Shooting
Neuner averaged a career shooting accuracy of 78%. Her career average in the prone position was 88%, while her career average in the standing position was 67%. Her shooting results in the prone position were similar to other top contenders. The standing shoot had long been her weak point and her hit percentage was well below average in the World Cup field, although it had improved considerably in her later seasons.
With a 78% accuracy, Neuner had solid shooting results during her 2005–06 season debut. Her average dropped to 74% in her first complete season in 2006–07. Neuner won the 2007–08 Biathlon World Cup with a shooting accuracy of 73%, which is the lowest result for an Overall World Cup winner ever and roughly ten per cent below the previous three winners' averages: Andrea Henkel (84%), Kati Wilhelm (87%) and Sandrine Bailly (81%). She steadily increased her shooting percentages in the following two seasons with a 76% average in 2008–09, and her career best results of 82% in the 2009–10 Olympic season. In the 2010–11 season, she set her career high in the standing position with a 75% accuracy.
Neuner's shooting performances have been a regular topic in the German media. At times she has been reluctant to discuss her shooting in interviews and has said the public's fixation on it contributes to the problem. She has insisted her difficulties in the standing position are not due to technical weaknesses but psychological, and her training results are just as good as the results of her team mates. She explained in interviews that she had developed a fear of the standing shooting over time, knowing she had to justify herself after the race if she missed. In 2008, Neuner trained with Bundeswehr shooting coach and former large calibre world champion, Rudi Krenn, and subsequently changed her stance slightly. Since 2009, she has worked with a psychologist, primarily focusing on mental techniques to build her confidence on the shooting range. Her standing position average has improved from 60% to 75% from 2008 to 2011. Neuner has been wearing ear plugs during some of the races in order to better concentrate while shooting. The individual race, which places a high emphasis on shooting, has traditionally been her worst discipline (each shooting error results in a one minute time penalty, instead of a penalty loop).
Neuner has won 6 races (all sprints) with a perfect shooting record: Khanty-Mansiysk sprint in March 2007, 2011 World Championship sprint and 4 sprints in her final 2011–12 season. She also shot clean on two other occasions, the sprint in Kontiolahti in March 2006, coming in fourth place, and the Östersund sprint in December 2008, finishing third. Her worst shooting performance came in December 2008, with a total of nine shooting errors at the World Cup pursuit in Hochfilzen. Neuner's costliest shooting occurred during a mass start race in Antholz in January 2009. After 15 clean shots, she was leading by 53.6 seconds before the final shooting, in which she missed all five targets, eventually dropping to sixth place.
Read more about this topic: Magdalena Neuner
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