At the start of the biathletes' World Cup weekend in Oberhof, no Swiss-Ski athlete made it into the top 20 in the sprint, with Italy's Giacomel and Sweden's Elvira Öberg taking the victories.
08.01.2026, 13:12
08.01.2026, 15:42
SDA
Giacomel secured his fourth World Cup victory despite a shooting error. When crossing the finish line after the 10 km, the Italian pointed his right arm to the sky in memory of the Norwegian Sivert Bakken, with whom he was friends, who died shortly before Christmas. Second place went to Germany's Philipp Nawrath, with Johannes Dale-Skjevdal from Norway in third.
Of the five Swiss athletes competing in the men's sprint, Sebastian Stalder was the best in 21st place, one and a half minutes behind. None of the Swiss women's quintet made it into the top 30. Amy Baserga (35th) and Lea Meier (36th), the two strongest Swiss women on the day, lost around two minutes to the clear winner Elvira Öberg despite only one miss. Finland's Suvi Minkkinen and France's Julia Simon completed the podium.
Norwegians mourn the loss of Bakken
There was a memorial ceremony for Sivert Bakken before the first races in Oberhof. The Norwegian biathletes tearfully held up the bib number 1 allocated to Bakken and applauded in memory of their former team-mate. Bakken's teammate Johan-Olav Botn, who was missing in the Thuringian Forest due to illness, had found the 27-year-old dead in his hotel room in Lavazé on December 23. The Norwegians were in Italy for altitude training. The results of the autopsy may not be available until the beginning of March.
Bakken's funeral is next Tuesday in Lillehammer, one day before the start of the World Cup in Ruhpolding. Many of the Norwegian team will fly to Norway on Monday to return to Germany after the funeral on Tuesday evening.
