Biathlon: Anna-Karin Heijdenberg Takes European Championship Silver in the Pursuit Start

Anna-Karin Heijdenberg, the current queen of Swedish biathlon in Italy, won a silver medal in the pursuit start at the European Championships this Saturday. The 24‐year‐old, coming off a very successful series of podium finishes – bronze on Wednesday and gold on Friday – expressed amazement at how her name had become a topic of discussion just weeks earlier.

In the race, Heijdenberg had excellent conditions for another gold as she entered the event with a 49.3-second advantage over France’s Amandine Mengin after the previous EM sprint. She commented on her warm-up, joking that she hoped her competitors would also feel tired. However, despite her strong physical performance, she was edged out when she recorded one miss in each of the two shooting rounds, which allowed Latvia’s Baiba Bendika, who had three misses in total, to change the course of the race.

Heijdenberg managed to hit her first four shots in the final round but missed the last one, which dashed her gold chances. Ultimately, her determined effort in the last lap earned her the silver medal ahead of Italian Linda Zingerle. The article also briefly mentions the men’s pursuit start where Emil Nykvist, despite starting in sixth place, finished 19th due to shooting errors.