Curious scene during the sprint
Biathlete wins – and throws up “like a waterfall”
12/20/2024 – 10:41 amReading time: 2 min.
Yesterday, Thursday, Martin Uldal celebrated a victory in the men’s sprint. But the race ended with nausea for the young Norwegian.
In the end, Martin Uldal was only 1.4 seconds ahead of compatriot Johannes Thingnes Bö. The young Norwegian celebrated his first victory in his fifth World Cup race. Flawless shooting helped Uldal triumph in Annecy (France), while Bö and third-place finisher Sebastian Samuelsson each missed once.
But the 23-year-old was hardly seen celebrating at the finish. Uldal had completely exhausted himself – and showed it. Uldal vomited several times; it looked “like a waterfall,” the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK described the scene.
Undal himself explained: “My stomach turned. That happens from time to time. I felt it as soon as I crossed the finish line.” Shortly afterwards, the joy of the victory took over. “It was really fantastic. That’s all I can say. It was great,” said Undal, adding: “Normally I’m pretty talkative, but not now.”
The Swede Sebastian Samuelsson was a little less in a good mood in third place. “I hate Norway,” the top athlete told the Swedish broadcaster SVT, which repeatedly competes with Norwegians for victory. “Of course that’s great for him (Uldal, editor’s note), but I’m not exactly happy about my Norwegian friends.” Samuelsson was 10.8 seconds short of victory.
The best German on Thursday was Philipp Horn in fourth place, 28.6 seconds behind. A 90 percent hit performance and the fifth-best running time made Horn optimistic about the future after weak performances this season and difficult times in recent years – especially since he broke the World Cup standard.
“There is a lot of relief now, because the norm is in the back of your mind and you want to establish yourself in the team,” said Horn, who had not expected such a “great day” after getting up in the face of constant rain in the French Alps. Similar to Uldal.