Vanessa Hinz (GER) can hardly believe she won the 12.5km mass start at the IBU biathlon World Cup in Kontiolahti (FIN). Photo: Nordic Focus
Vanessa Hinz (GER) can hardly believe she won the 12.5km mass start at the IBU biathlon World Cup in Kontiolahti (FIN). Photo: Nordic Focus

Emotional first World Cup victory for biathlete Vanessa Hinz (GER) on Sunday.

Hinz shot clean in the 12.5-kilometer mass start on Sunday, which was a first for the 25-year-old.

“After so doubting myself so many times, I’m finally at the very top of the podium. It’s almost unbelievable,” Hinz said after the race in Kontiolahti (FIN).

“So often, I have had a bad luck at the range, but the margins were on my side,” she said of her first World Cup victory.

Also at the Kontiolahti World Cup, Anastasiya Merkushyna and Dmytro Pidrushnyl helped Ukraine to second place in the IBU biathlon mixed relay.