On Thursday biathletes will start in the Single Mixed Relay. At the IBU World Championships Biathlon 2021, Slovenia will also have its representatives with Jakov Fak and Polona Klemenčič. The favourites are to be found in the first three starting lines.
This season, only one Single Mixed Relay was on the calendar so far. French Julia Simon and Emilien Jacquelin took the win by a huge advantage. The second were Swedes Hanna Öberg and Sebastian Samuelsson, and the third were Norwegians Tiril Eckhoff and Johannes Thingnes Boe. Not to be overlooked is the fact that Eckhoff had to go to three penalty loops.
All three teams will be among the favourites on Thursday. The only team with a different two athletes on the start will be France, where Antonin Guigonnat will get the opportunity to prove himself. Erik Lesser and Franziska Preuss will start for Germany, Lukas Hofer and Dorothea Wierer for Italy, and Lisa Theresa Hauser and Simon Eder for Austria. Russians Eduard Latypov and Evgeniya Pavlova could also surprise.
Norway will defend the title. In Anterselva, the gold medal has been won by Boe and Marta Olsbu Roeiseland. Last year, the second was Germany and the third France. But, the Single Mixed Relay is also an opportunity for surprises.
At the last year’s World Cup race in Pokljuka, Emilien Jacquelin and Anais Bescond took the win, but only five seconds ahead of Estonians Rene Zahkna and Regina Oja, who achieved Estonian’s first-ever podium in the World Cup. This event was the proof that anything can happen in such races, as Zahkna finished 101st in the individual event two days prior, Oja was 51st in the individual race.
“Unbelievable, what can happen in two days. But this is biathlon,” Zahkna said last year. On Thursday, he will compete with Johanna Talihaerm.
Last year in Pokljuka, Austrians Simon Eder and Lisa Theresa Hauser claimed the third place, and regarding this year’s results, Austria is among the favourites for a medal also on Thursday.
There will be 28 teams on the start line of Thursday’s Single Mixed Relay.
Start at 3:15 PM.
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Single Mixed Relay |
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Date/ |
Winner |
Second |
Third |
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16 January 2021 Oberhof |
France Julia Simon Émilien Jacquelin |
Sweden Hanna Öberg Sebastian Samuelsson |
Norway Tiril Eckhoff Johannes Thingnes Boe |
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World Championships 2020 Antholz-Anterselva |
Norway Marte Olsbu Roeiseland Johannes Thingnes Boe |
Germany Franziska Preuß Erik Lesser |
France Anaïs Bescond Émilien Jacquelin |
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