The Violet sisters before the first race in Östersund: We learned a lot from last season! – Sports

ÖSTERSUND – The Biathlon World Cup Olympic season kicks off on Saturday in Östersund, Sweden. The Slovak representatives, who will have to fight for individual seats in Beijing in the next two months, as well as for participation in the relays under the five circles, will also present themselves at the start.

The Swedish resort has a women’s and men’s endurance races and sprints on the weekend. Sisters Paulína and Ivona Fialková had a certain place at the World Championships, which will be one of Slovakia’s greatest hopes for good results this year as well. Henrieta Horvátová, who succeeded in the nomination race in Idra, will join them at the inaugural event of the World Championships in Östersund.

Five competitors fought for three places, while in the 1st round Michal Šima, Matej Baloga and Tomáš Sklenárik will present their debut in the highest league. The long-time representative Tomáš Hasilla and Šimon Bartko will be missing from the start of the year.

Slovak men and women dropped out of the Top 17 rankings of nations two years ago, so for only two years now, only three competitors have been able to compete in individual World Championships. Another man and woman will join the relays, which will be part of the 2nd round of the series in Östersund, according to the results from the IBU Cup.

Slovaks are fighting for the Olympic relay

The highlight of this season is the Beijing Winter Olympics, where biathletes will compete for precious metals from February 5 to 19. He will fight for qualifying points until the 6th round of the World Cup, which is scheduled for mid-January in Ruhpolding. According to SZB President Petr Vozár, no one has a certain place in the Slovak nomination, but it can be assumed that both Violets should go to Beijing.

The order of the Olympic qualification will decide whether Slovakia will build up to four competitors and thus relays. It includes the 12 best results from the seasons 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 (6 sprints, 1x endurance races, 3x relays and 1x relay race and 1x doubles mix). Teams at 11.-20. they will get four seats, only two from the 21st position. Slovaks rank 19th and women 18th.

“We are currently in the 20th place and I believe we will stay in them. As for the final nomination, it can be affected by many things, whether health or injuries, so we will deal with it in the second half of January after the final World Cup. “We have several goals at the start of the season, the main ones being to get the men’s and women’s relay to the Winter Olympics, but there are others. said Vozár.

Violets don’t just focus on Beijing

Of course, the Fialková sisters will also fine-tune their form at the Olympic Games, but after the experience of last season, they will not only focus on Beijing. “We will try to move towards the Olympics, of course. But after last year’s experience, I will try to go from race to race, everyone at the World Championships is very important to me. It is definitely better if we come to the Olympics with the fact that we already had some World Cup results, ” stated for Slovak biathlon Ivona Fialková. Last season, the sisters did not succeed when they were hit by a coronavirus before the start, they lost their form and they lacked performances and results.

“I don’t feel pressure on myself, maybe it will come when I’m at the start. But at the moment I’m feeling fine, I’m glad we’re healthy and we can start the season the way we should. We’re going in and I’ll try to keep my feelings have gradually improved and we will see where we move. I like Östersund, even though it is a dry Sweden. In the last races I said goodbye here with a good result, so I’m glad we are starting here. ” Ivona said.

“We learned a lot from last season. I don’t want to say we deleted it because I wouldn’t want to lose everything I’ve learned now. We want to do better and race better. A failed season has affected training, all athletes are racing with it. to be successful, which also means funding from sponsors and bonuses. But we have reached the reserves and I hope it will turn out well. “ Paulín added for the Slovak biathlon.

Who will win the Olympic season?

The biggest favorites before the start of the new year of the World Championships are the Norwegian national team. Johannes Thingnes Bö is fighting for the fourth overall triumph among the men, his biggest competitor should be, like last year’s compatriot Sturla Holm Laegreid.

Tarjei Bö and Johannes Dale also finished in the top five of the overall classification, with only the third Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet among the Norwegians. His compatriots Émilien Jacquelin and Simon Desthieux, a pair of Swedes Sebastian Samuelsson, Martin Ponsiluoma or the German Arnd Peiffer could also fight for the top positions.

Among women, Norwegian Tiril Eckhoff defends the overall triumph and is also the biggest favorite this season. Compatriots Marte Olsbu Röiseland, Italian Dorothea Wiererová, Swede Hanna Öbergová, German Franziska Preussová or Austrian Lisa Theresa Hauserová want to complicate her fight for a big globe.

• The author: © List
• Source: TASR