Anja Wicker claimed silver in the biathlon individual race at the Paralympics in Italy, missing gold by just 12.8 seconds. Teammates Marco Maier and Johanna Recktenwald each secured bronze. It was a successful day for the German para-biathlon team.
At the Paralympic Games in Italy, German biathlete Anja Wicker won silver in the individual race in the standing class. The 34-year-old from Stuttgart, who has a malformation of the lower spine, missed the victory of South Korea's Yunji Kim by 12.8 seconds. Bronze went to U.S. athlete Kendall Gretsch. Wicker made one error in four shooting stages, resulting in a one-minute penalty. The day before, she had already won bronze in the sprint. "You don't want to start an individual race with a mistake. But I'm super proud that I hit the next 19 and that the skiing went so well today on the course," Wicker said after the race. "It was fun from the first meter, and I'm glad it was so close and I could compete for silver." This is her fifth Paralympic medal following gold and silver in 2014 in Sochi and bronze in 2020 in Beijing.
Teammate Andrea Eskau, 54, remained shooting error-free but was disqualified for an improper turn.
Later, 26-year-old Marco Maier, who has shortened fingers on his left hand, claimed his second bronze medal in the standing class. With one shooting error, he finished third behind Chinese gold winner Jiayun Cai and Canadian silver medalist Mark Arendz.
In the visually impaired women's class, Johanna Recktenwald with guide Emily Weiss won bronze without shooting errors. Gold went to China's Yue Wang, silver to Czech Simona Bubenickova. Leonie Walter placed fifth after two errors, and Linn Kazmaier sixth with one error.
