Polish biathlete races to career-best World Cup finish
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
08.01.2018 08:30
Polish biathlete Weronika Nowakowska has come in fourth in the women’s 10km pursuit race in Oberhof, Germany, notching up her best-ever World Cup finish.
Weronika Nowakowska in action during the women's 10 km pursuit race at the IBU Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof, Germany, on Saturday. Photo: EPA/ARMANDO BABANI
Nowakowska’s performance on Saturday followed her sixth-place finish in the 7.5 km sprint in Oberhof two days earlier and marked her best result since grabbing a silver and a bronze in competitions at the Biathlon World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland in 2015.
In Saturday’s pursuit race, Nowakowska finished 1 minute and 17.1 seconds behind Slovakia’s Russian-born Anastasiya Kuzmina, who won despite missing two targets and strengthened her overall World Cup lead this season, with 422 points.
The Pole shot cleanly, hitting all 20 targets, as did second-placed Dorothea Wierer of Italy and third-placed Vita Semerenko of Ukraine.
Three other Poles also earned World Cup points in Saturday’s race: Monika Hojnisz, who finished 35th, Magdalena Gwizdoń, who was 39th, and Krystyna Guzik, who placed 40th.
After 10 of the 22 competitions that make up this season’s World Cup circuit, Nowakowska is 15th in the overall standings, with 217 points, while Guzik is 29th on 121 points, Gwizdoń is 44th on 58 points, and Hojnisz is 64th on 13 points.
Norwegian Tobias Torgersen is head coach for Poland’s women’s biathlon team as they prepare for the upcoming Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games. He replaced Poland’s own Adam Kołodziejczyk, who resigned last February after working with the team since 2011.
Biathlon is an Olympic winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP