An unusual situation occurred at the 2023 European Biathlon Championships after a 15km run. Italian Michela Carrara refused the gold medal after her coaching staff found two mistakes in her run that the referees did not notice. Carrara reported her mistakes, which significantly changed the results of the run.
The 2023 European Biathlon Championships run from January 25 to 29 and generated a great deal of interest on the first day of the event. All because of refereeing mistakes that were made during the 15 km run and the beautiful sporting behavior of Michaela Carrara, who noticed it
Refereeing errors during the Euro 2023 biathlon run
Carrara made two mistakes that the judges didn’t notice and should have punished her for. There were mistakes on the shooting range. The Italian missed twice, but the judges did not notice it. It turns out that the arrows were recognized because the American Jaquelyn Garso hit the Carrara target instead of her target, and the judges did not notice that these were not Carrara’s. As a result of an oversight, Carrara was not penalized with any well-deserved penalty minutes and crossed the finish line first with a lead of 48 seconds over Germany’s Lisa Spark.
Carrara refuses the medal
Carrara was unaware that the American hit her shield. However, she learned everything immediately after the end of the run from her coach. At the same moment, she decided to immediately inform the judges about the situation and refuse to accept the medal.
Big change in results after Carrara admits mistakes
Carrara’s amazing and admirable sporting behavior led to changes in the results of the race. The Italian was given a well-deserved penalty, as a result of which she lost more than a minute to Lisa Spark, who was first ranked second on the podium. The medal was taken from Italy. Carrara dropped to 11th place, with gold going to Spark. The silver medal was awarded to Ukraine’s Julija Dżima, and the bronze to Germany’s Selina Grotian.
