Anamarija Lampič raised a lot of eyebrows when she announced this spring that she will switch from cross-country, a sport in which she won 14 individual World Cup podium positions, to biathlon, a childhood dream of hers. The very first result has proved naysayers wrong.

In her maiden Biathlon World Cup appearance in Hochfilzen, Austria on 9 December, the 27-year-old finished fifth, having hit all five targets in the prone position and missing three shots in the standing position.

While Lampič's performance shows how important good skiing is in biathlon, she acknowledged her standing position shooting still needed some work. "But it's crazy that with the three missed shots I still placed so high," she said.

Lampič, 27, notched up three individual wins and a total of 14 individual podiums in the Cross-Country World Cup, plus a team win and three team podiums.

She was 8th overall in the World Cup in 2021 and 2022, and she won the sprint title in 2021. In Beijing she was 17th in the 10 km event and 12th in the sprint.