Biathlon-Golden girl Vittozzi gives Italian fans their precious historic moment

Advertisement Sport Biathlon-Golden girl Vittozzi gives Italian fans their precious historic moment Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Biathlon - Women's 10km Pursuit - Anterselva Biathlon Arena, South Tyrol, Italy - February 15, 2026. Gold medalist Lisa Vittozzi of Italy celebrates after winning the Women's 10km Pursuit with Silver medalist Maren Kirkeeide of Norway and Bronze medalist Suvi Minkkinen of Finland REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Biathlon - Women's 10km Pursuit Victory Ceremony - Anterselva Biathlon Arena, South Tyrol, Italy - February 15, 2026. Gold medallist Lisa Vittozzi of Italy celebrates on the podium during the Women's 10km Pursuit Victory Ceremony. REUTERS/Matthew Childs Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Biathlon - Women's 10km Pursuit Victory Ceremony - Anterselva Biathlon Arena, South Tyrol, Italy - February 15, 2026. Gold medalist Lisa Vittozzi of Italy celebrates on the podium after winning the Women's 10km Pursuit REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez 16 Feb 2026 12:24AM Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST ANTERSELVA, ITALY, Feb 15 : Lisa Vittozzi gave Italian fans their golden moment in the women's 10km pursuit race at the Milano Cortina Games on Sunday, keeping her cool to shoot clean and finally deliver an Olympic gold medal in the sport in the country's biathlon heartland. Fans began entering the arena before eight o'clock in the morning and though the temperatures were below freezing all day, they roared Vittozzi on to victory and through the medal ceremony in the afternoon, and they kept cheering as she went through her media duties an hour after the race. "I did a perfect race, and I'm really proud of me and how I managed all the pressure, even if today I was pretty calm and just focused on myself and in my skills, and I did it, so it's a day that I will never forget," Vittozzi told reporters as the fans continued to chant her name. Going up against Maren Kirkeeide at the last shoot, Vittozzi showed that she had ice in her veins as the Norwegian missed twice while she hit all her targets, skiing away to victory on the last lap, but she originally thought that Kirkeeide had only missed once. Subscribe to CNA's Recommended Read A single handpicked story that we think you shouldn't miss. Just one a day. This service is not intended for persons residing in the E.U. By clicking subscribe, I agree to receive news updates and promotional material from Mediacorp and Mediacorp’s partners. Loading "I only saw that I shot clean and all the fans were cheering for me. I was smiling after the shooting, and I heard that she missed one, but I didn't know that she missed two, so that was even better when I realised that I was first - it was really, really emotional," Vittozzi said. Kirkeeide battled back to take silver ahead of Finland's Suvi Minkkinen, and after struggling over the last year Vittozzi bested them both, rediscovering her best form at just the right time to write her name in the history books. "I never stopped believing in me and yeah, all the difficult times, it was worth it," she said."I'm really proud of myself that I never gave up, and even if this summer was really tough one. I knew that I have the chance to become Olympic champion." Source: Reuters Newsletter Recommended Read Subscribe to CNA's Recommended Read A single handpicked story that we think you shouldn't miss. Just one a day. Sign up for our newsletters Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox Subscribe here Get the CNA app Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories Download here Get WhatsApp alerts Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app Join here Advertisement Also worth reading Content is loading... Advertisement Expand to read the full story Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST