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Lisa Vittozzi savors her revenge, five years on

Remember the winter of 2019, when the two Italian stars Dorothea Wierer and Lisa Vittozzi fought it out for the Crystal Globe in March. A fratricidal battle that will leave its mark, as they will remain enemies for a long time to come, and will not speak to each other for several years.

For two years now, Wierer and Vittozzi have been explaining that they've forgotten all about each other, but the fact remains that they no longer train together.

While Dorothea works solo and with the men's group, Lisa plays national team leader alongside the new generation.

This strong-headed duo will never become friends, and against the backdrop of this internal struggle and defeat, 2nd overall in 2019, never digested by Vittozzi, we can see that the new globe winner experienced this coronation as a liberation.

From now on, she can look Wierer in the eye and will never be little Lisa again.

"This overall victory was a very emotional moment and I think I'll remember it for a long time. When I think back to the start of the season, when I was ill just after the first race, I could never have imagined such an outcome.

I skied when I wasn't feeling well and that was the worst moment of my winter. Otherwise, all the other stages were good," says Vittozzi on the IBU website.

"Now I'm going to savor, enjoy with my family, friends and all the people who have encouraged me, not just this winter, but since I've been doing biathlon.

While I was waiting to see them again, I celebrated with the team. Today, if I had one piece of advice to give to an 18-year-old Lisa, it would be: "Follow your dreams and keep fighting, but if life isn't easy, even more so in sport. Never give up."

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