Thursday, January 21, 2021
"A dream, just plain crazy"
Hettich and Deigentesch amaze people in Antholz
Even if Franziska Preuss and Denise Herrmann disappoint at the shooting range and in the result: Janina Hettich, Marion Deigentesch and Vanessa Hinz ensure positive results in the strenuous individual over 15 kilometers for the German biathletes in Antholz.
Franziska Preuss and Denise Hermann quarreled – but Janina Hettich, Marion Deigentesch and Vanessa Hinz beamed in the drifting snow of Antholz. While Hettich narrowly missed the podium in the individual over 15 kilometers at the World Cup dress rehearsal as a strong fifth in the premiere success of Austrian Lisa Theresa Hauser, the surprisingly strong Deigentesch in eleventh and runner-up world champion Vanessa Hinz fulfilled half the norm for in twelfth place the World Cup in Pokljuka.
"I'm very relieved. The result gives me a lot of confidence," said Hinz after the best result of the season. The track in Antholz, on which she was runner-up a year ago, "just suits me". At the mass start on Saturday over 12.5 kilometers, Hinz now has another chance to qualify at the last minute for the individual starts at the title fights in Slovenia from February 10 to 21. The fact that she missed an even better result after two shooting errors was "annoying", but, according to Hinz, "I finally felt good again on the track".
The same was true for Deigentesch and especially for Hettich, who only missed the "podium" with a mistake on the last shot. Nevertheless, the 24-year-old was "super happy. Even if the last shot annoys me a bit: it was a lot of fun." Meanwhile, Deigentesch was completely stunned after her fourth World Cup race. With a shooting error, the 26-year-old even secured a place in the mass start. "I still can't believe it. It's a dream, just plain crazy," said Deigentesch. "It kind of worked."
The established Preuss and Herrmann could not claim the same. Both made four mistakes. For Herrmann, after the best run time, it was still 17th place. Preuss, who celebrated second in the Oberhof mass start last Sunday, had to be content with 33rd place. Hauser, on the other hand, secured her first World Cup success after a shooting error in front of Julija Dschyma from Ukraine and Anais Chevalier-Bouchet from France. "It's annoying because I was running really well. I hope that I can get a better grip on it before the World Cup and stay relaxed," said Herrmann. And Preuss added disappointed: "The conduction of stimuli between fingers and brain was just too slow. What a shame. I have to tick that off now, he's still two races here."
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