmann-Wick (Germany), was wedged in, but she finished only in 15th place with a total of four penalty minutes. Last Friday’s sprint champion missed two targets in both of her uprights and was perfect from prone.
