"Ridiculous" slats become biathlon rockets

The ban on environmentally harmful fluorinated waxes is shuffling the cards in the biathlon. So far, the Germans have been the big winners of the new regulations. This was not foreseeable just a few weeks ago. Dominator Johannes Thingnes Bö, on the other hand, is very annoyed.

While the German biathletes can't stop cheering thanks to their "rockets", the almost unbeatable dominator Johannes Thingnes Bö is suddenly very annoyed. "You used to be able to fly on skis without needing strength in your upper body. That no longer works," the Norwegian complained after three individual races without a win. The ban on environmentally harmful fluorinated waxes is extremely annoying for the four-time overall World Cup winner.

"Now I'm simply too weak, I need more muscles," said Bö. He feels "insanely stupid". Because suddenly the 30-year-old is no longer conjuring up best times in the snow, the cards have been reshuffled. So far, the surprisingly strong German team has used the new wax regulations to its advantage. And this after it had already reaped a mixture of pity and malice in the test races.

"It was horrible to watch"

"The Norwegians almost apologized in Sjusjoen because our athletes had no chance due to the material," said sports director Felix Bitterling: "It was like a car race with 50 hp against 200 hp." He had seen "how the Germans ran fast uphill, but downhill they couldn't keep up at all," mocked eight-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Björndalen: "It looked ridiculous and was terrible to watch."

But the tide turned at the World Cup opener in Östersund. "Far from ridiculous" was the German material, emphasized Justus Strelow. "Once again, we had rockets under our feet," enthused Philipp Nawrath after his premiere victory on Saturday. After the fluorine ban, the wax team is doing "all in all outstanding", said Bitterling. They have been "at the forefront" so far, admitted chief technician Sebastian Hopf - and immediately put the brakes on the euphoria.

"A lot of trial and error involved"

"We don't know how we'll fare in wetter conditions," said the 38-year-old in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. And the Scandinavians are "financially and generally ahead. Biathlon is a national sport there, they have many more people with an interest in ski waxing." There is currently "naturally a lot of trial and error involved", explained Bitterling.

"In previous years, we had a huge database on the subject of ski preparation. All this knowledge is now almost useless because the products no longer exist," explained the sports director. It is now necessary to "acquire almost everything from scratch." Therefore, "the frequency of extremes will increase". It is "hard work every day anew", said Hopf: "It has become a new science."

With the fluorine ban, the world federation had "primarily implemented EU legislation", explained IBU Sports Director Daniel Böhm on ARD: "We had to follow this legislation." Skis are checked before and after the races to ensure they are fluorine-free using a handheld device containing an infrared sensor. Despite the new types of wax, there are "not such big differences if you compare the times at the first World Cup", Böhm emphasized. However, Johannes Thingnes Bö's personal feeling tells a different story.