The increased volume of shooting in training was reflected in Ondřej Moravec’s first start of the season. As one of three biathletes, he hit all twenty targets in the World Cup endurance race in Kontiolahti and finished fifth. But a great start does not change his decision to end after the winter.
Moravec always just blinked at the shooting range. He “cleaned” the targets four times quickly and hurried back to the track.
“I’ve been training this summer,” he laughed in an interview with the union’s website. “And there was no reason to linger, I’ve probably never experienced such peace here. I’m glad I made it and I didn’t get over it. I didn’t think much, switched to the machine gun and shot.”
After the third stop at the shooting range, he figured on the second place, after the final stop he still held the third place. He also managed two thirds of the race with solid cross-country skiing. “Three or four rounds was very decent,” praised the three-time Olympic medalist from Sochi.
He lost the podium in the last lap. A second ahead of him came Quentin Fillon Maillet from France, the German Erik Lesser surpassed him by 3.3 seconds. “I expected a little bit that I would miss him in the last lap. It’s not what it used to be with the fastest,” said the 36-year-old two-time endurance medalist at the World Championships.
For Moravecs, this season is the last in his career. And even the best placement in more than two years in the SP series will not change his decision, which he announced in advance.
“You could race to fifty. I have it set up very well, and when I finish the super season, it’s also good,” he told Radiožurnál after the race.
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