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The Week in Germany: Sports

February 9, 2007

Biathlon Championships: Newcomer Neuner Takes Women's Sprint and 10K Pursuit to Win Two Golds

A young gun leaves the competition in the powder: Neuner in action on Sunday ... Photos: dpa

Germany's Magdalena Neuner scored a double gold victory at the World Biathlon Championships in Italy's Anterselva.

Competing in her first World Cup season, the 19-year-old stunned her counterparts on Saturday to win the women's 7.5-km sprint. She won her second gold medal when she took the women's 10-km pursuit on Sunday.

On Saturday, Neuner showed brilliant form, winning in a time of 22:46.9 minutes. The silver medal went to Ana Carin Olofsson of Sweden, who finished 2.3 seconds behind, while Russian Natalia Guseva was 19.6 seconds behind.

... and savoring her second gold-medal win.

"I just can't believe it. This is like my own personal fairytale", said Neuner, a five-fold junior champion who was competing in her first senior world championship race. "My shooting was OK, but I was not totally happy with it, but I was very satisfied with my skiing."

Neuner on Sunday went into the 10-km pursuit race in first place and never had to look back as Olofsson was behind her throughout the race. Norway's Linda Grubben managed to catch Olofsson on the final stretch to take the silver, leaving the bronze for Olofsson.

Meanwhile Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen also won two gold medals last weekend. The Boston Globe earlier in the week described Neuner as "the female equivalent to Bjoerndalen". And EuroSport.com moreover suggested: "She has effectively saved the world championships for biathlon-mad Germany."

Two other German biathlon athletes - Kati Wilhelm and Michael Greis - were named Germany's sportswoman and sportsman of the year by the nation's sportswriters last December.

German shooting stars and roommates Neuner and Kathrin Hitzer, 20, are reporting exclusively on on their experiences in Antholz at biathlonworld.com (blog, part one - go to main page for further blogs). (TWIG/dpa)

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