74th place, 9 minutes behind
Biathlete Doll starts his farewell tour with a debacle
March 1, 2024, 5:44 p.m
Benedikt Doll won bronze at the World Championships, then announced the end of his career – and in the first race after that he ran the worst race of his career. 7 out of 20 shots miss. In the Norwegian triple victory, no German made it into the top ten.
Biathlete Benedikt Doll experienced a race to forget at the start of his farewell tour on the legendary Holmenkollen. The 33-year-old finished well behind in 74th place at the World Cup in Oslo in the individual over 20 kilometers after seven shooting errors. He was 9:02.6 minutes behind the clean Norwegian winner Sturla Holm Laegreid.
At the World Championships a good two weeks ago, Doll won the bronze medal in this discipline. His worst World Cup result was a 61st place in the sprint in Ruhpolding in January 2016. “I don’t know. I wasn’t ready for the first shots,” said Doll on ZDF and admitted: “The preparation for that was mental “The race was very difficult. I didn’t really get into it.” He’s had “a tired feeling over the past few days. Maybe it was a bit of a farewell thought, which is more present than you think.”
Doll will end his career after the three remaining World Cups. He has already won two sprints this season, taken a total of six World Cup victories and been on the podium 20 times. He collected eight medals at major events, including World Cup gold in the 2017 sprint.
The race didn’t go as planned for the rest of the German team either. In Sturla Holm Lägreid’s victory, Johannes Kühn was the best athlete in the German Ski Association (DSV) with two errors in twelfth place. Justus Strelow (2) came 17th, Roman Rees (1), who even had a chance of winning the small crystal ball, ended up in 25th place. Johannes Thingnes Bø (Norway) took the individual discipline ranking, Rees came third. A fifth place was enough for the Dominator. His teammate Lägreid won ahead of Tarjei Bö and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen.
After the individuals, the women’s (1:20 p.m.) and men’s (3:20 p.m.) mass starts are scheduled for Saturday at Holmenkollen. On Sunday, at the end of the competitions in Oslo, the single mixed and mixed relay are on the program before the teams head overseas. At the end of the winter, two more World Cups will take place in Soldier Hollow (USA/March 8th to 10th) and Canmore (Canada/March 14th to 17th).