If someone isn't competing for the World Cup Overall title, skipping Oberhof makes sense: the weather there is terrible every year and competitors come down with a wave of colds. It's best to avoid this stage altogether. I hope Giacomel doesn't end up going there either.
People with better memories than me can answer. Every olympic season, we have some top athletes skipping some races prior to the Olympics. Does it usualy work (working as in better results that one could have expected otherwise) ?
Germany is show as the losers: the USA and the USSR as the winners, with the difference that the USSR collapsed 50 years later and the USA didn`t. Moreover, it was the United States that sent weapons and equipment to the USSR during World War II, not the other way around. Russia has always relied solely on masses of men and meat sturms.
Wierer and Vittozzi won't be competing in Oberhof, but Giacomel will be there. Vittozzi is clearly aiming for peak form in February and is giving up on the fight for the overall World Cup standings, while Wierer, at 35, has announced from the biggining of season, that she will be skipping some races.
https://www.oasport.it/2025/12/biathlon-wierer-e-vittozzi-saltano-oberhof-per-allenarsi-i-convocati-dellitalia-per-la-coppa-del-mondo/