Biathlon late bloomer Nawrath: Suddenly at the top

World Cup - Biathlon late bloomer Nawrath: Suddenly at the top

Philipp Nawrath's biathlon fairytale almost came to nothing. When the 30-year-old broke his metatarsal and tore his ligaments in a soccer match in May, World Cup starts were suddenly a distant memory and running on crutches a bitter reality.

Less than seven months later, the Allgäuer is suddenly the number one in the world, surprisingly leading the overall World Cup after the first stop and traveling to Hochfilzen with the yellow jersey for the races starting on Friday. "It's madness. You have so many races behind you and then something like this happens," Nawrath told the German Press Agency: "I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has helped me along the way."

Nawrath has been racing in the elite league of ski hunters since 2016/2017 and his potential has been described time and again. But he rarely managed to "put the horsepower on the road", as sports director Felix Bitterling described it. Until he first won the sprint in Östersund on Saturday and then made it onto the podium again a day later in second place in the pursuit. As a reward, after three individual races he leads the overall standings by one point ahead of the Swede Sebastian Samuelsson. "Of course, it's only the beginning of the season and there's still a long way to go," said Nawrath about the overall World Cup victory. Nevertheless, the strength of the German men in their first appearances was remarkable.

Nawrath, the risk-taker

The late bloomers Nawrath and Roman Rees, who is also already 30, won in Östersund for the first time ever and both wore yellow. "Maybe the 3 had to be at the front for age first," joked Nawrath. The heavily favored Norwegians were particularly shocked, apparently having problems with the new fluorine-free ski wax. "You used to be able to fly on your skis without much strength in your upper body. I don't think that's the case anymore," said five-time Olympic champion Johannes Thingnes Bö, who is still waiting for his first triumph: "Now I'm just too weak, so I have to build up more muscle."

Powerhouse Nawrath certainly doesn't have to, especially as the skis worked perfectly. And finally, his standing shooting, which was his great weakness, is also working. With the change from national coach Mark Kirchner to Uros Velepec, the focus shifted to fast shooting with a lot of risk. Nawrath consistently implemented this regardless of losses. "He did the risky shooting perfectly," praised Velepec.

Too many mistakes have already cost Nawrath good results on several occasions. Like with the German Olympic relay team in Beijing last year. As the final skier, he had to go into the penalty loop in the standing stage, not only missing out on a medal, but even a possible Olympic victory. "I'm so sorry," Nawrath whispered to team-mate Erik Lesser at the finish line. "He could have been a superstar if he had won the gold medal today," said Lesser at the time.

How long will Nawrath keep the yellow jersey?

But instead of precious metal, he only came fourth. Nawrath recovered from the low blow and is now in a new position. Hardly anyone had expected German victories in the men's race so early, they even managed their best start ever. After the retirements of Arnd Peiffer, Simon Schempp and Lesser, Benedikt Doll, the only remaining world champion, was seen as a beacon of hope. But Nawrath in particular shone.

Will he be able to keep the yellow jersey for long? In any case, it will be an enormously difficult task. "I want to fight for it," he said. Michael Greis is also giving tips. Both were born in Füssen and are members of the Nesselwang ski club. When Nawrath was still a child and saw Greis on TV at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, he also wanted to become a biathlete. "You could say that I started because of him. Today we are in constant contact," said Nawrath. And of course Greis, who won three gold medals at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, was also among the well-wishers. "The cell phone was heavily overloaded," revealed Nawrath, who nevertheless wants to answer all congratulatory messages. "It wasn't surprising for me, but rather confirmation of what is possible when Philipp delivers a perfect race," Greis told dpa.

Double Olympic champion Laura Dahlmeier congratulated him personally. "I was very happy for Philipp. We've known each other for a long time," said the ZDF expert. Because what is not so well known is that Nawrath was also part of a training group led by coach Bernhard Kröll with Dahlmeier, Magdalena Neuner and Miriam Gössner, who all became world champions. "I am very grateful that I was accepted into the group back in 2011," said Nawrath. From there, his path led him to Ruhpolding, then to the World Cup and six years later to the top of the World Cup. "I will do everything I can to ensure that it continues like this," said Nawrath.