Biathlon World Cup: Veteran Eder shines again – Hauser impresses

Austria’s biathletes delivered encouraging results in the World Cup pursuits in Annecy (Le Grand‑Bornand) on Saturday.

Lisa Hauser incurred just one penalty and finished 8th, 48.1 seconds behind France’s Lou Jeanmonnot, who won the women’s pursuit. Coming off 20th place in Thursday’s sprint, Hauser was delighted with her performance: “Incredible that I moved from 20th to eighth today. The best time of the day is almost like an unofficial World Cup victory and feels really good,” said Hauser, who also won the pursuit in Östersund two weeks ago. Teammate Anna Andexer, with three misses, finished 26th, 2:07.2 back, scoring World Cup points.

In the men’s pursuit, 42‑year‑old Simon Eder shot a perfect 20/20 and secured 9th place, 1:18.6 behind winner Johan‑Olav Botn of Norway. It was Austria’s first men’s top‑10 of the winter. “That was just a mega race today. I hoped I could get back into the top ten at some point. All in all it was a really cool race from me—four zeroes—and despite a sprint that wasn’t great on the skis—just mega,” said the Salzburg native. Eder’s last World Cup top‑10 came in spring 2023.

Youngster Anna Andexer also had reason to smile, qualifying for Sunday’s mass start for the first time.