World Cup - Biathletes without a podium finish: still heading in the right direction
The Norwegian biathlon dominators were not unsettled by the shock in their own team hotel and produced another gala performance.
The German men, on the other hand, were unable to climb onto the podium at the end of the World Cup premiere in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. As the best athlete from the German Ski Association, David Zobel was delighted to come seventh in the triple success of the Scandinavians Johannes Thingnes Bö, Johannes Dale-Skjevdal and Tarjei Bö, cracking the association's internal World Cup standard. "That was important, if everyone in the team cracks the World Championship standard in passing, then of course I have to follow suit," Zobel told ZDF. "It's currently great fun in the team and it's just brilliant."
His teammates are unlikely to share this opinion after major problems at the shooting range. Especially not Philipp Nawrath and Benedikt Doll, who each had to complete five extra laps in the mass start race and finished in 24th and 21st place. Doll had achieved his first win of the season in the sprint on Friday. The second best German was Philipp Horn (3 misses) in twelfth place. Behind him, Justus Strelow (1) finished 16th and Johannes Kühn (3) 18th.
Shot in the hotel
Sturla Holm Laegreid's last race weekend before the Christmas break ended with a shock that will have repercussions. According to the IBU, a shot was fired during the Norwegian's dry training. Laegreid was not allowed to take part in the mass start due to the breach of the safety rules and will probably have to expect a fine. A spokesperson for the cantonal police in Graubünden explained that the 26-year-old will be charged with "careless handling of weapons". He is accused of an alleged violation of the Grisons Police Act.
"In the worst case, something like this can cost a life. It's a really big mess that happened to me," Laegreid told NRK with tears in his eyes. "I am deeply sorry for this incident and I sincerely apologize to the entire biathlon family, my teammates and the hotel owner for what happened. This is a brutal reminder for me and all biathletes of how important safety routines really are."
Franziska Preuß in seventh place
Meanwhile, Franziska Preuß was noticeably satisfied after the women's mass start. In Justine Braisaz-Bouchet's third victory in the third race, she collected another top ten finish in seventh place. Having just recovered from a coronavirus infection, Preuß showed an impeccable performance at the shooting range, only losing out to the strong competition on the cross-country course.
"I realized that I didn't have much to offer on the track, it was a fight for survival. That's why the focus was on the shooting and I'm 100 percent satisfied with that," said Preuß and added: "I'm very satisfied, also with the first trimester in general. I had few expectations and if someone had said to me that seventh place was my worst result, I would have signed that straight away."
The Frenchwoman Braisaz-Bouchet won all three races at altitude and was rewarded with the coveted bib of the overall World Cup leader. Second place over 12.5 kilometers went to Elvira Öberg from Sweden (2 misses) ahead of her older sister Hanna Öberg (2). Vanessa Voigt was well in the race up to the standing start, but then missed twice and dropped back to 21st place. Team-mate Janina Hettich-Walz had to shoot three extra rounds and finished in 23rd place.
"All in all, we can say that we're heading in the right direction, even if we're not absolutely at the front in every competition yet," said sports director Felix Bitterling about the 13 podium places after three World Cup stops. "Anything else would be highly arrogant."
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Source: www.stern.de
